Be honest with your finances, even if they’re bad.

July 24, 2008

Tauton Suicide

Carlene Balderrama was losing her house to foreclosure. A few hours before the auction, she shot herself.

Facing foreclosure is something that millions of Americans are facing right now. It’s stressing and really take a toll on you. Balderrama couldn’t handle that pressure and killed herself, leaving a letter behind asking her husband and son to use the insurance money to pay the house.

While a truly sad story, the surprising part was that her husband wasn’t aware of the foreclosure. Carlene handled the finances in the house, and clearly didn’t share the financial troubles they were going through with her family.

We should always be hones with our finances.

First and foremost, with ourselves. Be honest with yourself. Don’t try to be someone you can’t afford to be. Don’t buy fancy clothes or fancy cars if you can’t afford them.

In addition, we should also be honest with the ones living with us. I understand Carlene might not have shared the troubles with her family, keeping them in fantasy land. Maybe she didn’t want to disappoint them. But that’s what a family is for. Not only to give us support when we need, but also to help us figure a way out of situations like this.

I’m not suggesting that they could’ve saved the house from foreclosure had her told her family about the financial issues, but I think there’s a chance that her family might have rallied, together. They might have decided to budget things together. The husband might have decided to cut on some of his hobbies or the son might have tried to get a job (or a second job).

There are too many unknowns, but what I’m pretty sure, is that had Carlene shared her troubles with her family, she wouldn’t have had all the pressure on her.

Truly a sad story.

Posted in Family, Finances