Sounds like a cliche doesn’t it?
Well, like a lot of cliches there’s a grain of truth in this one and that’s what I’m going to try to break down the importance of maintenance and why insurance is your friend.
In a previous life, I was a professional photographer. In this life, I had a few cameras and accessories that were stolen at a gig. A devastating blow as these were my Means of Production.
None of the things were insured…
When I related the incident to a colleague the first thing they remarked was,
“weren’t you insured?”
For them it was so obvious, I had to be. They couldn’t fathom that I hadn’t insured the means by which I was making a living!
That lesson stuck with me.
Social mobility is a lot like war – you fight, you gain ground and try to hold on to that ground for as long as possible. There’s no point in gaining ground and losing it. So, your plan forward must always have the means to hold on to what you have conquered.
A closer example is your first car. Obviously, you have to buy insurance and make a point to drive it carefully, you lock it up at night. You hope to hold on to this ground for at least 5 years – at which you will either let it go in pursuit of another. Or to pursue another while holding on to this one.
One must make sure to Insure anything and everything that enables us to earn a means of income currently; better know as the Means of Production.
Phil Crosby wrote,
“If anything is certain, it is that change is certain.”
Yes, the economic climate could change but insuring your possessions enables the internal climate of your finances to remain steady. Change is absolutely certain but you don’t want the winds of change to disenfranchise you of your gained ground
.…
I recently heard of a house that burnt down. People went on about how beautiful it was and how it must have cost a fortune to build.
I had a different question; why did this multi-million-dollar property have no sprinklers or at the very least, a smoke alarm?
This is a prime example of losing gained ground on the assumption that things will remain the same.
Your Vision, your plan, your way forward must always have a caveat based on how you are going to hold on to what you have gained; be it something as simple as electronics, tools or vehicles.
The difference between maintaining and insurance is; maintaining is the cumulative effort, time and money you spend on making sure that your possession stays in the best possible condition. If it’s a house it means renovating, repainting etc. if it’s an electronic it may mean putting it away safely every time or getting a cover for it. Insurance; is the amount you pay a third party so that in the event that something unexpected happens to your possession you are able to recover/repurchase it.
This was my own common mistake in my twenties, I thought getting something meant I’d always have it. So, I took no effort to maintain or insure, what happened is that I kept going round in circles.
I would gain ground only to lose it, only to gain it, then lose it again.
Long-term financial success needs to be planned. A personal estimate is that a third of your income should be used to maintaining while two thirds should be used to insure.
My last words are…
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