I remember it like it was yesterday. The credit card offers would come in the mail. “1.9% for 6 months on balance transfers”. Nancy and I would quickly apply and then move our balance from our current Visa with higher interest over to the new one. 6 months later we would move to another low-interest provider. We did this for several years until we paid off our balance which was mostly from school fees. We were keeners and paid off the debt as quickly as we could, but it was exhausting. Since then we have never had an outstanding balance but do buy everything on our card for the travel rewards.
I remember trying to make ends meet each month. Our idea of date night was the deal at Burger King - 2 burgers and 2 fries for $2.22. We would go through the drive-through and then sit in the car and eat our burgers and fries with the can of no-name pop we brought from home. This was our idea of eating out. It wasn’t because we were cheap, it was because we were flat broke.
Probably the saddest day we ever experienced after we came to Calgary in 1998 was when we took the last $500 of credit we had available on our CIBC VISA to use as a downpayment with AGT (That was the telephone provider in Alberta at the time). The deposit was necessary in order to be able to have a telephone so that Nancy could make calls and book appointments for her business as a Representative for PartyLite Gifts and Accessories. Even today when we drive by the old CIBC bank on 9th Avenue in Inglewood, where we had to go to place our deposit, the memories come flooding back and the utter hatred I had towards the telephone company for leaving us practically destitute for several weeks.
We had no income. We had a few groceries. And, we had a 5-year-old. I managed to get a job at a cement precast company, but in those days you had to work a month before you ever saw your first pay cheque. I actually had to collect pop cans to get the money needed to pay for gas to get to work.
The good news is we made it and as the Good Book says: “Do not despise the days of small beginnings.”
Perhaps you can identify with our story. Maybe you came here with nothing as well. As an immigrant. A refugee. A high school dropout. A runaway. A foreigner. A disappointment.
You know, over the past 20+ years we have learned some valuable life lessons on getting out of debt, buying our first property, then a second, and a third and so on. We have learned a few things in our 20 years as Landlords. We have built up a few successful and profitable businesses. From some of our darkest days of despair to some of our brightest and proudest moments. We have taken numerous courses and designations from higher learning institutions and a few courses from the school of hard knocks. I think you will benefit immensely from the knowledge we have acquired.
You can learn from our story and how to turn your setbacks into comebacks, how to overcome debt once and for all and how seeds of hope can sprout from the ash heap of our darkest days of despair. How to follow a plan to end the financial chaos in your life and set yourself and your kids up for financial prosperity. Nancy and I can teach you some tips on managing cash flow and the best strategies to get ahead.
"Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty." - A proverb
See you soon!
Your Trusted Advisors,
Willis & Nancy Langford
587-755-0159
