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Attorney Alexz Adams Speaks With Katherine On “This Needs To Be Said” About The Intangible Benefits Of Filing Bankruptcy

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Listen in as we discuss the latest information about what is happening in the world of bankruptcy. Below is the audio recording and a transcript for your convenience.

Katherine: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today on This Needs To Be Said. Our friend, Attorney Alexz Adams, is here and he’s going to talk with us about the intangible benefits of filing bankruptcy. As we’ve talked about bankruptcy on the show before, about it being a way to re-set your life, but really we’re going to break down what that looks like. We’ve talked about how it affects your life, your children, and your lifestyle. You feel embarrassed.
Katherine: We’ve talked about the emotional part and we even talked about the logical part that you re-set yourself with bankruptcy. You probably end up with better credit than you had before based on what they’ve shared with us and all of that. But then there’s some things that … I think what you’re talking about is the things that money can’t buy, what happens as a result of you using this tool. Bankruptcy isn’t a bad word. I want to welcome Attorney Alexz Adams to This Needs To Be Said at this time. How are you?
Alexz Adams: I’m good, good. How are you doing?
Katherine: I’m doing fantastic. I know with bankruptcy we’ve covered so many things, of course, how to keep my car or my home or all of that, how to keep it private. Does everybody know? But this time we’re talking about some other benefit of filing bankruptcy. We’ve overcome backgrounds and religious beliefs and what our people would think of us. Now we’ve done it. We’ve filed bankruptcy. And as we talk what do you say is the gold on the other side of the rainbow?
Alexz Adams: Well, what I’ve certainly found with my clients is once you get to that place or you’ve said, “I need some help” and you’re okay with that and you actually get the help you need which oftentimes happens a lot faster than you think. What do you get from bankruptcy? I kind of joke, I say that there’s really three halves to bankruptcy. There’s the first half that is sort of obvious. We get you out of debt. We resolve your finances. This is really how your bank account and how your income and how your bills interact. It’s oftentimes a math problem on how to make it work and what makes sense. So that’s half of it.
Alexz Adams: If you get rid of that stress on your shoulders and it’s … I mean, I can see it on my clients, shoulders are slumped down, not smiling. There’s almost a weight they’re carrying around with them. Once we can get that weight pulled off them that clears out an enormous amount of free time. If you’re not dealing with phone calls, collection letters, garnishments, crunching your budget, how to rob Peter to pay Paul each week, what does that do? Well, it oftentimes results in an enormous amount of free time. And guess what? That free time is the really big intangible benefit.
Alexz Adams: If you’ve resolved the finances, finances that have been chasing you for years oftentimes before I meet my client. If you take that 5, 10, sometimes 15 or 20 hours of stress each week and you do something constructive with it, that’s where the bang for the buck is. If you’re on a plan and we resolve the bankruptcy, it frees up so much time and mental capacity to spend time with what’s important. You know families, jobs, kids, professional development, starting that small business or maybe starting another small business because the last one didn’t work out but you learned all the lessons. That’s the benefit that I see over and over again.
Katherine: Now, you said three halves so you … You said three halves.
Alexz Adams: The first half is we get you out of debt. The second half is we get you out of stress and then the third half is you use that free time, that stress relief, to do something constructive, something beneficial to you or your family or your future goals or that sort of thing. So that’s the bang for the buck. It’s not just getting out of debt. It’s what are you going to do when you’re out of debt and how can you take all that mental resources that you were doing using to resolve the debt and do something useful with it.
Katherine: You don’t have the phone calls. Yeah. You don’t have to dodge the phone calls anymore. All of the things that you were doing before as a coping mechanism with your bills is now gone because it doesn’t exist. So, yeah, you can begin, really just the sky is the limit. Now, I want to ask you this. I know we’ve covered it in a previous discussion but when people think about bankruptcy, what is something common that your clients have said to you? “I didn’t want to file bankruptcy, but now that I’ve come and talked with you, I’m comfortable with it and this was my obstacle.” What’s the common obstacle?
