Hurricane Ike True Story 

Is Your Business or Personal Financial Future Built on a Rock Solid Foundation?
 
This is a real picture from a highly sought-after real estate section along the Texas Gulf Coast of the home of Warren and Pam Adams after Hurricane Ike hit in September 2008.   There were 200 other homes and buildings destroyed, why was their house still standing?   Just three years before, the Adamses' home had been destroyed by Hurricane Rita.   Because they loved the beach, the couple wanted to rebuild rather than leave the coast.  So they did - but with the knowledge that their new home might also be in the path of a hurricane someday.   The couple hired an engineering firm to oversee the contractor as their new residence was built.  In designing their home (pictured above), they analyzed many of the potential perils, and decided to construct the home on 14-foot stilts – much higher than the average home in the area. The foundation was made with reinforced concrete and the builders followed the latest hurricane building codes to the letter.   Despite its solid construction, the home did sustain some damage in Hurricane Ike.   Yet, unlike their neighbors, who returned to their former home site hoping to find a few personal belongings among the rubble, the Adamses can repair their home.
 

The precautions the couple took when rebuilding their home after Hurricane Rita may have seemed extreme to some.    Yet their foresight appears brilliant now, after the town sustained a direct hit by Hurricane Ike.   A spokesman with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department confirmed that the Adamses' home was the only surviving home on that side of the beach.   He adds, "I thought, if I were ever to build a house on the coast, I'm going to contact the guy who built this".
 
They knew that their home had been destroyed once by a hurricane and that it could happen again.   Of course, others along the Gulf Coast knew they faced that threat as well.  The difference was in how they responded to that risk. 
 
Like some Gulf Coast residences, many people today build their financial houses without much of a strategy.   When you build something you want to keep, you build it according to a rock solid plan and with materials that will last.   This strategy works for all types of construction, from putting together a financial portfolio, a business plan, to building a house.
 
Rock Solid Planning can be used to build your business or your personal financial future.   Please read the tab Some Unique but Truthful Components of Rock Solid Planning
 
The following is an example of Rock Solid Planning.  Some of the specifics are extracted from the book Surviving Financial Meltdown, Confident Decisions in an Uncertain World by Ron Blue and Jeremy White CPA, copyright 2009.
 
 
Timeless Principles for Financial Management
(Regardless of changes in the economy, administration, global influences, etc)
  1. Think long-term (current and possibly future generation) with goals and investing. (Subtitle: Aim at Nothing and You’ll Hit It Every Time) The longer term your perspective, the better financial decisions you’ll make.   Set goals in writing for the future.   Invest for the long term and worry less about short-term ups and downs in your 401(k) or investment portfolio.
  2. Spend less than you earn.   (Subtitle: Help, I’m Stuck in a Traffic Jam on the Road to Riches) To accomplish this, you need to know what you’re earning and what you’re spending.   Make a spending plan (or, if we dare use that loathed term, a budget).   Monitor how you’re doing.   Develop the self-control to avoid over-spending.   If you consistently spend less than you earn over a long period of time, you will do well financially.
  3. Maintain emergency savings (liquidity). (Subtitle:  I’m Having an Out-of-Money Experience)   A reserve set aside will help you ride out the surprises life throws at you.   You must spend less than you earn to build savings.   Savings will then help you avoid debt.   These principles work together.
  4. Minimize the use of debt.  (Subtitle: Honey, I’ve Shrunk Our Portfolio!) Debt increases risk.   It may allow you to do more or have more now, but debt will reduce your ability to have more in the future.   I know of few cases of financial disaster occurring without debt.   Financial problems are magnified with debt. 
The above are actually Biblical financial principles.
 
Scriptural Reference:
 
Matthew 7:24-27(NIV)
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.   The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.   But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.   The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
 
 
Financial planning when based on sound principles will likely build a firm financial foundation for you, hence, the name Rock Solid Planning.
 
 
 
Many of us have not taken the time to specifically design a financial plan that can help build a rock solid foundation on which to build your financial future. If this is you, do not hesitate to contact our office to set up an initial interview and begin building your rock solid foundation.