The Speeding Ticket:
December 18, 2009
Read This Slowly
Jack took a long look at his speedometer
before slowing down: 73 in a 55 zone.
Fourth time in as many months.
How could a guy get caught so often?
When his car had slowed to 10 miles an hour,
Jack pulled over, but only partially.
Let the cop worry about the potential traffic hazard.
Maybe some other car will tweak his backside with a mirror.
The cop was stepping out of his car,
the big pad in hand.
Bob? Bob from Church?
Jack sunk farther into his trench coat.
This was worse than the coming ticket.
A cop catching a guy from his own church
A guy who happened to be a little eager
to get home after a long day at the office.
A guy he was about to play golf with tomorrow.
Jumping out of the car,
he approached a man he saw every Sunday,
a man he’d never seen in uniform.
‘Hi, Bob. Fancy meeting you like this..’
’Hello, Jack.’ No smile.
’Guess you caught me red-handed
in a rush to see my wife and kids.’
‘Yeah, I guess.’ Bob seemed uncertain.
Good.
’I've seen some long days at the office lately.
I’m afraid I bent the rules a bit -just this once.’
Jack toed at a pebble on the pavement.
‘Diane said something about roast beef and potatoes tonight.
Know what I mean?’
‘I know what you mean
I also know that you have a reputation in our precinct ‘
Ouch.
This was not going in the right direction.
Time to change tactics..
‘What’d you clock me at?’
Seventy. Would you sit back in your car please?’
’Now wait a minute here, Bob.
I checked as soon as I saw you.
I was barely nudging 65..’
The lie seemed to come easier with every ticket.
Please, Jack, in the car’
Flustered, Jack hunched himself through the still-open door. Slamming it shut, he stared at the dashboard.
He was in no rush to open the window.
The minutes ticked by.
Bob scribbled away on the pad.
Why hadn’t he asked for a driver’s license?
Whatever the reason,
it would be a month of Sundays
before Jack ever sat near this cop again.
A tap on the door jerked his head to the left.
There was Bob, a folded paper in hand
Jack rolled down the window a mere two inches,
just enough room for Bob to pass him the slip.
’Thanks.’
Jack could not quite keep the sneer out of his voice.
Bob returned to his police car without a word.
Jack watched his retreat in the mirror.
Jack unfolded the sheet of paper.
How much was this one going to cost?
Wait a minute..
What was this? Some kind of joke?
Certainly not a ticket. Jack began to read:
‘Dear Jack, Once upon a time I had a daughter.
She was six when killed by a car.
You guessed it – a speeding driver.
A fine and three months in jail, and the man was free.
Free to hug his daughters, all three of them.
I only had one, and I’m going to have to wait until Heaven
before I can ever hug her again.
A thousand times I’ve tried to forgive that man
A thousand times I thought I had.
Maybe I did, but I need to do it again.
Even now.
Pray for me.
And be careful, Jack,
my son is all I have left.’
’Bob’
Jack turned around in time to see Bob’s car
pull away and head down the road.
Jack watched until it disappeared..
A full 15 minutes later, he too,
pulled away and drove slowly home,
praying for forgiveness and
hugging a surprised wife and kids when he arrived
Life is precious.
Handle with care.
Drive safely and carefully.
Remember, cars are not the only things
recalled by their maker.
Funny how you can send a thousand jokes
through e-mail and they spread like wildfire,
but when you start sending messages
regarding the sanctity of life,
people think twice about sharing.
Funny how when you go to forward this message,
you will not send it to many on your address list
because you’re not sure what they believe,
or what they will think of you
for sending it to them.
Pass this on,
you may save a life.
Maybe not,
but we’ll never know if we don’t try.
May today there be peace within you.
May you trust God
that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
‘I believe that friends are quiet angels
who lift us to our feet
when our wings
have trouble remembering how to fly.’
Leave a Comment » | 
Books Music Fun | 
Permalink
Posted by Financial Pictures
December 10, 2009
Leave a Comment » | Home, Property Investing | Tagged: Interest Rate Update, Property Investing | Permalink
Posted by Financial Pictures
December 2, 2009
Interest Rate Outlook December 2009
Interest Rate Outlook
|
||||||||||||||||
As the housing market starts to stabilise after a sizeable recovery (from record lows) we are starting to see some conflicting economic drivers at work. Average days to sell remain low and stable at 34 days while net migration continues to rise to a 12 month total of 18,500+ people, these standard drivers would normally suggest the real estate market would continue to surge, but in fact it has settled somewhat possibly driven by a continual lack of quality stock as many consumers appear to still be reluctant to sell & upgrade property, incurring more debt given the underlying nervousness that still exists around unemployment. Additionally while net migration is strong it is being driven more by less Kiwi’s leaving our sunny (yeah right) shores & thus it doesn’t drive the same demand for property purchases as overseas immigrants arriving does.
The Reserve Bank reports a fairly stagnant picture in terms of credit growth as many consumers are still focusing on deleveraging their position by selling down some of their property portfolio and clearing debt in what is still considered uncertain times by some. This process together with the ongoing lack of appetite from the banks for asset growth (lending) due to their internal funding restrictions are major factors in holding back the economic recovery.
Our ongoing theme of recommending short term interest rates as the best value in the interest curve still rings true. While it is inevitable that short term interest rates will rise at some stage we still believe our strategy applies given that the market has already priced expected interest rate rises into many of the longer term rates with over 2% difference as an example between variable rates and 3 year fixed rates presently.
Additionally given some of the new funding restrictions placed on our banks by the Reserve Bank requiring them to increase their level of liquidity it would appear that we have now arrived at a more normal place of lending where longer term interest rates will carry a premium for the foreseeable future putting our interest rate yield curve in line with the rest of the world. Put simply if you want certainty in your interest rate you will pay a premium for that certainty with long term rates set to carry an ongoing margin.
For those of you with a higher level of debt a worthy consideration is to hedge your bets by splitting your loan, fixing half on a longer term rate and carrying half on the current variable rate.
What’s Hot
More and more clients are contacting us for advice on what they should do now that their old fixed rate loan is up for renewal. While the above article indicates short term fixing or variable rates are the best value today this very much depends on the clients circumstances, a key part of our ongoing service is to provide free advice in the area of which rate suits a clients circumstances best – Help your clients, refer them to us!
Deal of the Month
While banks continue to remain tight on their lending criteria if the client’s mortgage application is put together correctly it will often get a deal across the line, last month we helped a young physiotherapist into his first home even though he only had a 10% deposit and been self employed for 18 months. He had been declined elsewhere before he found our door & we got him sorted with a mainstream bank – We deliver!
Leave a Comment » | Home Buyers, Property Investing, Risk Management | Tagged: Daniel Feller, Interest Rate Update, Property Investing, PropertyTalk, Risk Management, Robert Kiyosaki | Permalink
Posted by Financial Pictures
