ONE OF MY GREATEST REGRETS.

 ONE OF MY GREATEST REGRETS.

While I have several regrets, one of my greatest regrets has to do with money, and trying to support my family. This is something I was brought up to believe I had to do. I had to provide that support or I wasn't a real man. (Again, this is what I was brought up to believe.)

As a young man, I set out to make my way in the working world, primarily in the electronics field.
It started with my desire to go into the military and while there learn all I could about electronics. In fact, I signed on to the Army with an agreement that would send me to almost a full year of electro-mechanical and electronic schooling. In the end, I completed the training second in my class and with the rank of Specialist 4th class.

I had my choice of assignments, and I chose to serve with the 9th ASA Field Station in the Philippines at Clark Air Force Base.

It was shortly after I completed my tour of service in the military that I realized there were no classes given in High School about budgeting, investing, or saving money. There weren't even any classes on accounting or budgeting given in High School.

To get back to my regret, it is the fact that I never really learned how to earn, save, and how to invest and grow my money. Nor did I learn how to budget my time and money to the greatest advantage for me and my family.

Yes, I thought I did know how, but I really didn't. Even today, I still don't really  have good knowledge of how to earn, invest, and grow my money. I think that I may have been able to acquire a fortune, had I had the willingness to steal or at least been willing to skirt the letter of the law. While in the service overseas, I could very easily gone into the black market business. It was a very lucrative endeavor back in those days. But I valued my top secret clearance too much to do anything illegal.

I did however do some undercover work, in order to help the Army Intelligence Group locate and identify who was moving and selling the black market material. The undercover sting was a success, by the way.

Later on in life I managed to attend College classes that included Accounting 101 and 201.  I apparently do not have the necessary mental mindset needed for making use of accounting classes. Which is kind of funny, because I have worked as a Tax Preparer for many, many years.

After leaving the service, I continued working for the Army Security Agency for another 12 years. I did so because there were no jobs available in the civilian market for a person with my training. Believe me it isn't because I didn't try for a job in the civilian market.

While working full time for the ASA, I started my own TV, Radio, and appliance repair company to earn extra money, In light of what transpired with my marriage, that was a mistake, as Bobbie and I had 4 young girls quite close in age, and I did not spend as much time home with Bobbie as she needed for me too. Once again, my upbringing instilled in me that I was the bread winner, and my wife was the home keeper. As a result of spending so much time away from home, Bobbie and I got a divorce.

Learning how to balance my time between home and work was a difficult and tricky proposition. Why you ask? Because most of the time I was in positions of supervision and management which required a great deal of attention to the running of the business. Middle and upper management was extremely demanding, as it involves the hiring and firing, training and re-training of employees, disciplining and praising their work, budgeting and tracking of funds, and on and on it goes.

The responsibilities can be overwhelming, and sometimes it was. Need I go on?


"(C) Copyright by Victor Winebrenner"