Robert R. Brown - Wealthing Like Rabbits: An Original Introduction to Personal Finance

Your future is whatever you make it.
So make it a good one!

Dr. Emmett Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in Back to the Future Part III

Lisa woke up tired. Not the usual just-woke-up tired, but the kind of tired that sets in when sleep doesnt come until about an hour before your alarm clock goes off. Worried about going back to sleep, Lisa willed herself to sit up and put her feet firmly on the floor before she reached over to turn off the alarm. A nurse at the local hospital, Lisa didnt want to be late for work. At fifty-seven years of age with eleven years left on her mortgage, virtually no savings, and a stack of bills on the kitchen counter, she most certainly couldnt afford to be late for work.

Lisa sat on the edge of the bed with her hands on her knees and looked at the digital-red five sixteen on the clock beside her. Summoning the strength to stand up, she headed into the ensuite bathroom, squinting against the sudden brightness as she flicked on the lights. After her eyes adjusted, she lifted her head and looked at herself in the mirror. Lisa felt as old as she looked and she looked ten years older than she was.

The big bathroom was cold, almost cavernous. Lisa leaned on the marble double-sink vanity that she had been so pleased about when they had bought the house and tried to remember the last time either she or her husband John had actually used the second sink. Now it was just another thing to clean. She shivered as she turned on the shower and waited for the hot water to find its way up two and a half stories and across the house from the hot water tank in the basement below. While she waited, Lisa looked out the icy window and saw nothing but pre-dawn Canada in early February. Cold, dark, andoh joymore snow, another ten inches of the stuff.

Mechanically going about her morning routine, Lisa thought back to the cause of her sleepless night. She and John had had another discussion about their financial situation the night before. Unfortunately, Lisa knew it wouldnt be the last such discussion. Same story, same characters, same plot, slightly different details. They had bills to paylots of themand most of them were large, overdue, and growing. Among them an insurance bill, a cable-internet-smartphone bill, as well as a notice from the natural gas company. For some reason they seemed a tad upset that they hadnt received a payment in nearly six months. Lisa and John had also received a polite but firm letter from their daughters university stating that if her tuition wasnt paid immediately her academic transcript would be withheld. To say that Robyn would be upset would be an understatement, though Lisa knew she wouldnt be surprised. There were bills from a magazine subscription, from their landscaping service, and an unpaid parking ticket. The lease on Johns truck was coming up and it was over the allowable kilometres. Lisa had to get an emissions test done on her Infiniti (an appropriate name, considering how long she had been paying for it) before she could get a new sticker for its license plate. Her drivers license was also up for renewal and all of this had to be done before her birthday, only two weeks away. Its my birthday present from the Province of Ontario, Lisa had said to John in a futile attempt to keep the conversation light. His equally futile response had simply been, Merry Christmas, as he pointed at the pile of credit card bills. Attempts at humour had quickly deteriorated into attempts to win. Reason was replaced by blame, then by anger and, in the end, by silence. It had not been a fun evening for either of them. Looking into a different kind of mirror, Lisa knew she owned some of the responsibility for that.

Thirty-five minutes and two shots of Visine later, Lisa emerged from the bathroom warmer, but still tired and stressed. She knew from previous experience that the weight of their financial situation and the tension caused by last nights argument would be with her all day long.

Thankfully, she could smell fresh coffee brewing in the kitchen downstairs. Lisa had given John a new stainless steel coffee machine for Christmas, a programmable beast of a machine that ground fresh beans for every pot. She remembered laughing about it on Christmas morning; John had wondered aloud if the gift was really his or if it was more for her. On this morning, it was definitely more for her.

Lisa walked along the upstairs hallway, past Robyns bedroom, past the kids bathroom, and then past her son Christophers room where John had slept (also poorly) last night. Both of the kids were away at university. She went by the spare bedroom which was currently being used as their office. At the end of the hall, a fifth bedroom was laughingly called the exercise room because somewhere inside it and behind a bunch of crap was an exercise bicycle that was both brand new and eight years old.

As she started down the curved stairway, Lisa passed two of her favourite family pictures on the wall. The first one was a professional photograph of Lisa and John taken on their wedding day. What a wonderful day it had been. Everything had been so special, so perfect. Each of their 250 guests had agreed that Lisa looked absolutely stunning in her $5,000 designer dress. The country club had been decorated with fresh white roses, a chocolate fountain, and a beautiful heart-shaped ice sculpture. Everything had been perfect: the exquisite five-course meal, the live band and, of course, the two-week honeymoon in Hawaii. You only get married once, as they say. Reflecting on her current situation, Lisa wasnt so sure about that anymore.

The second picture was a family photo that had been taken during a ten-day vacation to Walt Disney World when the kids were younger. They had flown direct from Toronto to Orlando, rented a van upon their arrival, and stayed at Disneys Grand Floridian Resort & Spa near the Magic Kingdom. They bought a 7-Day Park Hopper Plus Pass and ate at a different restaurant every night. They had even taken a day trip to the Gulf Coast so the kids could go swimming in the ocean. Twelve years later, Robyn and Chris still talked about that trip.

But then, a month or so after the trip, the credit cards bills started to come in. How on earth did they manage to spend $12,000 on a vacation? There was no way they were going to able to pay that off, so they went to their bank and opened a home equity line of credit with easy monthly payments. Twelve years later, Lisa and John still talked about that line of credit. They were still paying it too.