Initially, I was going to portray myself as Pig #3, but now I realize that I’m more like a Pig #2.5.  I’m still building my house of bricks… 

The third little pig

My definition of the traits of Pig #3:  (It’s hard to try to be as objective as possible with a made up character ) 

1. Consistent and persistent attention to goals (in other words, organization)
2. Smart investor (house of bricks vs twigs or straw, tools instead of play things)
3. Hard worker
4. Frugal lifestyle (versus going out and partying all the time, special occasions are okay, but not every night)
5. Can do attitude
6. Follow through (finishing tasks that are completable)
7. Pride in work

My shortcomings: 

Of the 7 items I mention above, 

• I don’t have great organization skills.
• I don’t consistently have a “Can do attitude”
• I don’t have a “Follow through” mentality (I get something over 80% done and then stall, sometimes)

Yep, I’m Pig # 2.5, My boss at work, is more of a Pig #3 than I am. 

My boss does all 7 tasks listed above.  He has also been buying real estate as rental property.  He’s a consistent investor in diversified investments, while living a more frugal lifestyle than I live. 

So how can I become more of a Pig #3 type?  

My weakness is organization, this is my most important area to work on.  If you don’t have organization, it’s difficult to work on your other weaknesses effectively.  Organization is the key to maximizing all of the other 6 items identified above.  “Can do attitude” and “Follow through” are related to confidence in your work.  This is something that with time you can build too, I no longer have problems with confidence in my work, or at least not as much (thanks google). 

Click the links below to read about the other three little pigs: 

• Pig #1
• Pig #2

So the question is how do you define yourself?  When I started writing this series, I thought I epitomized Pig #3, but now I realize that I’m not quite there yet.

I’m posting about 2 other friends and the similarities that we’ve had over the ages to the story of the “Three Little Pigs” 

As a small child my grandmother use to read to me “The Three Little Pigs”.  It had an everlasting impression on me.  

The Three Little Pigs

When I was much younger, I had 2 friends that were like brothers to me.  In certain ways, we grew up like the three little pigs in many respects.  

So today, I’m going to talk about my Pig #2 friend:  

 Pig #2 isn’t in the same situation as Pig #1.  He still has his job (and actually making pretty decent money), and his house is better than both mine (by a little) and my first friend (Pig #1).  He also works fairly hard and doesn’t take advantage of his work (or at least not as much as Pig 1 did).  His wife is very attractive and very faithful to him. 

So why is he my choice for Pig #2? 

My friend always handles his finances poorly, he always lives for the moment.  Back 5 or so years ago, he also had a lot of credit card debt (like friend 1).  But after his mom complained to him (she does his income taxes…), he started changing their spending habits.  There was a time in the past when they bounced 10 checks in a row (incurring the cost of at least $20 overdrawal fee for each check bounced…).  Friend #2 is getting better, but he still spends his money rather quickly, taking vacations to Disney every other years and to other expensive places.  Of course, he had to go out and buy a new boat 4 years ago…  He takes trips out to Las Vegas every year (leaving his wife at home to watch the children).  He also goes out to the bars and buy his friends from work, rounds of drinks. 

The last few years, he has been renovating his house, spending 10s of thousands replacing the kitchen and living rooms, bathrooms and driveway (which wasn’t that bad to begin with). 

Pig 2's house

That said, my Friend #2 is lucky.  The house he lives in was his mother-in-law’s old house, it was signed to them as a gift in a trust, although they were suppose to pay 1/3 of the value of it back to his mother-in-law, they haven’t (nor do I think they ever will).  Ironically, his mother-in-law has fallen on more difficult financial times, but I still don’t think they are sending any money to her for the house agreement (even though they can afford it). 

My Pig #2 friend doesn’t save anything in any retirement account, nor has he started saving for college for his 2 kids…  Mostly, he is about having a good time…  Although he is married, often he goes out leaving his wife alone with the kids.  In some ways, it’s almost like he was back in college again. 

Financially, I’m pretty sure I’m doing better than he is, but not by much.  Getting a free house really helps in his case.  If it wasn’t for the free house, his net worth would be almost as low as Pig #1.

Life isn’t fair sometimes is it!  What do you think about his lifestyle?

-MR

As a small child my grandmother use to read to me “The Three Little Pigs”.  It had an everlasting impression on me. 

The Three Little Pigs

When I was much younger, I had 2 friends that were like brothers to me.  In certain ways, we grew up like the three little pigs in many ways. 

So today, I’m going to talk about my Pig #1 friend: 

My 1st friend, was the most successful of the three of us at first.  He made a lot of money and was on his way on becoming a VP at 2 of his former places of employment.  He looked exactly like people would expect of VP material.  He was tall, very handsome (he had many girlfriends), and was a smooth confident talker.  

So why is he my first choice for Pig #1? 

Well, he lived the high life, he had a Mercedes, married a spendthrift wife (he got her $15,000 rings), had an expensive country club membership, and went to Disney World almost every year (for a while, starting when his 1st child wasn’t even 2) staying at the ultra deluxe Disney resorts. 

At his high point he bought a $590,000 house, while having over $40,000 in credit card debt.  I was surprised when I heard that he bought a $590,000 house, especially since he declared bankrupcy years earlier.  After the company that he was getting paided the big bucks went out of business, his downfall started.  Being the smooth talker that he was, he was able to get out of the $590,000 with minimal losses to him (I think he owed them something like $11,000 or so).  

House of Straw

His brother took him in, and Pig Friend 1 lived in his bother’s basement (which is almost like an apartment) for the next 8 months.  After that Friend 1 and his wife moved out and then later got a divorce.  My friend got another job, but lost it too, when the economy started going sour.  He’s been unemployeed for quite a while now, but every now and then he gets great offers that he turns down (mainly because the drives are too long).  

He got luck, his Mom and Dad (yeah…), bought him his third house (it was a fixer upper, but still pretty nice).  For the last few months his father and brother has been helping him renovate it.  I would help also, but I live too far away.  His unemployment benefits are about to expire (yeah…), after getting so many extension from the government. 

I’m rooting for him (he’s a smart, talented guy), I just hope now that he is divorced, he start to approach life in a more sensible manner. 

America is full of 2nd chances, and he has skills…