The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

Oh yeah! That's the title of a great old Clint Eastwood movie dating back to 1966. It was an Italian western, dubbed back in those days, a "Spaghetti Western." The theme song may have been the most popular part of the movie. It's not only recognizable, but also haunting.

Well, this post isn't about the movie. Actually, I may use the title as a recurring theme from time to time, so don't be surprised if you see it again. However, the content will be different. The content will be about things I find good, bad and ugly in our world, country and society. For some reason I find that while most people are inherently good, the "devices" of human kind can be twisted from good to bad and sometimes to flat out ugly. It, of course, all depends on the individual perspective.

You may not agree with me on all my points and that's good, I don't even mind if you want to share your opinion in the comments. Just do it civilly, don't be bad and turn things ugly. So, here go a few things that just happen to be on my mind today.

The Good

Technology is good. Remembering our history, humans have continually found ways to progress from the Stone Age through the Iron Age through the Bronze Age and right on through the agricultural age, the industrial age, the information age and now the digital age. As the old cigarette commercial for Virginia Slims (not part of the good, by the way) went, "You've come a long way, baby!"

Technology has turned the world into a neighborhood of sorts with efficient air transportation, high-speed trains and huge tanker and container ships. Communications have improved to where we can literally talk, text and email friends, family and business associates around the world for virtually nothing or very little expense.

Movies, television shows, radio and music are international in scope.

And computers have gone from huge machines requiring rooms to house them to small tablet computing devices and smart phones, even the Dick Tracy (for those readers old enough to remember the Dick Tracy comic strip) wrist two way radio is becoming a reality. And, digital technology, the basis for all computing devices, now is the foundation and pulse of just about every field of human endeavor including art, music, TV, radio, medicine, transportation of every kind, manufacturing, accounting, marketing our homes and offices and it keeps expanding.

In general, we live better, healthier (with some caveats) and longer (also with some caveats) then ever before. From what I understand, the first human who will live to the age of 150 has been born and the technology to make it possible for a human to live for a thousand years is in development. Who could have ever imagined all this, even 50 or 60 years ago when I was a child and teenager? I was pretty amazed when I installed ham radio equipment in my vehicles that allowed me to, literally, communicate with people around the world while driving on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey or the New York State Thruway in New York.

This, I see as the Good.

The Bad

The bad that has happened, from my humble perspective, is that we have increased the population of the U.S. from 150,000,000 in 1950 when I was 5 years old to more than 317,000,000 as of the time I'm writing this post. That's an increase of 167,000,000 people in just less than 64 years. But, consider this. The population of the entire planet in 1927 hit the 2,000,000,000 mark and today it is in excess of 7,130,000,000. It took from the beginning of the human being's existence on the planet to 1927 (probably an estimated 100,000 plus years to reach the 2,000,000,000 point and only another 86 years to increase by more than 2.5 times.

I say this is bad because the exponential growth of the U.S. and world population is countered by the even more rapid acceleration of what technology is doing for our world. Exactly what is technology doing? Exactly what I stated in the Good section of this post. The real clear illustration of this factor was the recent "Great Recession" we're supposedly recovering from (that just happens to be the slowest recovery in the history of our country, including the Great Depression). When the real estate bubble and financial markets collapsed, millions of people were fired, permanently laid off and many of the major corporations (as well as untold numbers of banks and small businesses) filed for bankruptcy. Some never recovered.

What transpired is that technology rushed in to fill the gap. Computers and computer operated machines that were far most cost effective than the human labor replaced jobs that were being done by humans . It's not that this hadn't been occurring for decades. I saw the earliest stages of this transformation in the mid-1960's, when as an Industrial Arts major I took a field studies course on U.S. industries and saw all kinds of machines being operated by, at that time, mainframe computers. It was only a very small segment of industry then, but I don't think the American worker had a clue what was coming. For example, where are the phone operators, secretarial pools, automobile manufacturing workers, machinists, draftsmen and I could go on and on. The "Great Recession" not only gave industry and business the opportunity to make a major transformation, it required it to make the transformation for survival.

So, we have at least twice the number of people in the U.S. as we had in 1950 (and proportionately the same around the world (some countries with even larger population growth - most notably China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Mexico to mention a few). At the same time, we are creating less and less jobs that require human labor. So, more people, less work, how long can a country or the world's economy continue to grow under these conditions?

