Alive Day or Amortization? I argue both!

17 years, 6 kids, 2 careers, and a marriage ago, this day I laid bleeding out in the streets of Baghdad- that's a lot of borrowed time, experiences, and endless support. To that end, where many refer to this day as their "Alive Day", the day where a near life experience became one of survival, as a finance wannabe (my second concentration in B-School), I think it is more fitting to me to be more of a life amortization day- the day I sought to periodically lower the book value of a loan or an intangible asset over a set period of time.

Regardless of race, creed, or religion, I think we all can agree that life is a loan- and since so much of life happens in a home, why not compare that life loan to the amortization of a home loan. Born a starter home, I needed a lot of work! I certainly was fortunate enough to have two willing "co-signers" who were adept in DIY, and did not solely rely on the public school system to make my way in my two loving, and driven immigrant parents. It's no wonder why 24 years into the 30 year mortgage (that magical year when parents finally have "paid off" the loan), it was probably gut wrenching for my parents to hear I was going up in flames. Fortunately for them, a Sniper and Reconnaissance Platoon of Combat Lifesavers, are the best firefighters one could hope for, and Military Health the best home insurance of the same.

Continuing the analogy, "our" house was not a total loss- I say our, not only because the aforementioned, but obviously because home is rarely a solo investment. In many insurance cases, you almost hope for a total loss-- more often than not you can buy back better, and build back better, but not necessarily the case with life. All we can do on our re-amortization day is decide if we want to re-up for another 30 year mortgage. Easy to see how many, who had been "in the clear" or so close to it, have a hard time "doubling down" back on life as my cousins-in-law would say! With so many invested, how could you not?

The process of recovering a near total loss into something salvageable is a labor of love-- for those who restore cars, I would liken it to such. It's not pretty, you often don't have the time for it, and wonder why it's taking up space in the garage (or other house members do), but you do it for the satisfaction of getting it started again, and ultimately back on the road in it's "glory". Not only was I again fortunate to have a family full of car restorers of the medical type for my health, and the professional services for my other well-being, but also a then fiancée who was willing to take the same amortization value on move-in ready property and roll it over to a fixer-upper of the nth degree!

The question is, how do you convince the bank (perhaps a higher being) to back a loan, and re-amortize on a property that is now grossly under value? I think one answer is to be as prolific in / with that dwelling as humanly possible- despite it needing a ton of work in every corner! 17 years into this re-amortization, I come to you mostly habitable (but sometimes not), with decent equity accrued (but also still as a money pit many arenas), but the grace of many more restorers (like new advisor, and past board colleague Doug McCormick who I fittingly met with today) who have passed through my life to build back better, Habitat for Humanity style! We shared stories of some of the great Veteran Leaders like Mike Erwin, and Todd Connor who help countless do the same. That's enough to keep me going for another 13 years until I can get this next loan paid off. To my contemporaries who continue to celebrate their alive days, and as we move towards Veterans' Day this week I say, let's continue to go for broke and re-amortize!