A Gift For You

When I was a young teen, I went to Disney World for the first time with my entire extended family! My older cousin and I were just at the age where we could run off on our own and choose which rides we wanted to ride. 

We had a little card that we could swipe at certain rides that allowed us to get one fast pass. This pass allowed us to jump to the front of the line and practically walk right on the rollercoaster. We only had so many fast passes we could get for the entire day, so we had to use them wisely. We saw the Buzz Lightyear ride and we decided to use one of our last two fast passes for the day to jump to the front. As we went to the fast pass kiosk, there were a lot of little white tickets on the ground. We thought they were free fast passes because they looked just like the real ones, but when we picked them up, they all said, “Rejected” on one side. 

So we swiped and a real fast pass popped out. We showed the ticket to the guy at the front of the ride, walked through the empty fast pass line, and then handed our fast pass ticket to another worker who let us on the ride. We watched as he just threw the white ticket away without even looking at it. 

In our teenage boy brains, we both had the same idea. As soon as the ride was over, we decided to use our last fast pass for Buzz Lightyear. But this time, we collected some of the “Rejected” white tickets that looked identical. At the front of the line, we showed the worker our real Fast Pass, but this time, when we went to hand in our ticket to the other worker, we handed him the “Rejected” card. We were both a little nervous of if we’d get caught, but without a second thought, he grabbed our “fake” and threw it away. We had gotten away with it! We sat down on the ride and for the second time, we listened to the departing instructions. “Keep your hands and feet in the cart at all times, aim your blasters at the bad guys and save our planet!” Something like that! 

After our second ride, what do you think we did? You better believe it! We got some more rejected tickets and tried it again, and again, and again. After about 10 times around on the ride, we had memorized every word in the departing instructions. We would laugh as we recited them together, even putting in the same pauses as the operator. We thought we were getting away with the heist of the century. 

Friends, as you get ready to launch on the roller coaster of personal financial success, I want you to know the instructions forwards and backwards. I want you to fully know and understand the systems and principles that I have taught so that you can recite them back to me, even saying them how I say them. You have only learned these principles one time. It took me over a year to write the material and I’ve been teaching this for years. Remember, I don’t want you to have just gained head knowledge, I want you to apply knowledge and digest what you’ve learned. 

So, HERE’S MY GIFT: I want to give you access to every article I have written in this column so you can refer back to them again and again: 

VISIT www.trumbleagency.com/moneytips where you can read every article we have published and refer back to them again and again. 

I am also considering an in person class to help you jump start your personal financial success. If this would be of interest to you, shoot me an email at zach@trumbleagency.com. I’d love to hear from you!

Just as we were laughing and reciting the instructions on Buzz Lightyear for what was soon to be the last time, a worker came up to us and pulled out the rejected tickets from the trash can. We had been caught red handed. They threatened that if we did anything like that again, we’d be kicked out of the park. So with our tails between our legs, we unbuckled our seat belts and walked the walk of shame back towards the entrance. 

This past year, I took my girls to Disney World and introduced them to the Buzz Lightyear ride. As I got on and heard the departure instructions, it was like riding a bike. I could nearly recite them word for word. 

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Zach Santmier is the owner of Trumble Agency, Inc. and the author of the personal financial course, Increase. He focuses on helping families escape paycheck to paycheck living so they can freely pursue their ideal future.