In the week
just gone I was astounded to speak with a lady on the
phone who, with her husband, had paid over $6000 for a
computerised betting system from the Gold Coast.
Oh dear oh dear
oh dear. Why do people keep falling in to this stuff?
Don't get me wrong - I am not paying out on her but I
am disgusted that she could end up in this bad situation.
She and her husband
had both just lost their jobs and were at the "el
desperado" stage with regard to their living expenses
and commitments. She explained they only bought the "cheap"
version because they already had their own laptop and
didn't need the laptop that came as a "bonus"
with the more expensive $9000 package.
The Lord hold
me up!
Considering
I could go down to Office Works right now and pick up
a fairly decent lap top for 500 bucks, that bonus laptop
must be really something special for an extra three grand!
I explained
to her that there was nothing on our site that would even
go close to replacing two full time job incomes and that
ours is a recreational site - no more. no less. We do
not claim to have the golden solution to life's problems
and, like all of us, are unlikely to ever stagger across
it. If we were ever going to, we would have done so by
now - even if by accident! There is no golden bullet -
it's just hard work and applocation and discipline.
Now this poor
woman had just about reached the end of her tether and
I can understand why. I too have been in the situation
of having to deal with "phone robots" from the
finance companies and tried to sort out all consuming
financial hassles. I'm sure a lot reading this have in
the past.
But spending
$6000 to buy some magic software is probably not the short
cut way to go. If you have no debts and good solid jobs
and want to have some fun with the races - hey - knock
yourself out - spend whatever you want on whatever software
turns you on. Go for it!
HOWEVER, if
you have mounting debts and no income to satisfy those
creditors and your very way of life and the things that
underpin it are at risk, DO NOT believe for one moment
that the solution to your financial dramas will be unearthed
in a race at Balaklava or Mornington or Gladstone.
It just does
not happen. The added problem becomes that because you
are absolutely desperate NOT to lose, not even thinking
clearly about actually winning, you will inevitably make
decisions that you would not normally make if you weren't
under such immense pressure.
Racing is a
terrific fun thing to be involved in but remember this
- only about 4% of people have the discipline and methodologies
to make it work most of the time to their advantage. If
you are under the hammer financially, punting on racing
racing seven days a week while you are "pressurised"
and "need to win" will not help your situation
- it will only exacerbate the problem.
If you are in this situation,
don't spring $6000 or $9000 on a credit card. At $6000,
without repaying any money off the total amount, that
will add (in round figures and depending on your credit
card interest rate), about another $22 a week to your
repayments or around $94 a month to your minimum repay.
Which of course means you'll have to win at least $100
a month just to pay the interest!
Please - think about it - and then think about it again.
I am sure that if you are in this unenviable situation,
there are way better things to do with six or nine grand.
Like give it to me for starters
and I'll send you a brand new laptop every month for the
next six months - what a deal eh? How could you resist?
