Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
We’re done! My wife and I set out on a mission to give 10% of our generous gift to various family and friends in need. Do you know how hard it is to give money away to people not only in need but deserving?
We figure, we could have blown the money on dumb stuff ourselves so we wouldn’t give it to friends and family members who had no business with a lump sum of money. So we had to quietly (since no one knew we even inherited the money) weed out qualifying targets.
We gave the money on 2 conditions:
- They don’t tell anyone we gave it to them
- They help someone else out in the future.
There were tons of people that needed the money but we were skeptical as to if they’d actually be responsible with it. Some we KNEW wouldn’t be, so we paid bills off for them. Others we gave straight cash to because they had no choice but to be responsible with it. You know the types that have plenty of mouths to feed or young ones depending on them and just need a small “push”. Some just bought a house and since they were first time home owners, didn’t expect bills to mount so quickly and the utilities to be so expensive.
I must say, the feeling it gives you to be able to help someone is AWESOME! We all talk about what we’d do for each other if we ran across some money. The wife and I, actually followed through with it. What’s amazing about it is we all fantasize about the million $ lotteries, all the while, we were able to make a difference in a lot of people lives with only $4,000.
The reaction from people was various. It’s amazing how many people quickly turn to God to thank you for their blessings. Some started tearing up. One confessed that we’d changed his life (beyond comprehension) since he was dealing with some personal issues and he’d let me know when it all got sorted out (still waiting).
Truthfully, after having the money for about 6 months, it started to feel like a curse. It started feeling like, “we had good intentions”, and would just pocket the rest. We were constantly trying to identify people to give the remaining $1000 to. It got to the point we were like Will Smith in seven pounds where we were trying to see if people had a bad side to them before we sacrifice the money to them.
I actually, ran across one person (who shall remain nameless) that kept ignoring me over the Internet when I asked him a questions about how much things were going to cost to get him out of a rut. Only after I’d already given the remaining $536 away would he respond with “what did I want again”. His loss.
All in all, I’m happy to even have the had opportunity to bless people. Giving should be something that we all practice. I’m even leaning towards a new idea that instead of going Xmas shopping for the kids this year, we take that money to do a sort of Secret Santa type deal during the holidays. That’s only in thought at the moment, because right now, we’re in the brunt of the recession just like everyone else.
Maybe I’ll compromise my thoughts and get them all one gift a piece and plant a bigger seed in their heads with the gift of giving.
So what would I do differently if the opportunity presented itself again? Not a damn thing. The experience was awesome and right up there with the births of my children or swimming with the dolphins in Nassau.
Posted in Inspirational, Uncategorized, success | 2 Comments »
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Sorry for the long delay but I’ve been really busy with the new job and all and in the process got some good news…
The wife’s company is now sold and we inherited our share of the proceeds I blogged about earlier. It feels great to have a nice chunk of change in savings. We are sticking to our plan of taking 10% of it and helping others in need. So far it’s been family & friends.
It’s great to see people get a blessing because we received one. I’m not religious but lately I’ve been thinking that maybe there is a plan created by someone or something.
For instance, I feel like I worry less over things I can’t control because I feel that if something’s right for me, it will happen.
I’ve had 2 great interview within the past 3 months. I haven’t even called them back to check on the status. If I get it, I get it… If I don’t, I don’t! It’s that simple.
I’ve also had everything to be lined up so that when my severance ran out with Sprint, I’d have a friend that was going to put my wife & I on his plan. That didn’t turn out so well either so I’m going to chalk that up in the “it’s not supposed to happen category” at no fault of my friend.
Anyhow, for some reason this layoff has taught me a lot of things just as I’ve predicted.
It sucks having to wake up in the morning to get dressed to go to work, but at the same time it’s great knowing that I don’t have to worry about job security. Plus I work less than one mile away from where I live.
It sucks taking a $13K pay cut, but at the same time, I’ve actually made more this year with my severance, unemployment & my new job. I’ll also be getting a significant raise in’09 or ‘10 as i’m being groomed to replace someone that’s retiring after next school year. Did I mention the experience factor is GREAT. It’s like I’m over an entire section of the IT department because I’m the most familiar with the SCCM/SMS technology we’re implementing.
So in all… My layoff was actually a blessing in disguise. It’s been great throughout the entire process as it was something that was supposed to happen as it must’ve been in my cards. Actually, it was an exciting time which I can’t explain for some odd reason why it was exciting.
I guess it was a challenge of the change I am going through at this time. It was exciting to know that you’re forced to do something and you have other people relying on your for support. Since the layoffs, we haven’t missed a beat considering this is one of the worst economic times since the great depression. Some people are actually calling it worst.
I will tell you that if I would’ve been financially irresponsible, then this wouldn’t have been such a grand time in my life.
Posted in Inspirational, Personal debt, education, success | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
Have you ever thought about what you’d do with a lump sum of money if it was given to you? We all talk about what we’d do, how we’d invest it or pay off whatever.
Well my wife came home today and asked me what I’d do with $30 - $40,000 dollars if we had it in the bank. I immediately shout out the most responsible answer I could think of, “pay off your student loan and save the rest. I don’t know, why?” (currently at $31,200).
As soon as I asked the question she handed me a 3 page letter. I noticed it was from the owner of her company. I also immediately noticed it was personalized to her so I eagerly started reading. It started out with the normal fluff… “great job, etc”. But then I damn near shit myself once I got to the second paragraph.
First I must say, with her having the greatest boss one could ever ask for, I feel her boss’ gesture itself should be looked at and admired. So in turn, we’re taking 10% of that money and giving it away to something/ someone. So far, we’ve discussed: Struggling college Juniors and/or seniors needing books to giving some to a specific family member in need. Nothings yet official.
Secondly, now I’m REALLY stuck with the question of what am I to do with “me precious”. My heart says to buy a second rental property for long term income. No better time to do it than now. The way I see it, her student loan is with a 6% interest rate so any investment I’d make would have to get me more than 6%. What better investment than something that will pay me monthly with no overhead? So I’m thinking some will go towards buying and fixing a rental property.
Since the deal is to finalize in weeks, that’s when she’ll get her “gift” from her company. But still I’m sitting here wondering, what would you really do with a small (in the thousands) lump sum of money? We all fantasize about it but what would we really do with it? It’s a problem I’m loving to have at the moment. Life’s good right now.
Posted in Informational, Inspirational, success | No Comments »
