The Perilous High Horse...

[sauer13]

or How the traditional fast track can fail catastrophically

As an addictions counselor I've admitted many interesting individuals into the program I currently work for. While the vast majority are clueless heroin addicted adolescents with a "hard-ass" complex, occasionally a completely different category of person comes to the program for services.

Yesterday a client came in with a resume that made me quite jealous. MBA from a prestigious IV league school, internships with an impressive array of international finance companies, and until recently a high level executive position with a fortune 500 financial services company.

However, if the gentleman were to update his resume, he would be forced to include: an executive purge resulting in lay-off, inability to properly interface with the unemployment system, and ultimately homelessness, alcoholism, and failing health.

As with all of the clients that come through the door I tried to extract some lesson from this individual.

The lesson I took away from the experience: Even with a sophisticated financial education, and years of experience with industry giants, failure is always a possible outcome. People should prepare mentally for adverse outcomes and not allow destructive negative thoughts after a set-back inhibit their ability to move on; additionally, people shouldn't take themselves so seriously, if plans don't work out it only means its time to try something new or different. Life has value even if the person living it is drowning in debt, so don't throw it out just because your all important plans, job, or whatever else didn't pan out.

Learn from the past; Don't live in it.

Danny

[Aletheides]

Wow that's intense.

While it's entirely possible for the bottom to rise to the top, many of us don't think its possible to drop right back to the bottom once you've got there

[HarveyJ]

I'm pretty amazed at that.
How did he not manage to have anything put away?
I know the US Economy hasn't been strong for a while now, but someone on even a junior executive salary should be earning enough to make a rainy-day fund.

[sauer13]

While I didn't probe too deeply into the details of this man's rise and fall (and hopefully return to prosperity through recovery), savings in the hands of an alcoholic or addict generally accelerates the descent to their bottom. I've worked with individuals who have had $100,000 "vacations" after receiving an inheritance or winning a civil suit. An analogous scenario would be handing your current net worth to your self as a child without removing any of the responsibilities you currently have.

By the way, I didn't start this thread to be a "storm cloud on a sunny day", I just wanted to provide a cautionary narrative against the dangers of "living in your head" or focusing on the negativity of previous failures or current adversity. I am aware that this may be an atypical reaction to losing ones job, but at the same time we hear stories about people committing suicide over a modest amount of consumer debt.

Danny

[Bill Moran]

Hi All and Sauer13

Very intense indeed

If there was 1 piece of advice I could add - Have your goals written in concrete and your plans written in sand

If you need to know more please PM me

Bill Moran - UK Based

[byzantium]

I think that sometimes, people don't think they have anywhere to turn after losing a job. Some of these baby boomer executives have worked their way up in one company their whole lives, only to find now that the trend is to dump older people for young bucks. They generally can't get hired, and decide that life isn't worth living. They generally are servicing $100k or more in high interest revolving debt, too. When they can't pay the debt, it all comes crashing down. The impulse to disappear is just too strong. Boomers and those after them generally didn't bother to plan for the future, so when the future arrives, they can't handle it.

[1entrepreneur]

"An executive purge resulting in lay-off..."

Someone with his credentials would have no problem getting another job.

I would dare say he already had serious problems, and the lay-off pushed him over the edge, leading to his "inability to properly interface with the unemployment system, and ultimately homelessness, alcoholism, and failing health."