Suddenly Rich

Have you ever thought of what you might do if you were suddenly rich? Come on, you know you have.

The truth is, you really do need to give it some serious thought.

You may have seen on Oprah or other shows that a lot of people that win the lottery or find other ways to suddenly get rich, don't seem to keep the money for very long. It happened to me.

Actually, the amount of money I had isn't really considered rich, but it was close to half a million dollars.

The sad part, is that we tried to do everything right. Mostly. I had lost my good job a few months before, so things had been getting scary. We had a mortgage, car payments, credit cards, 2 children and another on the way.

They foreclosed on our home just one month before we came into the money. Our phone rang constantly with people being as mean as they possibly could, threatening us because we were falling behind on payments.

When we did get the money, we decided the last thing we ever wanted to do, was to be in debt or ever owe anyone money again.

So we paid cash for two sensible cars, nothing flashy or too expensive. We decided to build a house out in the country, with my brother coming to town as the general contractor. He was in home remodeling for years. We paid cash for everything so that we would never be in debt again.

We thought of getting a financial planner. And then it was in the news about two big time celebrities that were facing financial ruin because their financial planners misled them for years.

It sounded good that we would have two good cars and a home paid off. However, things are often not what they seem.

We thought we could have the house built in six to eight months. It took eighteen months. And all of the contractors charged us double the normal rates because it was a one time deal and because we were so far out in the country. If a regular builder needed them (the contractors), they got preferential treatment because they would continue to give them business for years.

After all was said and done, we had our house, and two cars. And no money left over and no credit.

This was before everyone had computers in their homes and it was so easy to use the internet. I guess timing is everything.

In the end, we had to sell the house for way less than it cost us to build. Our kids had been young at the time, so we didn't even set aside college funds - I know, "stupid". It's easy to look back and see mistakes.

One of the absolutely worst things about it, was the way family and friends regarded us afterwards.

There were so many, "I told you so's." And even the one's that didn't come right out and say it, you could still see it in the way the acted around us and looked at us. We could see it in their eye's.

So, that is my tale of woe. I'm sharing this story with you because I hope and pray it may make a difference for someone. Nobody plans to lose it all, or make bad decisions. However, now I know that we should have sectioned the money off.

This much goes here, this much goes into this account for this, and so on. We really should have found a financial advisor. Planned for further into the future.

If you do ever suddenly get rich, or come into money. Do a lot of research and get advice.

And us? Now it's about sixteen years later. All of our kids, sons, are six feet tall or taller. We are all very happy. We've rebuilt our life and most importantly, we have each other. Our marriage never faltered, thank God. So I guess we're rich after all.

We wish you well.