The Elephant in the Room: Sharing the Secrets for Pursuing Real Financial Success

PREFACE

If you've ever heard me speak, you know that I'm a pretty regular guy. I don't use fancy words or tell people how to keep up with the Joneses. But I do believe that most people can achieve more than they think they can. Whether you want to improve yourself financially or get an education well beyond that of your parents or start a business or rise up the corporate ladder, anything is possible—provided you set goals for yourself and continue to work toward those objectives.

You're in control of your destiny. Of course, there will be bumps along the road, sometimes serious ones that you didn't anticipate. There are natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods that have a dramatic impact on daily lives as well as on the economic stability of cities, states, and regions. There are medical crises that mean you or another family member can't work even though you have to find the money to pay for hospital stays or other treatments.

Then there are financial calamities that impact the entire country, such as the mortgage crisis and the dramatic sell-off in the stock market of 2008. A few people predicted these economic woes but their warnings generally were ignored. Many, many people continued to spend and use credit cards without thinking about whether they would be able to pay their bills. Others bought homes which they were objectively not qualified to purchase.

But in the fall of 2008, the financial crisis reached a climax. The government had to take steps—in the form of an unprecedented ...