Rebuilding And Starting From Scratch

One of the most frightening prospects in the world is starting from nothing and having to rebuild. Even when the situation is not as bad as you think, life can  feel like it's crumbling around you. If you've been laid off from your job, watched your stocks drop or retirement plan tank, or gone deeply into debt because of a car accident, divorce, or medical bill you know that life can often make it feel as if you have to start completely over and build from the ground up.

While most people would view this as a curse, you may be better served by viewing it as a blessing. Sometimes it's good to clean house and start over. After all, it can be difficult to know what needs repair before it breaks.

Here are a few tips on how to recover from a financial calamity and start from scratch:

Stop The Blood Loss

If you have investments that are tanking, your best bet may be to just sell off and reinvest, or do better at diversifying your portfolio. Yes, you may lose some money, but if you don't act and act quickly your stubborn denial of reality may lose you a lot more and preclude yourself a chance to recover in the process. Often times the best use of old, stagnant investments is reinvesting in new growth industries.

Same scenario with a mortgage that you're thinking about refinancing.  Instead of blowing your money on a new kitchen or building a home theater you may be better off refinancing the mortgage, lowering your payment and improving your financial situation.

Network With Your Contacts

You may have a rolodex of hundreds of professional contacts, but if you never communicate with them or update them on your situation, how will you ever attain any leverage from these connections? If you're out of work, instead of cowering indoors get out and network.

These days, social media allows you to streamline this process. Online communities and networking sites like LinkedIn and, to a certain extent Facebook and Twitter, allow you cultivate a rich support group of professionals who may be looking for just your skill set. Thousands of individuals have found vibrant new careers by engaging with social media.

Get Professional Advice

If your situation is particularly grim, do yourself a favor and enlist the help of a financial advisement and management service. Companies like World Financial Group can help you to appraise your investments, reevaluate your strategy, manage your current assets, and project into the future.

Especially if you've been hit with a triple whammy of employment trouble, sour investments, and mortgage or insurance problems, you need experienced professionals who can evaluate your overall situation. Part of starting from scratch is getting a new pair of eyeballs on your accounts, looking at them with a fresh perspective.

This isn't a blueprint for financial success. Few of those exist, and the ones that do are usually proprietary. You have to create your own blueprint for success. But that's hard to do if you're buried in debt or struggling to reinvent yourself. That's why sometimes the best thing to do is to start from scratch, rebuild your portfolio, and look at your life from a new angle.  You may find that things weren't as bad as you thought, or you may find an ingenious new path into the future.