I was taken aback when Ambot informed me that the Platinum sack of shit had requested to see our financial records.
He has absolutely no business being involved in something like that,” I said. The fact that he does not work for a bank does not exclude us from seeking a loan.
“But if we're serious about building a firm, he says we have to present him with a budget,” Ambot countered. The Platinum wanted to view our budget? I couldn't understand out why they needed to see it other than Ambot's vague explanation that the Platinum wanted to help us build a budget that we could follow and help us get back on track financially, which made no sense to me at the time. Let's check if he's a financial planner or not. I was under the impression he had a government job that was unrelated to finance? But then I forget that being a sack of shit Platinum necessitates the inability to take care of one's own affairs first and foremost.
In the past couple of years, I'd read a book written by a financial planner in which one of the exercises was to make a budget, and I'd used that information to create a budget at some point. When I got home, I started reading books by another financial expert who advised against setting budgets because over 90 percent of people don't adhere to them in the first place, which was completely true in our situation. I decided that the budget I had recorded on the computer was sufficient for me and that it did not require any updates, so I printed it out for Ambot.
The Platinum was impressed and stated that we were in significantly better shape than the majority of his downline. There was a good justification for this, especially considering that, aside from our mortgage, we had no other debt. We owned our automobiles and had money in the bank, as well as investments and savings. This is merely a normal aspect of the human experience. People in their twenties who are just starting off still have to save enough for a down payment on their first home, and they almost certainly had to take out a loan to purchase a vehicle. And, more than likely, you have credit card debt.
So the jerk wants to see our budget in order to help us stay on track financially, even though we're in better financial health than he is?
In retrospect, I can see that the Platinum wanted to see our budget in order to determine how much wiggle space we had to purchase Amway items and make investments in equipment when he noticed the disparity between our income and expenses. The true reason he was impressed was the fact that we had no debt on our credit cards and had approximately $100,000 in cash on hand. In addition to being able to charge a lot of Amway items, we had nothing preventing us from attending gatherings outside of our home state of California. “All you have to do is charge it!” Given that we have equity in our home, the Platinum must have seen dollar indicators that we could be able to obtain a line of credit against that equity if we required it. In addition, we had a sizable 401k that we could use to make donations to the religion, which he must have thought was fantastic.
He must have given me some Amway-related items to include in the amended budget I created following the Platinum meeting, because I just looked at it. Every month, $300 has been set aside towards PV expenses. As previously said, Ambot spent between $950 and $1050 each month on PV, as detailed in my earlier post. (Remember what I said about not sticking to a budget???) This is under household, and it contains items such as groceries, utilities, and so on. Three items (HA!) are listed under business expenses: a website for $50 (which would have been the WWDB Premier membership), Communikate for $34, and samples for $60, for a total of $144 in business expenses per month. Plus $300 in personal shopping for PV, for a total of $444. That's roughly what I mentioned in my Save First, Spend Later blog post about a low-ball monthly Amway investment in the first place. Add in the functions and budget a minimum of $700 per month. We spent a little more than what the sack of shit had us put on the budget, but not much more.
The budget was never mentioned or referred to again. It's a little like the name list. Simply produce one to demonstrate to the Platinum that you possess one, and there is no need to bring it up again.
However, we did not receive any specific recommendations from the Platinum on how much money to allocate to the Amway budget. After getting "heated up," Ambot spent close to $2000 each month on different Amway-related activities, including purchasing products, purchasing tools, entertaining upline, and so on. Ambot's spending habits improved after that. After he reached the credit card limit on his account, his spending was cut to approximately $500 per month.
So much for sticking to a budget. It is possible that if I were to keep a journal, I would have to include a new column for paying off credit card debt, thanks to Amway.
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