Economic and personal change
A couple of years ago I started suggesting that I felt financial turmoil was imminent. I wasn't advising people in an official capacity, just in conversation and in a very loose manner.
I saw the economy beginning to show stress-fractures and some of the figures coming out of the Reserve Bank of Australia were alarmingly similar to those seen before the global financial crisis in 2009 such as household consumption (spending) for one. With retail accounting for over fifty percent of Australia's GDP that's a big deal. Household saving was down also, interestingly enough, and credit debt was up, predictably. It didn't bode well.
That was a couple years ago and now things mirror pretty much what I expected to see. Ok granted, the virus pandemic situation exacerbated the issues, accelerated them, but I feel quite confident that most of the financial woes we are seeing now would have come anyway.
I'm not an analyst, accountant or economist, just a normal dude, but I tend to keep my ear to the ground, keep apprised of what may come and try to work around it. Back then I would suggest to friends that some adjustments to their financial habits might pay dividends in the near future; Of course some listened and some did not. It's all good.
I recall having a similar conversation with a client back then, a fairly wealthy business-owner and multiple property-holder. If you don't know, for the last twenty years I've worked in the property sector, commercial and residential. We chatted as usual, in one of our regular meetings, and he scoffed about my expectations and thoughts over the future economic environment saying I was wrong.
So, I met with that guy this afternoon; It seems his business has closed and he owes several million dollars to the banks; Money which can only be repaid through the sale of all of his property portfolio; That's why we were meeting.
I wanted to say, I told you so, but wasn't able to work it into the conversation in a way that could be seen as professional, so I Just thought it instead.
It was sad to see this chap in the state he is, keeping up a brave façade of course, but I can see he's broken; As are the lives of his former staff I assume. To his credit though he didn't simply blame the pandemic situation, he admitted his woes went far deeper and much further back; Kudos to him for accepting the responsibility, shame on him for not making the required changes soon enough.
I don't feel we're in the sort of environment where a person can act in the same manner as they did in previous years; To do so is to walk a razor's edge. The situation is fluid now, even without the pandemic, and can pivot in disastrous ways without warning; If you don't believe me find someone that lived through the 2009 situation - It was the same.
Sure, there's those in society who have been more insulated from the economic ups and downs so far, but it is a brave soul who stands up and announces that nothing has changed for them.
Everything has changed, the entire world has changed, and none of it for the better; Certainly not lately. Change with it or get left behind is pretty much the catch-phrase.
I'm glad to say that Faith and I have a very flexible nature; We are able to shift one way or another depending on needs and have the ability to make the changes required with speed, and a minimum of pain; Sure, going without something we formerly had isn't great, but we look at the big picture and just get on with it. This has meant we've been able to avoid any spiralling down the toilet financial situations, mostly.
We made changes, learned to work around those changes and still feel that our lives are fulfilled and enjoyable; It's an attitude.
Change happens, needs to happen, and rarely would I suggest to wait until it was forced upon us. Unfortunately the fellow above did not subscribe; He used to drive the top of the range Jaguar F-Pace as a daily car and a Porsche 911 Carerra 4 as a fun car... But arrived in a ten year old Camry today. Change; But certainly not the change he had hoped to make I'd say.
It was a nice reminder to have that meeting today, a reminder that what Faith and I did a few years ago, the changes we made, and continue to make, have been vindicated. The world is plagued by consumerism and people are lead to believe they will be better people, have a better life, if they have certain things...But it's all false. Life isn't about things, it shouldn't be made to be about things. There's more to it than that.
My client, for the record, will sell off what he holds, pay off his debts and start from scratch, whilst retaining his personal home thankfully; He has no choice as bankruptcy isn't a good option for him. The company I work for will do this for him and he'll move on a little wiser, I hope. He's thinking about some plans for the future but right now is focused on clearing debt which the sale of his properties will do. I hope to see him thrive in time.
What can we learn? I don't know, that's up to the individual I guess. What I see is the need to make a shift from a consumerist nature to a need over want ethos. We all probably need to turn off the marketing propaganda we feed ourselves through social media, TV, magazines and other media...It's all done to condition you to want more things, spend your money and amass credit debt. That's our focus anyway, Faith's and mine, and I know quite a few others starting to come around to our way of thinking. Life is what you make it, not what you buy.
But what about you? Do you agree or disagree with me? Is the economy in your country strong, is credit debt good debt? Is saving for the future smart or is living for the immediate point in time preferable? Is crypto the saviour, or metals? Are we going to be hit with hyperinflation? How do you prepare for the future whilst making life work today?
There's a vast cross-section of people here and I'm interested in seeing if anyone has an opinion and wants to share it.
Feel free to comment below, your input is valued. * Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well Discord: galenkp#9209
