Money Thoughts

I received my copy of the Imprimis the other day and the feature story was adapted from a speech given by Anthony Daniels. Doctor Daniels worked in a British hospital and prison and had some very interesting things to say about the clientele. While this was a poor area in Britain, I'm sure there are parallels that can be drawn here in the United States. Here's a couple of highlights:

I should mention a rather startling fact: By the time they are 15 or 16, twice as many children in Britain have a television as have a biological father living at home. Few homes were without televisions with screens as large as a cinema - sometimes more than one - and they were never turned off, so that I often felt I was examining someone in a cinema rather than in a house. But what was curious was that these homes often had no means of cooking a meal, or any evidence of a meal ever having been cooked beyond the use of a microwave, and no place at which a meal could have been eaten in a family fashion.

Here I should mention in passing that in my hospital, the illegitimacy rate of the children born in it, except for those of Indian subcontinental descent, was approaching 100 percent.

The Wall Street Journal had a special report on social Security on Monday. Here's a couple of highlights from it:

52% of couples and 74% of unmarried individuals who receive benefits get at least half their income from Social Security. 

34% of the workforce has no savings set aside specifically for retirement. 

The Social Security cash-flow deficit in 2012 was $55 billion.

And, coincidentally, this week's Time magazine had a look at what they called "the coming retirement apocalypse" reporting on how bad it appears to be and what is currently being done about it. A few interesting stats:

Only 64% of private sector workers have any formal retirement plan, and fewer than half sign up for one. 

Medicare trust fund is projected to reach zero in 2026 

Social Security trust fund is projected t reach zero in 2033

Assuming that much of what Dr. Daniels found to be true in Britain is also true in America, and I see no reason to think otherwise, a certain portion of the population would rather buy a large screen television and cable service than a stove and dinette set, in spite of having saved money by not buying a wedding dress or renting a hall for their wedding. I don't know what percentage of the population this group makes up, but I think it would be safe to include them in the 34% of the population that that has no savings set aside or that hasn't signed up for a retirement plan. I would also think that it wouldn't be too large a leap to figure these people don't place a very high value on education.

With the current US debt at 17.5 trillion and counting, Social Security and Medicare going belly up in the next 15-20 years, and only a third of private sector workers putting money away for retirement, things should get real interesting in a few years. Sitting around the house watching the big screen while on the dole just might become a little uncomfortable. For those who worked but didn't plan for retirement, things may be uncomfortable as well. For those who have worked hard all their lives but never made enough money to salt much away, they may end up working until they die. And that's just no way to live. They certainly deserve better.

I'm not so sure any of the answers proposed that I've come across are going to help much. I certainly wouldn't put my full faith and trust in the government, whether that's at the state level or the federal. Any time a politician sees a pile of money sitting around, he's going to try and use it to buy votes for his next election. However, when people get used to having someone else support them, that's a tough habit to break.

From my viewpoint, skills and personal responsibility are the place to start.

Get a job, any job. Then get a better job. Go to night school, learn a trade, do something to improve your value. When you've got a job, keep that job until something better comes along.

Make smart decisions, always keeping the long term in mind. Let's face it, buying a big screen TV before you have a kitchen stove is not a smart decision.

Stay debt free as much as possible. If money is tight, pay cash. Always. If you don't have the coin jingling in your pocket, you can't make an impulse purchase.

Pay yourself first. Put something away every week for your retirement. It doesn't have to be much but it needs to be something. Just don't be like the politicians - let the money ride.

When I read the Ron Paul book recently, he mentioned the concept of legacy. I don't know if I ever really gave a thought to what my legacy would be when I was young - I became a teacher more by accident than by design - but I was fortunate to be raised in the typical two parent family of the '50's and by most accounts I turned out alright. However, for many, anything remotely resembling the idyllic family of the '50's is long gone. That being the case, what will the legacy be of the young men and women who are being raised in a household that values a television more than a kitchen stove and table. Who's responsibility is it to instill some values and homemaking skills into the youth? The schools?

What used to be called Home Economics did a pretty good job of that back in my time. Typically the girls took Home Ec and the boys took shop class. Now Home Ec has morphed into Family and Consumer Science and, of course, the gender bias has been addressed over the years but, and I'm only guessing at the numbers here, like shop classes, many schools have done away with FACS classes. Now we're left with no-one giving kids advice on how to cook, clean, balance a checkbook, save for retirement, or any number of other useful life skills. While I've never been a proponent of schools taking the place of parents, if parents aren't in the picture, who's left? Are you going to show a kid how to use a pressure cooker?

Save your money, teach your children well.