This is a guest post by Roger, a former client of mine and self-described “jailbird”. Roger is an inspiration to all who know him- he’s cleaned himself up and now spends his time helping others do the same. I am delighted that Roger has agreed to make a contribution to this site, and I encourage all my readers to leave comments letting him know what you think.
Let’s get the nastiness out of the way- I’m an ex-con. I’m 34 years old and have spent 10 of the last 16 years behind bars for crimes ranging from drug possession and common theft to things much more serious. I’m not proud of the things I’ve done, but I am proud that I’ve put these things behind me.
I’m not a financial expert and I’m far from wealthy but money and business has always been something that I’ve been interested in- unfortunately, instead of investing in widgets and stocks I chose to invest in less acceptable industries. Trying to get on my feet after my last release has been tough, but the lessons I learned in prison are helping me recover and start a new life. I hope you never find yourself having to learn these lessons first hand, but feel free to learn from what I’ve got to share.
- The only person looking out for you is you - Correctional officers, cellmates, friends, financial planners- they all pretend to want to help you, and many will try, but when push comes to shove everyone looks out for themselves first. Take control of your life and your finances, and don’t trust others to take care of things for you. It’s your money, and it’s your life.
- Debt costs you more than money - Debt is bad. Simple, eh? But it’s not just bad because it costs you money, it also costs you opportunity and can weigh heavily on your soul. Walking around the compound knowing that you owe somebody something is draining, frustrating, and leads to stress you just don’t need, wondering if your debt is going to be called in or your creditor will settle things with a shiv. Get out of debt and set your mind at ease.
- You’re not smarter than the system - Prison is full of guys who thought they were smart enough to not get caught, but weren’t. Everybody thinks they’re special, or that they’ve got an edge. They don’t. You can’t reliably beat the market, and you can’t get something for nothing. Stick to index funds; if you want to gamble, go see Slick in East Block for a game of craps.
- Your assets are only worth what someone is willing to pay - The trade in goods and services is as vibrant inside the prison as it is outside, and just like on the outside, what you’ve got to offer is only worth what someone is willing to pay. A carton of Marlboros is worthless is everybody wants du Mauriers. Too many people get caught up on artificial values on their house, their car, and even their investments. Just because you think your house is worth $300,000 doesn’t mean it is- it’s worth what a willing buyer is going to pay.
- Don’t punch above your weight - The best way to get yourself in serious trouble is to take on things you can’t handle. Know your limits and accept what you can and can’t do. If you can’t handle credit cards, cut them up. If you need an all cash budget, make it happen. If you need help, ask for it.
- Bid’ness is Bid’ness - It’s easy to get emotionally involved in things, even when logic would tell you to cut your losses. If your goal is to make money, make money. Drop the losers, sell when your target is hit, and be strategic in your moves. Don’t wait for the next bounce or just a little more increase- make a plan, and stick to it. Be as cold as ice when it comes to your investments.
- Your greatest asset is your future potential - The most valuable thing you’ve got is not your house or your trading account or your savings. It’s your ability to work, to earn, and to advance. The reason so many people (including me) keep ending up back in prison is because we don’t have the skills to do anything other than the life that got us there in the first place. Work hard at your job, show your worth, and keep improving yourself. Your ability to earn a living is the best thing you’ve got- don’t squander it, and never stop trying to improve yourself.
- There’s beauty in simplicity - My time locked up has taught me lots, but the greatest lesson is that simple is beautiful. Happiness isn’t about material possessions, or drugs, or money, or even love. It’s about self acceptance and inner peace. Free yourself from materialism and learn to accept who and what you are, because the happiness you’re pursuing can only come from inside.
- The only person who can help you change is you - I’ve seen all kinds of rehab and social adjustment programs, and they’re all useless. If you want to change your bad habits, whether its overspending or oxycontin, you’ve got to want to change more than anything else. All the self help books, counseling, prayer, and training don’t mean anything if you’re not willing to change deep down.
I thank Money Grubbing Lawyer for letting me share my experiences with you. I wish you all peace, happiness, and every success.
