Recovering from my stolen purse experience has been quite a journey, a journey of lessons learned and consequences paid. After a criminal stole my purse while I was walking my child into school, they withdrew large sums of money, even after all my cards had been canceled. It took more than 3 weeks to recoup my money and countless hours taking matters into my own hands. At this point the police and I both know the address of my perpetrator, but they remain free because Chase Bank (at more than one location) neglected to outfit their branches with proper equipment, specifically cameras, to prevent instances like this.
I had an overwhelming number of people who have thanked me for sharing my story because they were able to learn my lesson with me instead of finding out the hard way. As a result, I would like to share how everything was ultimately handled and explain how my experience prompted a much-needed Financial Day Off.
A Financial Day Off is something that I learned from my trusted and dear friend, Rodney Anderson. Rodney is a financial health resuscitator. His broad knowledge and expertise extends to all aspects of financial well-being. He is a very well known mortgage professional appearing frequently on national TV and radio to share his expertise, in addition to his weekly radio show (which I co-host) on weekdays AM-1190, and Saturday on 1080 KRLD AM. Rodney’s knowledge spans economic trends, consumer credit, credit capacity, all types of mortgages, housing markets, economic indicators, as well as the impact of real-life issues, which is exactly why his advice was my first stop after my purse was stolen.
Once the obvious things were handled like canceling my credit cards, contacting police, and doing my own du-diligence, Rodney suggested I take a Financial Day Off; this is a day dedicated to reviewing all finances. A day to make the call to your phone company and ask why as a single mom am I paying for a family plan, internet and TV- why do I have every single movie channel even though I absolutely HATE watching movies, take inventory of what is on auto pay. A day to figure out why you are paying for both Pandora and Spotify, notice that your Mystic Tan membership is still charging you even though you canceled it over a year ago. A day you look at your credit cards and/or checking accounts as an itemized list. In a world of auto draft and auto payment we forget little things. I saved myself nearly $3,000 on this day.
As a single mom I realize the importance of having my finances in order. I have learned to not only live in my means but also live below my means.
Having said all of this, and after giving you my best financial advice, I must now practice what I preach and begin to be my own financial mistress. In order to do so, I need to acquire real assets for my son, Wyatt and myself. This means less shopping and more saving up for a home. Owning a home, according to Rodney, is one of the best investments because: mortgages are cheap right now and this is a buyers market, owning is less expensive then renting (most of the time), and most importantly, it’s yours! When school lets out for the summer this purchase is happening. I will keep you all in the loop with the process! Keep on #ChasingAmy because these next steps are going to be huge for me!
