Bankruptcy Kitchener Blog by Scott Schaefer

I recently read an article in the Washington Post about an experiment that was conducted at the Metro in Washington on a typical Friday in January.  Joshua Bell, an internationally acclaimed musician who has performed in many of the great concert halls around the world, agreed to play his violin at the Metro station during morning rush hour.  He performed for 43 minutes during which time 1,090 people passed the spot where he stood.  Many of these people either had a coffee in hand or where talking on cell phones. Of the 1090 people who passed him by a grand total of 7 paused for a moment to enjoy the music. 

OK not everyone is a fan of classical music or (like myself) didn’t even know who Joshua Bell was before reading this article.  However, just the fact that an obviously talented musician was playing the violin in a train station at 7:30 in the morning should have been enough to get the attention of more than 7 out of 1090 people.   A poll was done on the train about this event and while the comments varied most of them were along the lines of “no time”, “big meeting this morning”, “gotta get to work”, “I’m already late”,  “what violinist?”.

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with a blog about financial difficulties or money problems.  It was obvious from this experiment that less than 1% of the people involved felt relaxed enough that they could take a few moments out of their routine to enjoy something unusual.  It made me think of many of the people I meet with on a daily basis.   Financial difficulties and money problems are undoubtedly one of the big stressors of today and many people are stretched to the limit trying to keep up.   On numerous occasions I’ve had people tell me that their ability to make payments on their debts relies on working overtime, or having two jobs or that both spouses must be gainfully employed at all times.  They are often consumed with worry and concern about how they are going to hold everything together “if something happens”.  Unfortunately, all too often something does happen that can tip the balance and send them into a world of collection agents, legal battles and garnishees.

If you are feeling that you can’t possible relax for fear of losing the grip on your finances give us a call us at 310-PLAN (that’s 310-7526, no area code required, anywhere in Ontario), or complete our one minute on-line evaluation and one of our professionals will contact you to set up a no-charge initial consultation to help you make a better plan to deal with your debts.        

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