Is Life Still Good Being Broke?

Can you forgive yourself for being broke? If you had no money now, would you throw in the towel?  Would your financial stress do you in?

Apparently, Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet did.  He invested more than $1 billion of his clients’ money with Bernard Madoff and lost it all – so he killed himself. Mr. de la Villehuchet traced his lineage to French aristocracy.  He schlepped around the world in fancy yachts and schmoozed with European high-society.  He came from a very wealthy family.

This poor man did nothing illegal, but he did make a mistake. A big mistake.  He had an obligation to do his homework and he failed to do so. But did his error justify suicide?  Of course not.  So why did he do it? Was he afraid of looking for a different job after retirement?

Of course we can only speculate, but I think it’s fair to assume that he felt a great deal of shame about what had transpired.  He probably blamed himself.  And he most likely thought it would be easier and less painful to die than to deal with clients and to do the work of forgiving himself.

He’s left behind a grieving spouse (with twice the problems he had) and a bewildered tribe of clients looking for guidance.  Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet was a very selfish man.

I bring this up because I think that like Mr. de la Villehuchet, we make financial mistakes and we take too long to forgive ourselves.  This takes away energy we could use to correct the problem.  It also creates shame and as a result of that, we often attack innocent bystanders.

Even being broke, can you find a way to have no money stress?

What financial mistakes have you made this year?  Have you forgiven yourself and taken action to get on track? Or are you still beating yourself up?  If you want to give yourself and your family the best holiday gift ever, give them forgiveness.  Start by forgiving yourself.