CHAPTER ONEYou approach the house with a small rucksack of supplies. It appears lived-in, but the occupants must be traveling or on a hunting trip. You know the bandits are close on your trail, and only have an hour at most to prepare for their arrival. What do you do to shore up defenses around the house? Concealment is your best option. If you can make the cottage look old and broken enough, there’s a chance the bandits will overlook it in their search for you. Offense is the best defense. You prepare as many traps as you can and set up for a siege of your position. You smear mud across the exterior of the house, break the glass in a few windows, and remove any evidence that this place has been lived in. But your preparations weren’t enough. You didn’t have enough time to make the modifications you needed, and you see the bandits approaching the house from your vantage point. You make your way to the master bedroom, hoping to hide out and come up with a new plan as the bandits investigate downstairs. You find a canister of kerosene and pour the liquid out in a straight line in front of the porch. Using tools from your rucksack, a few sticks, and scraps of cloth from the house, you fashion a rudimentary slingshot/catapult contraption and place it just inside of the main doorway. You break the cottage’s many windows and use the tiny glass shards as slingshot ammunition. Seeing the bandits approach, you stand on the porch and wave them forward. They begin their charge as you strike a match and set ablaze the kerosene. Several of the bandits are caught in the blast, and several more go down as you run inside and launch slingshot volleys toward unaware foes. As the fire dies down the bandits rally around a better position. You retreat to the master bedroom upstairs. It’s time for round two. CHAPTER TWOTaking cover in the bedroom, you only have minutes before the bandits make their way upstairs. What do you do? You take all of the explosives you have and place them in front of the door, setting a tripwire to the door so when it opens, the bomb goes off. You prepare to rappel down the window as you wait for them to enter. You crack open the door and take out your repeating hand crossbow. This version of your favorite weapon is larger, and can restring automatically after every shot. Your plan is to take out all of the bandits before they can overwhelm you. You wait silently, cautiously, focusing intently on the handle of the door until you see the latch move. You jump away and grab your rappelling line as you hear a massive explosion tear through the entire upper portion of the house. The shockwave hits you, but you manage to hold on and tumble to the ground, jump up, and run toward the woods. You don’t know how many bandits you took out, but you hope that only a few remain. The bandits come for you one at a time at first – they quickly fall with bolts sticking through their arms, legs, torsos, and necks. The bottleneck of the stairwell gives you the advantage, but only for a time. The next group approaches more cautiously, with shields raised and swords at the ready. You fail to line up a good shot, and know your time in the house has come to an end. You light a small explosive, throw it through the door, and launch yourself through the bedroom window. You hear the explosive go off as you land and run toward the woods. Hopefully with the commotion you can lose them in the dense foliage. CHAPTER THREEAs you enter the forest, you chance a look behind you and see only three bandits remain. They are close on your tail as you pass the tree line. You leap over roots at blazing speed as you formulate a plan in your mind. What do you do to take out the last few bandits? Though you prefer to stick to the shadows, you feel confident that you can take out your final three attackers. A direct approach isn’t always clean, but sometimes it’s the best plan you’ve got. You think back to your training in the slums of your hometown, and the words of a mentor come to the forefront of your thoughts. After passing a particularly large tree, you stop and hide behind the trunk. In the thick brush the bandits don’t notice you, and come to a stop just 10 feet ahead of you. You draw your daggers and strike quickly. The first bandit falls before the others can react. As you withdraw a dagger from his abdomen you block a strike with your other hand and parry away, reorienting yourself as the third bandit charges toward you. He drives you back and you duck under his second swing. His blade catches in the bark of a tree. This gives you the opportunity you need to dispatch the second pursuer. You and your final opponent circle each other. You feint to the left and he stumbles. You throw both daggers at his chest and they bounce off his armor as you run toward him. He’s unable to react quickly enough as you grab his sword hand and twist his wrist into an arm bar. Grabbing his sheathed knife, you plunge it into his back. He falls as you retreat back into the forest. With the bandits routed, you continue to your destination, deliver the sigil, and complete your mission. The bandits pause in front of you as you say, “Stop. I give up. Just take the sigil. I don’t want to do this anymore.” The bandits are surprised as you reach into your bag and toss them an object. As it lands at their feet, they realize too late that it’s a firecracker. You cover your ears and avert your eyes as it