At the age of sixteen, I finally decided to take the steps necessary to obtain my driving permit. Although I had felt no rush to acquire my permit, once I had it, I felt this great sense of urgency to drive. My mom was the begrudging parent available to take me that day, and she did not let me drive home from getting the permit. I begged, but she was in a rush. All day I begged and begged. That evening we had somewhere we needed to go, and my father was still not home. I begged and pleaded some more until my mother agreed to let me drive. The first mile went great. The second mile wasn’t bad either, but not far from our house they were working on the road. It was evening, and there was a very narrow passage between two cement walls. There was a car coming through it at the same time as I was.
Trying to be the diligent driver, I edged over a bit to give the other car more room. I continued to edge until BAM! – there was the wall. Of course, my mother did not remain calm. She screamed at me to pull over. She got out; there was not even so much as a scratch on the car, as I had probably just bumped my tire on the edge. It did not really matter to my mom that the car was fine, and we were fine; she never rode with me again. My father then was stuck with the task of teaching me to drive. It was a fun experience for him, but I’m sure he would have much rather been in the driver’s seat. Anyone who has a child that had learned to drive knows the terror my parents felt in letting me take the wheel and drive.
Losing control and letting your child drive is terrifying, but too often we let equally terrifying things happen in our lives without even blinking. Suze Orman once said, “thoughtful financial planning can easily take a backseat to daily life.” ¹ Letting your finances slip into the backseat without a check is like letting your 15- or 16-year-old get behind the wheel without any guidance, instructions, or adult supervision. Any good parent would frown on an adult who set their child free to drive a car without first teaching them how to drive. Think about the danger the child could potentially find themselves.
Paying bills without thought and making financial decisions without careful thought and planning is essentially the same as handing a kid the keys to your car without any thought or teaching. It is much easier to simply pay for things as they come to you and never think twice than to carefully plan and allocate your finances, but it is the rare individual that will ever get ahead that way. In a consumer-filled world, there is no end to the things we “need.” It is important to carefully map out your financial and long-term goals and make your spending habits reflect those goals. Remember, everyone’s goals are different, so you need to take the steps to reach your own goals.
Jessi Canales
Focus Financial Group, LLC
1. “Suze Orman’s Month-By-Month Financial Planning Guide – Oprah.com.” Oprah.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.