Take a Financial Mulligan
“Opportunity is just success looking for a place to happen.” — Greg Hickman
My partner, Jeanine, recently bought a new set of clubs so we have been on golf kick lately. With golf, you’re allowed to take a mulligan a few times throughout a social round. We use the mulligan freely. It’s a game. It’s supposed to be fun. A mulligan can turn a bad hole into a good one… a second chance, per se.
If life offered a financial mulligan now and then… what would you do-over?
Here’s my list:
1. I would have only bought used cars.
2. I would have started saving in my twenties.
3. I would have bought my first house sooner.
4. I would have waited until I was older & wiser to start my own business.
5. I would have only bought term life insurance.
6. I would have never carried a balance on my credit card.
7. I would have roommates to save money while I was renting.
8. I would have been more frugal.
9. I would have finished my Master’s degree.
10. I would have more assets and fewer liabilities.
What are some of yours?
The only “mulligan” I thnk I would take would be not buying my house when I did- or selling it sooner than I did.
After a traumatic breakup of a relationship, I bought a house- a small “starter” home- since I felt I needed something to call my own.
Fast forward a few years- I met my life partner who also owned a home. Within a year we were married, and decided to live in her house.
We tried to sell my house but the market froze up for a while- so we agreed to rent it out. Then the disasters began. People you would think would be good tenants turned out to be the kind of people who put big holes in the walls from drunken fights, etc. It took many dollars and much effort to get the house market ready again- then it sat. For literally a year. We got another realtor to get real with us- and wouldn’t you know it- a rash of copper pipe thieves stole the plumbing from the house one night (thankfully the water service had been shut off). We finally just took whatever offer came our way- it was a wash that I could just walk away from.
All the years, money, and desparate times around that damn house– the mulligan I wish could take.