Lessons I Learned from Breaking Bad

***This is a re-post from my personal blog that I don't share the link to, but since I think this is also appropriate for this blog, and so, I posted it here as well, not just the link. Spoilers ahead to those who have not yet watched the TV series.***

My husband and I finished watching the last episode of the season finale of Breaking Bad. I know we came too late, since the show has already ended last year and people already know who Walter White was as a chemistry teacher turned meth cook, turned drug lord "Heisenberg".

Downloaded from online, we both watched it from season 1 episode 1 until season 5 episode 16, which was the last episode "Felina," to close the whole Breaking bad saga. It the best show on TV with it's best crazy ending!

Now why is this Mormons girl watching a tv show with questionable morals. We'll because I wouldn't keep watching it if I didn't learn anything from it. I just can't stop like many other fans out there. Along with watching the Series, I also learned some little piece of wisdom here and there, and I will enumerate it here:

*Even if you're not interested much in it, try as much as possible to listen to your chemistry teacher.
     Chemistry is not very much interesting to me when I was studying it back in high school, and college since our class for it was held after lunch. I always feel dozing off thinking that my teachers are so boring or it must just be the way they would discuss on the chemical components of stuff. In reality, chemistry has an everyday use. As Mr. White has put it, "Chemistry is the study of TRANSFORMATION!"
     I use to think that hydrofluoric acid was just used to clean our bathroom and toilet. I never thought that you could dispose anything with it using a barrel of plastic container, even a dead body. So who needs to spend for funerals? Just kidding!

*Learn how to negotiate, delay it a little bit.
     There are different ways to do it. Some negotiations are easier than others, but nevertheless, no matter how hard of a shell the person you are talking to, if you are persistent and know how to delay it a little bit, you might just get the deal. Take for example Skyler's negotiation when she was trying to buy A1 Carwash. At first the owner doesn't want to sell it to her.Using her accounting skills, she was able to pay someone else to help her change the owner's mind.
     Later, while transacting over the phone, Skyler was sticking to her guns about the price. After a few minutes of consideration, The seller rang her phone again, she made it ring a little bit more to make the guy on the other end of the line wait. When she answered the phone, she got the deal that was in her favor.

*Love your family no matter what, forgive them if they make mistakes, and love them even if one day they will hate you.
     One good thing about Walter White's characteristic is even though he turned into a notorious person of a druglord, he loved his family no matter what. He forgave his wife's infidelity, although at first he was mad about it. His son hated him after finding out about what he does to earn a living for his family. Calling him names that a dog would not even eat, but still he left him 9million720thousand dollars to be given on Flynn's 18th birthday, trusting the help of  Gretchen and Elliot.

*Never stop so long as there is market to fill for your products.
     When Tuco Salamanca died, Walter found Gus Fring... When Gus died, he dealt with Mike and Jesse and Lydia. Walter believes in his product and he believes in the market that he could fill, so he kept on going. Sidenote: If you want to keep going, make sure it's legal.

*Don't work too hard just to sell out. 
     I love that part of the episode where Walter and Jesse were conversing about the business and buying out for 5million. Jesse told Walt, that when he first met him, all he knows is that what Walt only needed was 737thousand dollars for his cancer treatment. He said to him that 5million is not nothing. Then Walter explained that he had not worked hard just to sell out.
     He then briefly told the story about the company he once co-founded.back in grad school called the Grey Matters Technology, when he made a business mistake by buying out, now the company is worth billions with the B. He then emphasized to Jesse that he is not in the meth or money business but that he is in the empire business.

*You have to learn how to be rich, the poor can only manage.
     One of the conversations between Gus and Walter, back when Gus was one of my favorite character, for some reason, not all hehe... It was because Walt wants to get straight into business with that is why he went up to see him, but Gus was taking some time smelling and enjoying the food. He was like come taste the food that I cooked, . What he actually said to Walt was, "You're a wealthy man now Walter White, you have to learn how to be rich, the poor can only manage."
     This advice can be good for anyone who has ambitions in life. After some hard work, take time to relax even just a bit. Work again once your rejuvenated, that is the way of the successful people. .

