Three things to do to cure the effects of a Captain Crunch Economy

Economic Seasons

The economy has seasons, just like the weather. Right now, the US economy is in very late Autumn or early Winter.

Spring, Summer and Fall were long and glorious: the question is what kind of a winter will we have? The single most important determining factor of how you'll be impacted by this winter is YOU: your flexibility, your understanding of what's happening, and your actions.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Remember the fable of the ant and the grasshopper? The ants worked hard through the fall to prepare for winter. The grasshopper never prepared. Once winter hit he had nothing and was dependent on the ants' resources.

How does this fable translate to us? We'll have more storms to endure before we get through this economic winter, so its time now to get our lives in order and to be prepared for whatever may come.

As estate planning attorneys, we help you get prepared for whatever possibility may occur in your life. If you don't have an updated current plan, you give up the right to have protection from life's downside risks. Why are you giving this up?

Captain Crunch Economy

Can you remember what it feels like to eat lots of Captain Crunch -or other sugary cereal - for breakfast? I remember it from growing up. There's a great sugar rush, a terrific blooming of energy, followed by a slowing down, then you enter a sugar-coma phase, where you crash. The only way out of it is to acknowledge that you can't live off of instantly gratifying sugary sweets all the time, and eat something of substance.

Over the last few years, the housing sector of the economy has been driven wild by certain banks, eager to make commissions, giving away lots and lots of money to people who were unable to repay it. (These banks and these people taking the loans were on a Captain Crunch feast.)

This artificially led us all to believe that housing prices were actually higher than their true market value. (This is the great sugar buzz.)

Eventually a capitalistic market corrects itself, and realizes that it can't run on instantly gratifying short term thinking, and re-balances the market. As a result, home prices are coming down and the availability of money for you is far more limited than in the past. The economy is now stiffening up and feeling the effects of all that short term gratification. (This is the 'sugar coma' that you feel after several bowls of Captain Crunch.)

We get out of this place by taking responsible steps toward the world we are building for our children and future generations.

Little Boy Thinking

It was little boy thinking that got us into this place. Little boy (or little girl) thinking is thinking that we never have to do or face anything difficult, or challenging.

Consequently, we engage in little boy (or Girl) behavior, where we operate on short term gratification, with very little thought about long term consequences. We avoid addressing anything too 'difficult', and paradoxically ensure that by avoiding the issue now, we'll have an even more difficult matter to deal with in the future.

Little boy thinking feels good in the moment but plants the seeds of future trouble. Our economy today is the harvest of our collective little boy thinking.

How to have a short, mild economic winter.

1. Think and act responsibly, with your personal integrity as your most important asset.
2. ID the messes in your life and start cleaning them up. Do you have an updated will or trust? Why not? What little boy thinking justifies this for you? Call us and we'll clean this up for you in a professional and enjoyable way.
3. Form relationships with professionals who can help you. We don't do everything - but we've got a strong network of excellent caring professionals we'd love to connect you with.

Visit www.heartlandlawfirm.com or Call us at 847-729-3300 for a free no obligation consultation to identify how we can help you have a mild winter, and a balanced breakfast with the right amount of short term and long term protection.