Stop and Smell the People

SASTP Nation, welcome our 2nd sponsor!

Big News! Our second sponsor is another friend Mike and I go a ways back with. We are all about cronyism here. He is one of Mike’s rock climbing buddies. And just as important, he’s our financial advisor. And in 2009, when our income went from,

well, Carolina Traveler income to say, what’s that called? Oh! Unemployment. We needed good advise more than ever. Todd was there. A steady voice in the storm. Here’s the kicker, it was the advise Todd gave me a few years before 2009 that actually saved our hides last year.

Let me explain…

‘Sweeps.’ A very dirty word for TV reporters. Only, saying ’sweeps’ doesn’t make you feel better. No, saying ’sweeps’ is like punching yourself in the stomach so hard that you wish you couldn’t breathe. Because passing out would at least provide a little relief  from the terrible feeling that only that word can produce. Mike says that description is a little strong. But he never had to produce thirty sweeps pieces in one month!

It happens four times a year: February, May, July and November. Television ratings are measured. And advertising rates are set on the results. Bottom line, reporters will come up with endless special reports designed to impress, dazzle, titillate and wow you…. just to get your attention. When the bottom line is involved, the pressure to deliver is on!

I have to admit, while the sickening feeling would torture me for the months of sweeps and 30 days of preparation before… I loved it in a sick way. This was a time when you could convince ‘management’ to commit you to longer term investigations, series and consumer projects.

And I am a bit sado-masochistic in that I dream up these elaborate story ideas, sketch out a road map for executing them but somehow block out how much work is involved… until the project is approved. What is that all about? Incredible denial? Or a Bill Clinton level ability to compartmentalize.

So, as February quickly approached, I’d noticed a trend. And I noticed long before the economic nightmare became reality. A little newsletter from Raleigh caught my attention. Foreclosure rates in some counties in the Charlotte metro area were up 300%. I started thinking – what if we tackled some of our viewers’ personal financial problems. We could choose three teams who represented real people with real problems. We’ll pair them up with financial experts and follow them on their road to recovery. Better still, we’ll all learn a little something along the way. Sounds simple. Right?

I won’t get into how much work it took to pull it off, but I will tell you that I learned a tremendous amount from these segments, called “The Financial Fitness:Bootcamp Challenge.” It seems like every night, I was coming home and saying to Mike, “you won’t believe what I learned today.” The series truly lit a fire under my rear to get our finances under control.

I’ve mentioned him before in a blog called “The Show must go…or not!” one of the experts, in fact the leader of our winning team, was Todd Calamita. He’s a financial consultant with RBC Wealth Management and a certified financial planner. Some of the basics that Todd taught our audience really hit home with me:

1) Make a budget. Painful? Yes. Critical? Yes. Truly making a budget is like telling people you watch PBS. Most of us just say we do.

2) Pay off the credit card debt.

3) Set aside enough savings to live off of for 3-6 months.

4) Decide how you want to live when you retire and start planning accordingly.

These sound easy enough but they are big commitments. And item #3 saved us from certain financial disaster when Mike’s job was cut from the WCNC budget. Unemployment insurance is NOT a salary replacement. It’s but a fraction of your take home check. Plus when you lose your job, you have a brand new ENORMOUS expense, COBRA. If not for that savings, we could have been in serious trouble, very quickly.

As for our retirement, at the rate we were going, we would have had to move in with our children for retirement and hope that the Redding boys marry good cooks.

What we went through last Spring, Summer and Fall, wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy at all. But it also wasn’t a complete disaster. We have Todd to thank. Which is why I am especially proud to introduce Todd Calamita as our newest sponsor. He’s someone we could count on during tough times and you can, too.

The one thing that stood out about Todd from the beginning is his passion for what he does and for helping people. Believe me and I hate to offend… but sometimes, financial experts… well.. uh… aren’t very exciting/excited when they talk about money and numbers. Which made it very scary to spend a month of television on this. I mean this wasn’t The Charlie Rose Show (no offense). But when Todd talks about budgets and retirement, you find yourself paying close attention. That’s his passion at work. He will also hold you accountable.

“Advisors can keep the boat steady when times are rough. They can help you not make emotional decisions when you are going through an emotional event,” Todd says, “I’ve told clients when they need to sell their houses. And no, that’s not what people want to hear, but my job is to help them with their ability to save by managing their expenses.”

After such a brutal year financially as a nation, I think we’ve come to appreciate a reality check. But don’t look to Todd for doom and gloom. For him, money isn’t emotional. It’s simply a puzzle that needs to be figured out.

“I always think there is a solution. There is always a way to solve the puzzle, even if it requires a great deal of creativity,” Todd says.

I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to put this off, to say you don’t have enough money to budget it, etc. The bottom line is that if you have been to Starbucks in the last two months, you have money that can improve your financial situation. Todd’s approach is to listen to your goals, look at your spending and find ways to help you meet your goals. It’s a great feeling… a great relief to face money head on and be in charge of it to an extint.

We are so grateful that Todd is supporting what we are doing at StopandSmellthePeople.com. Todd says he believes in the power of positive story telling. In fact, he says the mission of this site and his own mission aren’t so far apart, “I think you and Mike make a difference to your viewers – with some of the stories that you are sharing. I want to make a difference in the lives of my clients. I want to make a difference in their financial future.”

Mike and I believe in the future of StopandSmellthePeople.com and the SASTP Nation. You all have become an important part of our lives. We are truly grateful to our sponsors for supporting what we’re doing here. If you have a moment and want to tell Todd how you feel about his support of SASTP, click here. And for those of you interested in talking to Todd about your retirement and other financial goals, mention this article and your first meeting with him will be on the house!

Back to smelling,

Anna