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    The Uncommon Millionaire: Financial Success Begins With Behavior
    The Uncommon Millionaire: Financial Success Begins With Behavior
    The Uncommon Millionaire: Financial Success Begins With Behavior
    Ebook90 pages1 hour

    The Uncommon Millionaire: Financial Success Begins With Behavior

    By Alfred D. Riddick, Jr.

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    About this ebook

    Do you dream about creating a better financial life? Stop dreaming and start acting.
    The Uncommon Millionaire reveals a small-town boy’s journey from the North Carolina tobacco fields to achieving millionaire status in his late 30’s. Al’s common sense approach is mixed with humor accompanied by personal stories of financial challenge and triumph. His story captures your attention and prompts you to maximize your financial potential. Reading this book will help you understand how simple it is to take control of your financial life and create the outcomes you desire.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateJun 15, 2016
    ISBN9780991392933
    The Uncommon Millionaire: Financial Success Begins With Behavior

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      Book preview

      The Uncommon Millionaire - Alfred D. Riddick, Jr.

      else.

      Chapter 1

      THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING ‘UNDERINSURED’

      Iwoke up and cooked my usual breakfast—oatmeal with honey, raisins, and a fourth of a cup of milk. Lesia, my wife, reminded me that oatmeal is just plain nasty, I don’t know how you eat that stuff. I disregard her comment as each spoonful of oatmeal satisfied my hunger. I referred to oatmeal then as I do now as my breakfast of champions. I rinse the special oatmeal bowl Lesia bought me for Christmas, open the dishwasher door, and place my dirty dishes inside. It’s now time for work.

      I walked down the 12 steps to my basement office admiring the wooden sculptures hanging on the wall while anticipating another busy workday. My normal habit was to skip the last step and jump to the bottom, feeling the soft carpet underneath my feet as I walked around the corner to my office door. This particular day, I heard a splash when my feet touched the floor. I thought, Aw, man! I can’t believe the basement flooded. This can’t be happening! I turned to the right and walked toward the couch in front of the entertainment center. Every step I took was accompanied by the sound of water being displaced. I longed for the silence associated with walking on dry carpet, but it never came.

      I walked in the storage area and saw water rushing down a drainage pipe. The rapid movement of the water reminded me of Niagara Falls. My initial thought was that a pipe had burst and caused flooding in the basement. I would soon discover, in total disgust and disbelief, the true cause of the flood. I walked toward my new pool table pondering how much it cost and whether the wooden legs had survived the water damage. Luckily, there was no water near the pool table. However, the carpet in my office was saturated. There was obvious water damage to the furniture, but the electronic equipment was not harmed.

      Our basement is approximately 1,500 square feet. It was finished about a year and a half before the flood. It’s easy for house guests to distinguish the girlie area from my man cave. One side was built to accommodate Lesia’s desire for a lounging area, entertainment center, orange walls, a full bathroom, and storage space for her liturgical dance clothes. My side is painted brown with framed pictures from the civil rights era and other moments in African-American history (e.g., our feature article in Black Enterprise).

      My initial thought was purchasing a Shop-Vac from a home improvement store to suck up the water. I went with my gut instinct, but quickly realized my efforts were in vain due to the amount of water in the basement. I felt like a hamster on a wheel—exerting a lot of energy but getting nowhere.

      I called a water damage repair company and was told they could arrive within two hours. The carpet and padding were soaked. The gentlemen from the water damage company had to cut them in smaller pieces due to the extra water weight in order to carry them up the stairs. Once the damaged carpet and padding were removed, they installed four humongous dehumidifiers which would dry the sheetrock and wood. These machines operated for approximately 48 consecutive hours, while my mind focused on the amount of the next electric bill! The water damage repair guys also sprayed a chemical on the walls to prevent mold growth.

      I called my insurance company to file a claim and was reminded our basement coverage was $5,000. I then realized Lesia and I had forgotten to increase the insurance coverage after finishing the basement (cost: $23,000). The pain of spending cash saved over an extended period of time made the situation worse. Spending with credit is easy; cash hurts.

      The bill for removing the old carpet and padding, dehumidifying the basement, moving the pool table (twice) and installing new carpet was $7,500. This left us with a $2,500 shortfall. Lesia and I could have used that extra money for a vacation.

      The basement flooded after there had been an unusual amount of rainfall. We assumed this was the cause of the flood but wondered if there was a problem with our sump pump. The purpose of a sump pump is to collect water in a basin and drive it away from the house. My wife and I decided to conduct an investigation. I removed a shelf designed to conceal the location of the sump pump. Lesia and I couldn’t believe our eyes. The plug to the sump pump was not connected to the electrical outlet. We can only assume this occurred during the construction of our finished basement. Who would have thought $7,500 worth of damages could result from a three pronged cord not being plugged into an outlet?

      Now is a good time to review your various insurance policies; make sure you have the proper amount of coverage. Don’t just read about my financial lesson, learn from it and take action.

      Chapter 2

      HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

      Littleton, North Carolina, where I spent my childhood, is a small town in Halifax County. It was formerly known as little people town. The population in 2013 was 659 people (www.city-data.com). The first time Lesia and I traveled to Littleton, I recall her laughing uncontrollably when I said, This is downtown. Lesia grew up in Metro Atlanta. Despite the laughter, as tears rolled down her face, she was able to ask, Where’s the rest of it? She happily pointed out the small size of the buildings and joked that she could see from one end of downtown to the other. Littleton, the little town with the big heart, was not small to me. It was home.

      The sun was shining on a cool 54 degrees autumn day as a light wind blew while my parents, Al and Alice Riddick, enjoyed a car ride through the tree-lined country roads of

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