You might also enjoy:
{ 10 trackbacks }
{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
What a unique perspective! Congratulations on getting yourself straight. I’d love to hear more about your story and how you’re transitioning to life as an EX-con.
Roger, maybe you should start a “prison finance” blog!
A fine set of guiding principals, thanks and good on you for putting yourself out there.
Wow, awesome post and excellent, common-sense principles to live by. Thanks very much!
Probably the best, most frank and honest article I’ve read on personal finance.
Straight, sweet, to the point. Very nicely done. Am going to link to this in my Link Love.
Fabulously Broke in the City
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver…
Great examples. Thanks.
Roger, thanks again for this guest post. I must admit that I laughed quite a bit at the thought of one of my creditors settling things with a shiv- I can just imagine the guys from the “Hands in my pockets” ad coming up and shanking people from behind.
Roger,
Congratulations on putting your past behind. As for the future, I think you’re missing a real opportunity if you don’t write/blog more! This was an excellent article!
An entirely new perspective on finance… Love this.
Congratulations for straightening your life out and developing a perspective based on the philosophy in your article. I coudn’t agree more with your rules and am above that extremely thankful, that I didn’t need to go to prison to learn them - even though the process was quite painful too!
The only rule(s) I’d add would be: “Pay yourself first” and “A part of all you earn is yours to keep” (George S. Clason - The Richest Man in Babylon)
Being 34 myself, I agree on your statement, that your greatest asset is your future potential. I really hope that you will live up to your full potential and help other people to realize theirs as well!
Well written and wonderfully to the point. I love the cigarette analogy.
It has helped me enormously and I don’t know why but when someone has really learnt even if it is the hard way the wisdom is easy to take and digest. Thank you.
Really great post! My favorite is number 8. Simplicity trumps all.
I really enjoyed your post, and agree entirely with each of your points. Very down to earth and practical - and well stated. Many thanks!
Beautifully written… thank you for sharing your hard earned lessons.
Thanks having the courage to expose your self a little to get the whole story across. It was an excellent note to see that some business strategies really are the same no matter where you are or what you have done. Great post, and glad to hear that you have recovered. Keep up the good work though, we all need improvement constantly
Truly, “the only person looking out for you is you.”
Have a desire to handle money well. Educate yourself about it. Use Discipline and have a plan.
Great post.
Excellent list, Roger. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. Best wishes to you.
Thank you for your honesty and courage it takes to tell your story. You have both a unique perspective and a unique writing ‘voice’.
Best of luck as you continue to craft a new and better life for yourself.
Amazing story. I like it.
This is the best post I’ve read all week. No, really.
Spot on!
I really liked your advice and plan to follow it . It is easy to underestimate the easiest of things. Good luck. God Bless
Here’s a guy that’s been there; he took the picture and bought the tee-shirt. Excellent advice.
What a loser! Way to give up, We all want stuff, and nothing else is going to make up happy. We want the biggest house, the best girlfriend, and the most money. And if this guy could get them (which he can’t), he would want that too.
Very Nice ARTICLE VERY WELL DONE !!!!!!!
CONGRADULATIONS.
AWESOME!!! This is a guy who has traveled down many roads and its seems he found the answer to lifes problems ….Money is the root to all evil some end up in prison cause of it. Some of the comments i read like “What a loser! Way to give up, We all want stuff, and nothing else is going to make up happy. We want the biggest house, the best girlfriend, and the most money. And if this guy could get them (which he can’t), he would want that too.” Well here is your future prison inmate…Hope when he paroles out he has earned his degree on life…Some go to college some go to prison but some of the lifes best lessons are in prison….
I have spent the past 30 years in prison. Only on the other side of the fence…as a Supervisor. And I can tell you that there are a few that will make it just like Roger. You learn to “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” In or out of prison, it’s a standard in life that will provide for survival.
Rogers history wasn’t unfortunate at all if it led him to these sound principles and realizations. 37 is relatively young, and there are a lot of men a lot older skirting behind their pedigree, that don’t have half the character that Roger has had the good fortune of developing. Furthermore the real tragedy here is not that we lack the know how, it’s that we lack the character to do the right thing when no one is looking.
