Good Calories, Bad Calories.

As anybody who has known me for any length of time will tell you, I have always had an issue with my weight. For the past eight months I have been almost obsessive in counting my calories and determining where my nutrition is coming from (www.myfitnesspal.com is a great tool for the BTW). As a result of this, I have lost over 50 pounds, have more energy and have become a far healthier person.

How does this relate to truck financing, you ask? It's simple. Good calories are good calories. Bad calories are bad calories. Good deals are good deals. Bad deals are bad deals.

I know that I am mentioning that the sky is blue here, however, I believe that most finance companies seem to be forgetting the color of the sky recently.

I have noticed that in the past, when I've eaten the wrong kind of foods and the wrong kind of calories that I became fat, bloated and inefficient. I was unable to keep up with my children as they ran around the yard and unable to maintain any kind of endurance. Bad calories are bad calories.

As I have started my new obsessive passion of watching my caloric intake, I have begun to regain the energy that I once had, I am able to keep up with my children, and with a good dose of exercise my endurance has increased. Good calories are good calories. Food is fuel.

In our current business environment, it seems that many lenders are bringing in any type of calorie that they can. Good calories, bad calories large calories small calories, redfish,one fish, two fish, blue fish. These transactions are being brought into our portfolio's with open arms, with little thought of risk based pricing or their long-term consequences. I may be old-fashioned here, but isn't this how we ended up in the housing debacle? What happened to the days when we slowed down our processes and focused in on the good calories? Will these days, every return?

It is my belief that they will and must.

When I was taking on bad calories I became fat and sluggish under my own weight and wasn't able to keep up with the competition, as I was trying to deal with my own internal problems. I was focusing my energy on internal issues rather than fixing the larger problem. This is my take on what will happen in the finance industry, and more importantly the transportation finance industry. As lenders when we bring on transactions solely to bloat our portfolio, our companies will become less efficient and functional. We will not be able to adapt to our current economic environments and we will not be able to run the race as well as we should. How many fat people you know that run marathons?

It is my belief that, especially in these trying economic times, we should focus less on bloating our portfolios and focus in on in taking the right kinds of credit. Good calories are good calories. Bringing on these types of transactions will give our portfolios the kind of fuel that they need to be adept and profitable. This will also allow us to focus our efforts outside of our own internal problems. If our portfolios are functioning smoothly and are profitable, we will have the energy to run the race.

In summation, remember. Good calories= good deals. Bad calories= bloated and fat.

I for one, am tired of being fat. I exercise every night and I eat healthy fuel. Because of this, I've lost enough weight to become functional again. Wouldn't the same logic work for companies?

Until next time, grab a diet Pepsi, sit back and enjoy the ride.

John