The Gremlins
John Stackhouse
Vice President of Wealth Management at Palmetto Citizens Federal Credit Union
This is a story told by another financial advisor and was worth sharing.
“On a particular trip to the gym, I was engaged on one of the exercise machines and was striving to reach a goal of 45 minutes. During the effort, however, as I was taking a drink from my water bottle, the cap came out of my hand and fell to the floor. Of course, you have this urge to go and reach for it but at this point, it is well out of position. Then the other subliminal suggestion comes over you to stop the machine, get off, get the cap and try to return to exercising again. Of course, the bottle cap could have been a dropped towel, untied a shoe, drooping sock, or any of the hundreds of other distractions that can happen.
There was a time when myths and legend would refer to little creatures called Gremlins. These Gremlins would interfere with equipment, machinery, and other issues causing havoc and failure. Gremlins became the perfect scapegoat for bad engineering, poor maintenance, and lack of quality. I wonder if these same Gremlins are the ones who drop my cap, untie my shoe, break my headphones, or make any other effort creating a reason to stop my goal of exercising.
As I almost gave into the urge, I realized that all day long, these little things will always manifest themselves and get in our way to stop what we are on track to do. These tiny little distractions can work so much against keeping momentum.”
Have you allowed a new bill or expense to become the gremlin of your savings and investing plan? You were regularly adding money each week or month to your plan then one month was a little more challenging so you stopped. The next month again became another reason (gremlin) to get in your way. We can do all the planning with you but it does take your commitment to keep the plan on track if you are to be adding to it. Please consider not allowing a challenging month to stall out your plans for the future. We may have an idea or two to help you come up with a strategy so you can continue to save and cover an unexpected expense.