I feel the answer to a lot of the shame brought on the market by the financial sector would be quickly remedied if the circumstances became more similar to what Roger witnessed in prison. Unfortunately we can’t go around shanking fund managers and bank executives because they choose to hide behind their stupidity. In that sense I envy the simplicity of prison life. Here we just pass the buck on to the tax payer and give the guilty a hall pass. Yeah that´s gonna keep it from happening again.
Naturally I understand this article was written for “personal” finance, but I feel it’s important to see the relativity as to why it’s important for sound principles to start in the home. Because more often than not, once a person leaves home without them, they undoubtedly become a public issue. Thank you Roger, I truly enjoyed your read.
Lets not forget or forgive too quickly for “Roger”. What if he was Jeffrey Skilling? There should be no forgiveness for some cons and they deserve a bad, tough and hard life. He set himself straight? Wow, guess what “Rog” I never went to prison because I work hard, 9-5 and had a regular job when I was 15 as a dish washer.
Thanks for some common sense insight. Some people are so ungodly stupid that they think your comments are a gift. Funny thing, I had this common sense at 20 years old, it took you how long?
Thanks for sharing your story. We all need to hear more like it. Believe it or not, it helps others in similar situations.
Fighters Against Recidivism
As someone who has spent a fair amount of time in jail myself….I would suggest that the writer of the article simplifies and understates the tremendous obsticles that an ex-con faces just trying to survive in the real world. If your only expectation is to eat and maybe have a place to sleep you might achieve that…..everything above that is a stretch. There is not support for you but whatever means you can devise for yourself. Hopefully that will be a legal means going forward?
Roger! Those are some real true lessons! #4 is probably the truest, and hardest …. I’m a musician, and right now, there are lots less people willing to pay for music - so I am doing all kinds of part-time jobs, that have nothing to do with music, to make sure that I can continue to play music! I know what you mean about debt, too - - I have a 20 year old Zenith TV (it’s so old, it was actually made in the United States!), but I have the best drums and cymbals money can buy …. so I allocate my $$ where it’s important to me. Good luck to you - - really!
Hi Roger,
thank you for sharing your experiences that make you stand out from the crowd. Prison has such negative connotations attached to it and it is absolutely wonderful that you’ve managed to flip the script and put a positive spin on things. Congrats Mate you’re a true role model!
Dream, Build, Inspire, Lead!
AJ~
very well said… Congratulations….
Roger,
Thank you for sharing your experiences and life lessons with us, it all really does come down to keeping it simple. Your common sense, direct comments are a great tool for all of us to use. We are beginning our plan to crawl out of debt and I look forward to sharing your article with my husband and family.
May this same common sense, direct attitude lead you down the path you have chosen. Thank you for opening your life up to us.
GJ
Roger,
I felt like the wind was knocked out of me after reading this. Your lessons are so true and profound. Thank you so much for sharing your life lessons and experience in jail - finding this article feels like finding precious gold nuggets!
kc
WOW!!!! You got it all right!!! Good luck!!!!
wishing you the best — thank you for sharing hope you share with all of us again on your progress.
With regards to “the only person looking out for you is you” how lonely and yet so true for too many. Faith is a powerful tool that provides strength to those who need a little nudge. You might say faith in yourself, but I say faith that my God wants only the best for me in life. When I want or need something, I pray to God and amazingly God provides. It’s not always exactly what I prayed for but it is exactly what I needed but just didn’t know it. So, though you believe you are the only one looking out for you, I believe God is looking out for me and two source of energies is much more powerful than one…or should I say, God for me is like having a back-up generator my light rarely goes dim for long…Peace and Congrats on accomplishing more than being in prison and getting by.
This post definitely hits the nail on the head. It’s right on. Thanks for this! Great perspective!!
Hey, this was okay. I really enjoyed it.
One of the best finance articles I’ve read. give thumbs up on su!!
What’s up, is there anybody else here?
If there’s anyone else here, let me know.
Oh, and yes I’m a real person LOL.
Later,
http://www.Freepaygsim.co.uk
Found this site on another forum you can order a free payg sim and it comes with £5 credit on with no top-up required aswell,
For Free you cant go wrong can ya?
Thought this would be a nice way to join the forum