Baltimore, Md. June 4, 2014 Peter Coyne, helping you escape your Box Trap... "I did it for the family," Scott Catt told Texas Monthly magazine. "I swear to you, I would only rob banks for my family." Catt, a structural engineer and father of two children, a son and daughter, was seen as a normal and committed family man by his Houston community. Just like one of your friendly neighbors might seem. Yet he had secretly held up eight banks altogether, raking in well over $100,000 without getting caught. Stunningly, somewhere between his fifth and sixth job, he convinced his 21-year-old son -- Hayden -- to partner with him in crime. Soon after, the duo realized they needed a better getaway. So the elder Catt recruited his 18-year-old daughter, Abigail as wheelwoman. Here's how the Catts look now: It was only while planning the family's fourth job together that they were pinched. Charged with aggravated robbery, here are their sentences from left to right… Abigail, five years. Hayden, 10 years. And Scott, 24 years. They look good in black, no? The elder Catt claimed that desperate times called for desperate measures. His wife had died about six years earlier from breast cancer. He had been addicted to drugs and alcohol for some time. He had been consistently unemployed since 2011 and also had his house foreclosed on. Tough times is an understatement. But the real reason Catt did it because he was in what's called the "Box Trap." He wrongly felt boxed in by his problems. Like he had no way out except for committing a crime. Boy, did he not think things through... Perhaps you've felt this way too -- maybe not hopeless enough to go rob a bank -- but downright bitter, like the 55-year-old Californian reader we quoted yesterday. He lost his livelihood and doesn't know what to do next. (If you're reading this, Dean, you need to read today's essay.) We're here to tell you -- you're falling into the Box Trap, but you can climb out if you have the determination. | The elder Catt claimed that desperate times called for desperate measures. | Maybe you can't make ends meet because of rising food prices. Or it could be a nasty divorce is leaving you with half or less of your money. Or more simply, life may have caught up to you and you don't have enough saved to live the way you expected. Or perhaps with interest rates so low, the savings you have are earning next to nothing. You may blame the government or the Fed… for not doing enough to help you… or doing so much that they've deprived you of opportunities that might've been. But you know what I say to you? Boohoo. Do something to fix it right now, or live with the consequences. I'm not trying to be flippant or rude. But sometimes a kick in the pants is helpful. The box that trapped the Catts was extremely sad and trying. It imprisoned them -- and blinded them to any of the remedies they could've used to fix their situation. And I know for a fact that there are fixes -- because we've researched and published them. (In fact, we've outlined how anyone could start a second, six-figure career at any age that would allow you to choose your own hours and give you the ability to work remotely. It's explicitly outlined in our Man's Right to Happiness book. Catt or anyone else could've used that no problem.) Worse, what started as an act of desperation for them became a destructive and addictive spree: | "I had become consumed with money: spending it, getting more." | "The greed had snowballed," Hayden Catt, told Texas Monthly. "I had become consumed with money: spending it, getting more. I wanted to rob enough banks until I could afford to go back to Hawaii and live out the rest of my life in a grass shack. It was all I thought about, like an addiction." Heck, at the very least they could've gone on welfare. Scott Catt confirmed it himself... "When I look back on what I did, what led to this place," he told interviewers, "I would have been better off -- we all would have been better off -- if I had gone on welfare and been a stay-at-home dad." Did he really have to go to jail to realize that? No, but that's how the Box Trap ensnares most people. You become so preoccupied with your problems you can't put them into perspective… and you miss the answers staring you in the face. There's good news, though. With any luck, you're in much better shape than the Catts were pre-robbery. So if they had better alternatives available, chances are so do you. Still, you may be no closer to finding the right investment or lifestyle solution that will help you escape your "Box Trap." That's why we've published the late, great Harry Browne's secret to escaping the Box Trap below. If you read one thing this week -- make it Harry's essay. He will give you a detailed road map for identifying your financial goals… pinpointing why they haven't yet been achieved… and the exact steps that you can take today, June 4, to attain them. Read on and carpe diem... [The Next Best Thing to Robbing a Bank: We've spent hundreds of hours of researching solutions for just about every problem that could ever drive you to rob a bank: unemployment, insufficient income, lack of privacy, declining currency, overpriced and low-quality health care, a shriveled nest egg and bad personal habits. We boiled all of it down into a free, 164-page book that every American should have on their bookshelf. You won't find it in a single bookstore or on Amazon. The only way you can get it, at no charge, is by clicking here now. Note: You can choose to get it in hardback or in digital form, depending on your preference.] |
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