I started in the investment business in 1981. I was young and broke, like most young people and I managed to gain a position as a municipal bond salesman at a decent firm working for “peanuts” plus commissions. As time went by and I got a little smarter and better at my job, I managed to raise my status and join a major brokerage firm.
 
My compensation at the new firm was $500 per week for 6 months and pure commission thereafter. I had never earned the “whopping” sum of $500 per week so I was very excited. Right at that time however, we had just finished paying off my wife’s mustard yellow Plymouth Volare (boy did I hate that car!) and on the way to the Chrysler dealership to buy a new one, there happened to be a BMW dealership on the way. So I said to my wife: “Let’s just go in and see what they have”. Sure enough, three hours later, we walked out with a beautiful lapis-blue BMW 526.
 
Little did I realize that after the new car smell wore off, the cost of the monthly payment would just be the beginning of my struggle to afford this car. Standard maintenance was $500 a shot and unfortunately the air conditioner kept leaking pushing me into poverty at every turn. I had no business buying a BMW earning $500/ week, but the salesman was good at his job and he figured out a way to get me into this car. I was like the sub-prime borrower buying a $500,000 house; I was buying well above my means. Maybe it was the salesman’s fault after all! 
 
Luckily, I started doing a little better financially so I was able to keep up with all of this, but my life style started increasing as fast as my paychecks.
 
This went on until October 1, 1987. It was on that date that my wife and I decided to step up to a bigger house and mortgage. After all, my income had been getting larger along with the size of our family so it seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately time was not on my side because exactly 17 days later, the stock market crashed, posting its largest decline since the depression– 22% or 500 points in one day!
 
This is when things started to get tough. It was my first experience with a bear market and investors were frozen with fear. My earnings slowed down considerably and the only way to keep up with my mounting obligations was to use whatever credit was available. So out came the credit cards and home loans. This went on for a few years and was not a pretty sight. Some of my colleagues were in the same boat, and a few of them decided to declare bankruptcy as a way of emerging from their problems. I considered it but was very hesitant.