Is It Working for You?

"In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."
Eric Hoffer

During their working years, the Baby Boom watched the covenant between workers and corporations that worked pretty well from 1945 until 1970 unravel. Besides oil shocks and the miseries of stagflation, we also experienced the deindustrialization of the United States that eliminated approximately 20 million good paying, relatively stable jobs with benefits for Americans of average ability. On the plus side we had a good run between the end of the recession in 1985 and the dotcom crash of 2000. The Internet and cell phone revolutions generated a lot of new wealth, unfortunately not as many new jobs, and we came to believe that the value of a house could only go up. We experienced a lot of change over the last 45 years. Much of it wasn’t good.

Unless our country changes direction, the future doesn’t look too hot for the Millennial Generation. Globalization, personal and public debt, and new jobs that require above average ability in technical areas that are in demand, entrepreneurial skills, or sales aren’t going to help someone with a high school diploma and no particular talent.

You’ve read the news. Too many Americans, including an unfathomable number in the top quintile are living paycheck to paycheck. Surveys indicate that 46% of households couldn’t cover a $400 emergency without borrowing the money. If it isn’t working for you, you had better become open to the idea of becoming a learner.

Get another degree, get a better job, worked for me, but I don’t expect that will work in the future, unless we are talking a M.D. Starting around 1973, our country started producing more college graduates than new jobs requiring a college diploma. Even in my case, my last degree really didn’t kick me to a higher pay grade than what I would have achieved without it. However, about the time I turned 50, I set out on a different kind of learning quest to discover the secrets of investment, so that I could retire comfortably some time before my death.

Given the rate of change in our economy, I don’t expect that I will be able to quit learning until I am dead or declared incompetent.

Your relationship with money isn’t exactly like your relationship with other humans, but the emotional indicators are remarkably similar.

If you are experiencing:

Fear
Anger
Hate
Blaming others
Guilt
Shame

Chances are you need to change direction.

If you are experiencing:

Peace
Joy
Love
Equanimity
Forgiveness
Generosity

Keep on doing what you are doing, but don’t miss the opportunity to explore new paths.

The basic facts of money, like the rules of chess are quite simple. However, learning to apply them with skill is the work of a lifetime. Studies indicate that chess is a game that is controlled, 100%, by the skills of the players involved. At the other end of the spectrum is the lottery, no skill, 100% “luck.” Good luck and bad luck tend to balance out over the course of a lifetime, just as the best teams in football tend to play in the Super Bowl, even though football (like investing) is maybe something like 20% luck.

Don’t be a victim. You can do this. The first steps are easy enough to learn. Go to the library. Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman are the big names, but the shelves are filled with introductory personal finance courses offered by authors from every social, religious, and cultural perspective imaginable. If you are a bit of a counter culture artistic kind of person, try “Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez,” a classic. Be sure and get a recent edition, the investment advice found in the original has been seriously overtaken by events.

Money is just a tool, not an end in itself. The purpose of earning and saving more money is to make a better life for yourself, your family, your community, and your world. Your feelings, as well as your bank balance will let you know where you need to focus your efforts in learning how to improve your performance in this very important dimension of a balanced life.