Thursday 13 January 2011

Wellbeing: Are you a Dragon's Den Entrepreneur or Lifetime Indentured Apprentice



So what's your TV preference? Are you a Dragon's Den fan or an Apprentice fan?

Started Thursday 13th January 2010 6.35 am
Word Count 488  Word Limit 500
Success Index (SI) = 98%
SI < 100% =Aspirational Target Achieved

Thursday's Wellbeing theme happens to coincide with the announcement of the Bank of England interest rate.  For the people in this country who still have to be economically active to service their debt this is a very worrying time.  It is probably affecting their overall Wellbeing.

These  people have inadvertently found themselves to be indentured servants of the banks. They  expected this indenturing to allow them passage to the Land of Opportunity across what they thought was a relatively calm sea of life.

They expected to have their release from their indenturship when the law said they had to retire.  

For convenience sake and because they trusted their bank they purchased their ship's ticket through the bank's travel arm.   They shook the hand at the end of the banks' travel arm and watched in wonderment as it then changed into the banks' mortgage arm. 

 As they continued to shake this same hand that had miraculously  changed to the mortgage arm, they listened carefully.  And for a small fee signed up and agreed to vary their financial outlook by reducing their monthly payments.  

Unfortunately like any voyage across an ocean bad things do happen at sea.  The banker was very happy and able to enjoy a skiing holiday.  The  servant wanted to go skiing (spending the kid's inheritance) so again looked down at the hand he was shaking  and was left in awe and wonder as the arm changed back to that of travel again.

The servant became very upset. The bank patted themselves on the back and paid themselves their bonus out of the money the servant had paid  to buy the indenturship.    However, they had signed the loosely worded indenturship and the terms had been met by the bank.  They felt powerless even though they had been morally and ethically wronged.

What I haven't shared so far is that I too have been paid a performance bonus by my bank.  However I am not a banker.  I have been a cooperative society member for the last six years. I buy all my financial services from The Cooperative bank (My Bank shows their corporate face). I receive my performance bonus twice a year.

When I became aware that my financial Wellbeing would be  changing rapidly,  I sought to avoid this Tsunami on my sea of life.  One of my decisions was to change my mortgage to a more expensive ten year fixed mortgage. I continued with my vocation even though I was metaphorically dying on my feet.  So when I finally stopped shaking my employers' hand and walked away I had all my fingers, though they were a little bruised. The bruising is just starting to go 6 months later.

I will share more in the blog 2pointfiveageofman.net.

So what are you? An entreprenurial Dragon? An endentured apprentice? Or a member of a society that cooperates for everybody's benefit?

Which one would you like to be?

Tomorrow the  theme is reflecting on the week's progress.

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