*Learn the rules so you know how to break them.
     Yes, it is an old adage but from watching this TV series, Walter was a good example of it, since he had been breaking the law. He also keeps a sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman handy, and calls on him when things don't go well, so somebody can clean up the mess. Morally what he'd been doing has always been questionable, but he's never gotten caught because he knows his way out, though I could also say that Gus was always ahead.
     Towards the end, he used the help of Gretchen and Elliot to get the money to his son. He did not do it in person because he knew it was drug money and that the government will not let his family have it if they found out. With this he decided that if Gretchen and Elliot were to be the alleged benefactor for it, it would seem so legal considering the two are funding for an organization that helps meth heads get back on track with their lives. For Walt, going through Elliot and Gretchen to give his son all the money he's got left,would leave him no suspicion that a father who cared so much for his son and family provided for their needs though that money was acquired by an illegal means.

*Finish what you started.
     Every time they get screwed, it was always Walt who would do something to fix the situation. The Season finale ending was great and bitter because, Walt was able to tie all the lose ends of it all, killing all the guys who killed his brother-in-law and threatened his family, though whatever happened to Jesse was left to the audiences, to judge and make theories of.
      In life, though sometimes people leave us hanging, It is always better to finish what you started and say goodbye when it's time to let go.

So, there! Those were the things that I've learned from watching Breaking Bad.You might say, well I've been discussing good things that happens to bad people. Then I say this, you are already a good person, you may learn from the foolish but don't do foolish things. I'm just writing down the positives, you can leave the bad stuff behind, you won't need that. Cheers!

"Carpe Diem!" But, What if Your Opportunity Isn't Available to you?

What if something that you've wanted all your life seems to be too far away from you grasp? What do you do?

I once read a story about a little girl who was about  to start pre-school. Her mother, who always believed her daughter is a smart little girl took her to an exclusive pre-school where she believed can provide the best education for her with all the other smart little kids.

As part of the enrollment procedure, a school administrator would have to interview the little girl before they can decide whether the little girl is qualified to be one of the school's pupil.

During the interview the little girl was shown different colors of crayons on the table and was asked to pick the color she likes and write her name on a sheet of paper provided her.

After the interview was over, the school administrator had to tell the little girl's mother that her daughter isn't qualified to get into pre-school yet. and that they'll have to wait the next year and be interview again to make sure that the little girl is ready for school.

The little girl's mother felt disappointed. On their way home she asked the little girl what happened and why she did not pass to qualify into pre-school.

The little girl told her  that she was made to write her name on a piece of paper, using the crayons on the table. The mother said, "Well, I'm confident that you can do that because you know how to write and spell your name. Why, didn't you do it?

The little girl replied; "My favorite color is pink. Color pink is not among the crayons so I didn't do it!"

--0--

My take:

In our lives, It is of course a wonderful gift to have the things we want the most; but sometimes the things we aspire the most are the things that are mostly out of our reach.

Sometimes we blame other people or circumstances. Sometimes we use excuses:
"If only my parents can afford to send me to school..."
"If only I hadn't been sick, then I would have gotten the lead role for the play...
"I wanted to be a doctor but my financial budget can only cover for a two year course...
And on, and on....

Things happen not of course for just no reason at all. It may either be because of our circumstance or our lack of opportunity taking. In the story the girl knows how to write her name, but she was not able to pass the opportunity to start school just because the color she wanted to write it with is not available. Remember Maria from the Sound of Music, when she was sent from out of the Abbey to be a Nanny, said she, "When the Lord closes the door, somewhere he opens the window"

Do we really see which window is being opened for us? It is our responsibility to look around and find out the windows of opportunity. It is the time to practice the virtue of being flexible in many things, and make the most of our time if ever we don't get what we want. We ought to consider a better alternative. It may be heartbreaking at first, but one simply can't quit. Those who do, will never get another chance. 

Take for example in Entrepreneurship. Many people would agree that the only way to be financially free in life is to do business. But many fall into a trap in what we call the "entrepreneurial seizure." Why? because, the truth about doing business is that it's not easy and that some business take time to grow before an entrepreneur could say that he was already able to get his return of investments. Sometimes it even takes years. So the aspiring entrepreneur who once was an employee quits his entrepreneurial dream and goes back to the corporate world working for somebody else.