explodes, disorienting your foes. You draw your crossbow and fire three bolts. They each strike true as the bandits are unable to recover from your ruse. Adjusting your rucksack, you continue on your journey to deliver the sigil, confident that you can handle anything this mission will throw at you. Chapter One: From the Advisor's Perspective Being a master of deception, you figured you had made the better of two choices, playing to your strength in disguising the house versus direct conflict with the bandits. Too bad time ran out, or your plan might have worked. Even the best-laid plans by professionals don’t work out the way you’d expect. In our practice, we try to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, knowing that the results we achieve for our clients almost always end up somewhere in between. By setting these realistic expectations, our clients get a healthy dose of pragmatism in their financial planning, along with coaches to help them alter their course when the unexpected occurs.Chapter One: From the Advisor's Perspective You feel like you did your best to improvise, as you run up to the bedroom to hide. You quickly again realize that improvisation is not your strong suit, as you try to catch your breath for round 2. In a real-life scenario, you likely only exacerbated the problems on your doorstep by putting on such a show. When you are dealing with an unexpected twist in life, it’s our advice to not react to the news, but rather to digest the situation and take time to think about it. After fully digesting the info, you can alter your plan’s course and continue to your goals. By not reacting or improvising a hasty solution, you’ll do less damage in the moment, and have a better shot at ultimately accomplishing your long-term objectives.Chapter Two: From the Advisor's Perspective “Whoa, that was close!” you think as you take cover in the woods. “Good thing it is my lucky day!” Sometimes you improvise and the situation comes out okay enough to move on. However, loosing most of your resources and not solving your issue at hand is a costly mistake when faced with a threatening situation. In any situation, there are likely multiple options to forward. Your gut reaction isn’t always the wisest decision you could make. Make sure you are seeking advice of a professional in stressful money situations before making any major decisions – it could save you a ton of grief and resources for future use!Chapter Two: From the Advisor's Perspective Excellent choice! Although combat is not your character’s strength, you used the situation at hand with the bottleneck of the doorway to use up less valuable resources (the crossbow bolts versus the explosives) and accomplish that part of your escape in the most efficient manner. Situations in life are similar. Take a moment to process and get help from an outside professional when reacting to bad news or a scary situation. Clarity only comes after you properly analyze and understand a situation. By waiting and deliberating, you can often overcome a situation with less stress and fewer resources than if you rush in immediately.Chapter Three: From the Advisor's Perspective Sitting at the local tavern after delivering the sigil, you reflect upon your battle in the woods and wonder if you could have done something different to survive. You then realize you will have the rest of your life to replay that moment, whenever you peer at the scar that will eventually form from the gash on your right hand, suffered during your knife play with the bandits in the woods. No more drinking tonight. Off to the town apothecary with you! There are times where you just want to face the bad situation head on and fight it in life. We get that. But, there are often unseen or longer-term consequences to those actions, be they physical, mental, spiritual, etc. We help clients continuously think about the “What if” of any life situation that may cross your path. Don’t hesitate to give us a call to see how we can help you avoid, insure against, or transfer any risks you may foresee as part of a comprehensive financial plan.Chapter Three: From the Advisor's Perspective “Good thing I saved some for the end!” you boast, sitting at the local tavern and celebrating your victory. Your skills and your ability to use resources wisely during your mission accomplished your goal with minimal loss, and you feel that after a good night’s rest, you’ll be ready to take on tomorrow’s challenges. Savings are a key part in protecting your financial well-being. This can be saving money, time, or your health. We believe in a holistic approach to protecting yourself from the pitfalls of life. No one resource is more important than another in our book, and that balance is key in helping you out when times get tough. If you’re having a hard time finding that balance and it’s causing you stress in life, give us a call. While we specialize in money matters, our team of professionals have “been there, done that” and could help you find a better path.Protecting oneself from the dangers of the world is difficult. It’s nigh on impossible to predict when misfortune will fall. At Witten Financial, we help our clients identify potential dangers in their financial lives and seek to negate those dangers wherever possible through prudent investment practice and insurance solutions. Contact Aaron TodayName Email Message Choose Your Character About Services Blog Contact
