In April of 1912 over 2,000 people boarded the magnificent Titanic. The story of its sinking is legendary and its great loss of life is usually attributed to icy waters and a meager supply of lifeboats. But icy waters and a low number of lifeboats were only attributes of the demise not the crux. The main reasons for the demise of the Titanic were poor communication and poor vision.
For instance another ship, The Californian, was only 20 miles away. Why didn't it help? Because of many Communication problems.
The Titanic's Marconi system was shut down on Saturday and part of Sunday before the Sunday night collision. With the communications system shut multiple ice berg alerts were not received or simply ignored. And the operators on the Titanic told the Californian to "shut up." Then in strange irony the Californian shut down their Marconi system 3o minutes before the Titanic began sending distress signals. In our families we sometimes fail to talk about money or we ignore sound financial advice to our own demise.
Of course communication wasn't the only challenge with the Titanic. Vision played a role too. The weather was clear and devoid of fog. A look out could have spotted the ice berg in time to slow down (22 knots) or change direction. Instead the only pair of binoculars were locked away and no body on the ship had a key. Sometimes we get so blinded by our daily debts and forget to plan long term investments and spending. We need to take our "binoculars" out and plan what we will do with money so we avoid the big icebergs in our future.
Other ships missed ice bergs in that same region, but communication and vision were crucial in the Titanic's demise.
Communicate with those that control money in your house. Establish a clear financial vision by proactively creating a budget. Communicate and envision what needs to be changed now so you can avoid financial calamity when the big ice bergs appear.
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