If we want to be successful, this is the best time to act and be not acted upon. We may encounter different circumstances in our lives, but how we act on our circumstances can bring us success, only if we are able to see that one closed door means another opened window.One can't just stand and let an opportunity pass him by just because what he wanted isn't the way that it looks with what's in front of us. Success does take a lot of work at the start. 

I hope the story inspired you as it did to me and may we all make the most of what life throws us. So, seize the day! You'll never know! 

Financial Checklist

I don't want to be mean, but I am, maybe... and judgmental even... And this may not be a very nice post. If you don't want to transgress, stop reading now, but if you want to keep reading, you may proceed at your own risk.  

I remember some months ago, my hubby was browsing his Facebook page and he was looking at some photos of a friend of his who is a what we call, "a rich man's daughter. " I've been introduced to this friend some time ago as well. According to my husband's story, he's known this friend for a long time and the way he would tell stories about her is that she is a free spirited, happy go lucky girl. Someone who can get any boy that she wants and buy anything her money could buy. 

Anyway, back to that conversation while my husband was browsing FB... he called me, and showed his friend's picture at a beautiful place abroad. He said, "This friend of mine! is FINANCIALLY SAFE!"  

Smiling, I just said, "Really? How safe?"

How could she be financially safe when all she does is spend money? I get what he meant, as you can see she is a business tycoon's daughter. But for reals, let's elaborate. On top of this post, is a picture I stole from an FB  group called Journey to Your Financial Independence. The reason why it's there is because, when I saw it posted, It reminded me of my husband's friend. "How financially safe is she really?" 

With her kind of attitude and lifestyle. It'll be easy to gauge how financially safe she is by doing a checklist based on the picture above; and according to my husband's story of her. One by one: (bottom ladder step first)

Step 1: Work and Earn --> Check, well yah maybe, AFAIK (as far as I know) she just resigned from her job, because she is pregnant now and she just got married.

Step 2: Make a budget --> "Budget? What budget???"

Step 3: Record Expenditures --> "Sky is the limit!"

Step 4: Have a Bank Account --> We'll she probably has, one that daddy has been chipping money in, and her hubby's too!

Step 5: Carry life insurance --> One that her office provides for her, while she was employed or maybe daddy is the insurance provider. So, check on this one!

Step 6: Own you home --> Well, getting there, since the girl just got married, they're going to get a housing loan one day, in the meantime, almost is the same as never.

Step 7: Make a Will  --> Daddy has a will! or did he already make it? In time, she's gonna be like the Hilton heiress, watch out world!

Step 8: Invest Carefully --> Her dad owns some hotels! (oops, I hope I will not be too obvious), businesses! and her mommy has too! that's investment enough. I've never really heard from my husband that she mentioned about some shares of stocks or something great, though maybe she may have.

Step 9: Pay bills promptly --> check-ish! (Don't forget the savvy cellphone should never loose credit calls, it raises her status quo).

Step 10: Share with others --> Check! Her money or not, when it comes to her friends, she is all out. No matter how much money she spends so long as she is admired, and people should be happy or at least pretend to be happy while with her.

Question, how financially safe is she really? You decide! Now that I'm about to finish this blog, I have to be sure to make my life in order and focus on my priorities. Otherwise it would be embarrassing if I will not have any progress because of the consequence of judging her, and loosing my own focus. Time for self measurement!

As for me, I just don't believe that a person is financially safe if they don't live according to the basic financial principle that the truly rich have. Money takes time to earn, yet very easy to spend and loose. It drives me nuts, to know that some people are as vain as can be without being punished for it. Or if they are, they're not recognizing it. Not that I want these people to be cursed. I felt pity more that admiration. Maybe, it's just the stingy personality in me that questions, "When will they ever learn?" Now, let  me get back to myself, thank you.

To the those whom we consider as YOLO (you only live once) Open your eyes! There are ways to learn, and we ought to start to learn. To save, budget and invest. It's the only sure way to be financially safe.