The Breakfast Club for 40-Somethings

Author’s diagnosis

I hope you enjoyed sharing the lives of ‘The Breakfast Club for 40-somethings’ as much as I did in creating them. For me, writing this book has been both a joy and a challenge — but an important part of my life purpose is telling stories that bring the finance industry closer to you, and helping you reach your financial and life goals.

As for the characters, did you relate to what their unlearn pillars were? While many had multiple pillars to unlearn, each had at least one major unlearning. Some they carried from their childhood, others were unacknowledged or disguised as things they wanted, so they didn’t even know they were holding them back.

For Josie, desire was her Achilles heel, and she had the sense to change her spending habits before it took a greater toll on her. She also had the wisdom to know when it was time to change. For so many of us, change is frightening — and it seems the older we get, the more frightening change becomes. While Josie experienced fear, she moved forward and reinvented her future.

For Jasper, focus was his big unlearn pillar. Living from party to party, and dead-end job to dead-end job had not given him a present he was proud of. He did get more focused in the end, while still making mistakes about money along the way. The belief pillar was also a factor, with the lessons he learned from his father never really leaving him — and these always led him to choose the easy road, even when it wasn’t the best. While he did seek ...