Alexz Adams: The common obstacle you know, in our society is pride. I can tell you how universal it is across the board. I’ve never met a client that comes in and says, “I planned on not paying my bills. I’m ready.” It’s the other way around. All my clients universally say, “I’ve done everything I can to pay my bills. I just can’t do it and now I’m facing eviction, foreclosure, garnishments, homelessness, lack of food. How do I solve these problems?” When you get over that hump, say, let me at least investigate, oftentimes when you see how bankruptcy, my clients anyway, will see how bankruptcy works in a scenario of their own personal situation, it answers a lot of the concerns and questions. They say, “That’s what I got to do and that’s the results I get, okay. I’m cool with that. Let’s move on.”
Katherine: Wow! I appreciate you all coming on This Needs To Be Said, sharing your knowledge with my audience as well as this information is for your clients, people who will potentially call you to get a consultation about this specific situation, which I do recommend because while we talk about general information, this isn’t like what you would do if you went to WebMD to self-diagnose. Don’t do that. Don’t try to do that. The way we think about finances, you might skip … You might not have eaten every meal today. You may have only eaten a snack and one meal but in reality you want to be able to eat every day if you chose to not because it has to be that way and being able to re-set your life with any tool, and this one is bankruptcy, don’t leave that to chance.
Katherine: You could skip eating some meals but you can’t skip paying certain bills because that’s why you were stressed out. And that’s why you were avoiding answering your phone and only answering numbers that you knew. You didn’t want to let people know you’ve fallen down in life only to realize that it happens to everyone at some point and how people re-set is different. Once you talk with someone like Attorney Alexz and find out if your situation even qualifies for bankruptcy, because you may not be as bad off as you think. But then sometimes you may be worse than you think.
Katherine: You say, “I got it. I don’t need any help”, but you’re drowning. You’re upside down. You’re doing everything. You rob Peter to pay Paul. What he’s sharing with us today is the relief. Maybe some of us have been so stressed out that we’re used to it, Attorney Alexz. So I don’t know if we’ve convinced them of the intangibles because maybe they’re so used to carrying that weight on their shoulder. Have you dealt with someone that was like that? You told them everything, showed them the process and they said, “Well, this is my burden to bear. I’m going to keep it.” Have you had somebody like that?
Alexz Adams: Oh, you know, so many of my clients are that way.
Katherine: Oh wow! Okay.
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Alexz Adams: I certainly don’t want to push anybody into a direction they don’t want to do, at least in my firm. I service clients in Oregon and Washington. I can talk to people at no cost for the initial conversation to see if it even makes sense. Then if it makes sense, then it’s up to the client. There’s no pressure from where I’m at. I’m not in their situation to tell my clients what to do, my potential clients. If it makes sense, we’ll figure out a way to fit it within your budget and that sort of thing. But there’s no pressure. The timing is right when the timing is right.
Alexz Adams: So many things I see in the media these days, if you’re considering financially restructuring, you owe it to yourself to get all the information. Don’t hear it from the Internet. Don’t hear it from shows like yours for all the details. Take the time. Educate yourself. Have myself or someone else go over your situation and then make an educated decision. It’s either something that makes sense or it doesn’t. That’s my thought.
Katherine: Absolutely. I appreciate your saying that and I was hoping that it was going to lead into that direction that you would say that, because when I was talking about them qualifying that you talking with them to let them know, “While I would love to have your business, if it doesn’t make sense, we’re not doing this just to make money.” Of course we go to work so that we can earn money to take care of our wants and our needs. But that’s not what this segment is even about. It’s about you, the listener, the person that is not sure if this is your situation. Before we get done with our conversation, Attorney Alexz is going to leave his information so that his potential clients in Oregon and Washington can get in touch with him.
Katherine: Let him know that you heard him on This Needs To Be Said. That’d be awesome. But contact him. I’m all about helping people. I’ve always been that person since I was a kid. I always wanted to help people. If this can help you great, I love what you said. It’s not forced. Once you’ve been given all the information, it’s left up to you to decide and it sounds like people are deciding to re-set their lives. People understand he’s not a shark. He’s not trying to take money from me. He’s educated me on my specific situation. I want to impress specific situation. Because while I may file bankruptcy and the next person may file bankruptcy, it may not be the same reasons why.
Katherine: Because we’ve talked in another segment about there being different chapters of bankruptcy so it’s not that generic. So I want you to look out for yourself and there’s this phrase around now. Live your best life. If you want to live your best life, sometimes it’s going to be some things that you’re going to have to admit, “You know, I wasn’t that smart after all”. Because some adults, we think that once we get a certain age we’re supposed to know everything we need to know. We don’t and it’s okay that you don’t know the answers and you don’t know how to get out of it and you don’t know what to look for and your finances are a challenge.
