Are You Ready?

 

 

Are You Ready?

“Being ready is a state of mind. Be ready.”

 
When I grew up in Latvia, we belonged to the Pioneer organization at school, similar to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Our organization was co-ed and our greeting was “Are you ready?” The answer, which was accompanied by a salute, was “Always ready!” This came to memory after reading an article in the SF Chronicle, “In time of drought, Bay Area gets ready for a deluge”.  The article describes how for the preparation for “the biggest storm in five years”, the Department of Public Works in San Francisco ran out of sandbags after distributing 3,500 bags for free. We were one of the recipients.
After the heavy rain last week, we encountered a strange smell in our basement. Upon investigating where it was coming from, we discovered a wet carpet, which covered part of the basement floor. Upon further detective work, we realized that the water penetrated from a damaged window. The next day, I called my great contractor Michael Wolfe, who has taken care of our house for years, fixing problems big and small. While deciding which type of new window to order, I also needed to get us ready for “the next storm”. Thankfully my wife Elfa, found out where to get the sand bags and it seems that got there just in time.

Being ready doesn’t only relate to the rain storm. We all have different kinds storms in our lives—or good tidings. Let’s say you have a gifted child who wants to study in an expensive school, or there is a medical emergency or forthcoming wedding, or law suit, or the purchase of a new home, or sudden unemployment, or a car accident, or old age, or a trip around the world. Are you ready?

Recently, we met with Harry Kamataris at his “Financial Survival Workshop”. He helped us review our retirement annuities, and insurance policies, and gave us advice on how to financially prepare for the future. (Something I’ve procrastinated for a long time about.)

I can also talk about being ready for mortgage refinancing. Many of my clients, whose loans I’ve helped to refinance have low interest rates. Nevertheless, since interest rates came down, it makes sense to consolidate debts, or to extend low interest rate adjustable loans for another seven years. Do not wait until “the storm”—high rates will return. Make yourself ready.

P.S.

On a rainy night last week, I photographed the wet street in front of our house and created some of the abstract images above. Enjoy.

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