I’ve
thought this story is a humorous and clever way to illustrate some wisdom within the realm of personal finance and self-reliance. This story is from the life of my father, James
Hartley, during his college years (1970's) and also written by him.
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| Carlyle Ballif Lambert |
Carlyle Lambert was a life-hardened steel worker living with his wife and three daughters in Provo, Utah. With him, you never quite knew what to expect. One moment he was a jokester, in another he was grumping mightily about world conditions, and in yet another he was camouflaging pearls of genuine wisdom in a sarcastic story.
Two of his daughters, Melodee
and Janine, were in our student ward when I was a sophomore at Brigham Young
University. My older brother, Richard, and I were companions assigned to make
monthly visits to the Lambert daughters as their “home teachers.” Every so
often their parents would sit in on our visits. When they did, Brother Lambert invariably
took the spotlight. When he did, you could tell from his sarcasm, cynicism, and
colorful vocabulary that he was a well-tempered steel-worker, who had spent a
lot of time in front of a blast furnace.
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| Homemade Root Beer |
During another of our visits, Brother Lambert waxed philosophical and gave us a memorable lesson on life. I call his lesson the “Gotch-ya Principle.”
“Boys,” Brother Lambert
began, “I’m going to give you some free advice. I want you to pay close attention.
When you begin your employment after graduation, you need to watch out for
employers who want to own you. Here’s
how it works.” Hearkening back 26-years when he was a new employee at the
Geneva Steel plant, Brother Lambert explained, “When you first get hired, your
employer pats you on the back and announces how proud and lucky the company is to
have you. With your steady new income, you buy a car. Your employer pats you on
the back and says, ‘Congratulations!’ Noting that you had to get a loan for the
car, the employer smiles and thinks, ‘That’s one gotch-ya.’”
Brother Lambert paused to let
it sink in. “Soon you announce to your employer that you’re getting married.
Your employer pats you on the back and says, ‘Congratulations!’ Noting that you
now have extra expenses as a married man, the employer quietly smiles and
thinks, ‘That’s two gotch-yas.’” We could sense a pattern emerging. “Then you
announce that your wife is going to have a baby. Your employer pats you on the
back and says, ‘Congratulations!’ Noting that you now have even more family
expenses as a father, the employer quietly smiles and thinks, ‘That’s three
gotch-yas.’
Then you buy a house. Four
gotch-yas. Another baby. Five gotch-yas. A second car. Six gotch-yas, and so
forth.” Brother Lambert studied our faces to see if we had grasped the gravity
of our future financial enslavement. Then came the moral of the story. “With
every major step in your life, you have more and more financial obligations,
making it so that you cannot afford to leave your employer no matter how they
treat you. They’ve ‘gotch-ya!’”
After a pause to let it all
sink in, Brother Lambert leaned forward and in a lowered voice he slowly
announced, “But, I will tell you how to avoid the ‘gotch-yas’. You have to have
a GTH Fund.” He paused and leaned back with a knowing look in his eyes. “Every
paycheck you get,” he stated, “put ten percent in the bank just for you. Every paycheck,” he repeated with
pronounced emphasis. “And don’t touch it. Just leave it in the bank. Over time,
that money will grow to a sizeable amount. Then, when you want to leave your
employment, your employer hasn’t ‘gotch-ya.’ Your personal finances will be strong
enough that you can look your employer in the eye …” and Brother Lambert
squinted both eyes, leaned forward, and with a little growl in his voice he continued,
“And you can tell him to ‘Go … to … hell!’” Another pause as Brother Lambert
sat back in his seat. “And that,” Brother Lambert concluded with an all-wise grin,
“is the GTH Fund; and that’s how you avoid the ‘gotch-ya! principle. Ya gotta
have a GTH Fund!”
I’ve never forgotten Brother Lambert’s advice. In
fact, shortly thereafter, I started my own GTH Fund. Over the years, I faithfully
paid into it, and it bailed me out more than once! Thanks, Brother Lambert! I’m
a much wiser person because of you! And another thing I’ve never forgotten
about Brother Lambert—the burning down my gullet from his special-recipe root
beer! Since then, I’m also much wiser about accepting homemade root beer from
someone.
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| Blast furnace at Geneva Steel, Vineyard, Utah |
Carlyle Ballif Lambert spent 32 years with Geneva Steel's Blast Furnace Division, at increasing levels of responsibility, retiring as Production Superintendent in 1979.