Katherine: This is the time that you want someone like Attorney Alexz to help you look at it. He said it’s free to talk. It’s free to talk. So you look over it and if he finds, “Oh, okay, no, this isn’t quite where you need to be or this is and here are the steps.” It sounds like you’re going to have support and you have someone dealing with integrity to make sure that you’re making the best decision for you. And also, for the people who listen to my show know that I love doing business well, this also makes him an amazing business person to do business with whether you’re partnering or if you happen to be his customer because you don’t have to worry about getting something that’s not quite what it was or what you thought it was.
Katherine: I love doing these shows, Attorney Alexz, and I know it sounds like I’m going to be beating a dead horse but we’re not. Because it’s going to take one of these conversations that we’ve had, maybe more than one and someone says, “You know what? I’m going to get up off my butt and I’m going to go ahead and make this change.” I almost feel like we’re going to take up donations at the end. We’re not taking up donations. I just want you to have your pen and paper handy so you can get his information.
Katherine: If you have considered bankruptcy, if you have tried to do a general diagnosis for yourself or your finances or if you’ve done everything you know to do and you just can’t figure it out. You need an uninvolved party with your finances, somebody who’s not emotionally connected. Call him, contact him, or email him. He’s going to give you that information. Let me pause for a second and let you share any last thoughts you have for the audience as well as how to get in touch with you outside of this show.
Alexz Adams: Sure, sure. My thought on bankruptcy is if you run your life like I do, I’ve got my business that I run and then I’ve got my home. There are certain decisions in your home and personal finances that are business decisions. Bankruptcy is essentially a business decision for your personal life. If it makes sense in your situation, we’ll help you do it and go over it. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. That’s one way I like to look at it.
Alexz Adams: My office is at 503-278-5400. That’s 503-278-5400. I’m based out of Portland, Oregon. I help clients statewide in Portland and Washington State. My website is portlandbk.com and you can get a hold of me through either of those sites. Happy to see what we can do to help it makes sense.
Katherine: I appreciate every time you come on the show. I’m interviewing you but there are things I think I know. I have to make myself a note and go, “Yeah, we really didn’t know that.” Whether I need it, I know I’m going to know someone who does need it. But if I do, I already have resources right at my fingertips. But I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule because I don’t think that you’re sitting around just waiting to talk with me about any question I could possibly come up with. But you’re willing to help people. You’re patient with me and you do let me know, “Okay, you do understand. You do have it.”
Katherine: So this is a demonstration for the audience that you’re not going to talk with someone who is condescending. Any thought you had that was negative of attorneys; my job is to wipe that out because I want you to get over any made-up belief systems, your pride, anything that’s going to keep you from achieving a better life for you. I don’t want you to say, “Well, I wish I had more money or I wish I had more time or I wish I wouldn’t have made that decision a few years ago.” Because while those things aren’t existing for you right now, a re-set can turn things around for you. Having someone to support you, and when I say support, that means let you know what this step means. Okay, this is what happens during this part. All right, your slate is clean. Here’s how you keep that clean and now you go from there.
Katherine: For some people if we have struggled with keeping our finances in order, it may take a little time or getting used to, a little practicing. You may not get it right at first but you’re not going to be as bad as you were before you re-set with bankruptcy. So, if it fits for your situation, I am for you re-setting your life. Make it better. You’re living your life to be an inspiration to your family. If you’re a husband, you want your wife to admire you. If you’re parents, you want your children to admire you. And one day if they face the same situation, you can speak with them and let them know, “We had a belief system one time that told us that filing bankruptcy was bad but this is what I learned on my walk and I want to share this with you.”
Katherine: So this is also a great way to break up outdated or belief systems that do not serve you or that do not help you move forward. Attorney Alexz, I mean this from the bottom of my heart, and I don’t play games when I want people to be educated and to have the correct information. So thank you for joining me on This Needs To Be Said once again. Please get in touch with him if you even think it might be a consideration for you. You do not know if you do not ask someone who’s an expert in it. Don’t talk to your friends about this. It’s too important. Thank you Attorney Alexz. Until next time, have a wonderful day.
Alexz Adams: Take care. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.
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