Whether the unemployed are earnestly looking for work or enjoying a government paid vacation, extending unemployment benefits is a bad idea. For the roughly 25% enjoying a government paid vacation, taxpayers don't need to pay for that. For the rest earnestly looking/wanting employment, it postpones the inevitable and makes it even worse. Essentially for many unemployed people, from day one, there's a major decision to be made - Do I preserve my standard of living or do I preserve my wealth?
To preserve your standard of living, you normally need to deplete your wealth even while collecting unemployment benefits. Stay unemployed long enough and you will lose both your standard of living and all of your wealth. Odds are good, especially if you are 40 or over, that you will never recover them. The unemployed person who quickly decides to substantially reduce their lifestyle and standard of living (move to cheaper housing, sell expensive cars, etc.), has a good shot of preserving their wealth. If they do get a good job again, they will be able to go back to their former standard of living if they wish, plus have all or most of their wealth intact. If they never get that good job, by having quickly reduced their standard of living, they can at least keep all or most of their wealth. That's a lot better place to be at then the person who tried to the bitter end to preserve their standard of living and lost everything.
Getting it Right - Welcome
The goal of this blog is to publish my thoughts on a variety of economic and political topics in the hopes that people who find them educational or beneficial will utilize them and/or forward to others who might find them interesting and/or worthwhile to promote to others, possibly including politicians who can push some of these ideas to fruition. The topics in my blog are meant to be of value on a long term basis, not a daily diary or political issue of the day log. If the information posted is useful to you, by all means utilize it and/or forward it as you see fit. If not useful, then merely ignore it. There are no universally agreed upon truisms and too little tolerance between some of those with opposing viewpoints to successfully convince the people with hardened opinions to move away from them. I am an analytical type person who will try to be as factual as I am able.
I disdain the current popularity of name calling and condemnation of viewpoints with no factual alternatives or logical solutions given that I see so often. If you don't have a solution based on fact and logic, then opt out of the discussion because you have nothing to contribute. My background is a degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and 39 years working in middle management jobs for a major retailer. My opinions are forged on the personal experence of life, family, friends, and work as well as triumphs and mistakes that I have made and hopefully learned from. My hope is that this blog helps you.
My first topic will be about personal finance. I chose that one first because most of us work long and hard just to survive but not all of us realize our dreams of becoming financially independent from the labors of our work. Much of our political votes/thinking also focus on the economy and in particular how well we are personally doing financially.
It is relatively simple, without sacrificing the enjoyment of living for 'today' and even at moderate incomes, to retire as a millionaire or multi-millionaire, if you focus on that goal consistently from a young age. It is also simple to ensure that your child or grandchild retires rich. It merely requires a one time gift of just $2,000 invested wisely and the passage of time. Please read my first post on this blog to learn more.
An index/schedule of past and future posts and their dates will always be updated so that it becomes the first post that you see below. If the date of a post that you wish to read is preceded by the word "Posted", then find it below or click on the title in the Blog archive to review.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
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