The Ugly

The Ugly is real simple. Governments grow larger and are creating more and more programs to support the growing number of unproductive and unemployed/unemployable. In order to finance this growing social support program, the governments have to extract more and more money from the part of the population (on the decline) who are productively producing income. The impact is, of course, out of balance since the wealthiest 1% of the population, while still bearing the largest, overall percentage of tax burden, pay, in many instances the least amount of taxes as a percentage of their huge income. This, of course, is due to the tax laws that were created to supposedly benefit the wealthy so they would invest in growing new businesses, creating more jobs and growing the economic base. The laws were written and enacted in what has become an ever less fair way and changing those laws now comes with extreme opposition from the wealthy. Oh, and of course, the wealthy finance the elections of the elected representatives who make the laws. Thus, more of the burden rests on the dwindling middle class who is sliding back into the poverty level. And, in the U.S. at least, many of those earning what's left of middle class incomes are becoming eligible for more and more government assistance programs.

There may actually be a "Mad Max" scenario on the horizon somewhere. It may not be during the 21st Century, however, if the population continues to increase, as it is fully expected to. And, if people continue living longer and requiring more services to keep them alive and healthy (at least, hopefully, creating more jobs in the health and geriatric care industries) it could be in the 22nd Century. We are raping our planet of its natural resources and stores of energy. It's easy to say that we have enough coal to last for X number of years. The same is true for oil and natural gas. But, if we extract more of these energy resources than the planet can replenish, at some point in time the supply will be depleted. Currently there is one net new person on this planet (accounting for new births and deaths) every 16 seconds. That's 5,400 new people everyday or 1,971,000 new people per year. That means there will be another billion people to feed, clothe and shelter every five years and that could increase. Will there actually be a time when we won't be able to produce enough nutritious food for the world population? Will the ideal revealed in the old Sci-fi movie, "Soylent Green" actually become a reality and necessity?

We are eating genetically modified food and food full of artificial ingredients already. Much of our clothing is synthetic instead of natural materials. We still live in a plastic throw away world of baby diapers, water bottles, cars not to mention the amount of paper used to package and paper plates, napkins, etc. we use.

This is the Ugly.

My Conclusion

But, after all the gloom and doom of the Bad and the Ugly, I still see a bright side. Unfortunately, I don't see that bright side for everyone. I believe we're seeing a trend by a tiny and growing percentage of the population. There are freedom-loving individuals who are finding ways to cut back on the footprint they make on the planet and society. They are learning to "Live Small" instead of "Living Large" that seemed to be a trend during the 80's, 90's and early 2000's. This group is learning to be happy with what they have and realizing it's unrealistic and unsustainable to have everything they want. They use less energy, often creating more energy efficient dwellings, transportation and lifestyles. Living "off the grid" is a popular and growing theme. Many are raising some or all of their food, making or recycling and buying perfectly serviceable clothing and other necessities of daily living. Frugality and simplicity are allowing this segment of society to live happier, healthier and freer lifestyles while not becoming dependent on government assistance.

And, best of all, I believe it's stirring up the pot of creativity. Unfortunately, this isn't so apparent in the Millennial Generation. It's their parents and the Boomer Generation who are being slapped in the face of reality hardest and who are stepping back, reevaluating and establishing new standards. Will the top 1% still have more money than they know what to do with and live excessive and opulent lifestyles? Most assuredly, yes, for the most part. Though even a percentage of the super rich are realizing the futility in accumulating massive amounts of unspendable money. So, they are finding ways to channel it back into society for the common good. But, the pot of creativity I mentioned is also sparking the entrepreneurial ambitious and motivated to create new ideas, new products and services to fill in the niches that are opening up everyday. The human spirit is boundless when it doesn't become mired in hopelessness.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the future will live as well as many once did. That's just the way it's going to be. Some may call me a naysayer or doomsayer for saying that, but too many people have gone down their primrose path with their rose colored glasses on. The spirit that built the U.S. that the pioneers had, the survival mentality, the do whatever it takes attitude just seems to have slipped into oblivion for most. I guess that's why there is something like 25% or more of the 22 to 31 year olds in this country living at home, YET, off their parents. That was not even a consideration for those of us growing up during the 50's and 60's. But, for those who get it, I not only see them surviving . . . I see them thriving and hopefully, passing on their spirit to their children.  

Step #6 Economizing

This step separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. This, again, is going to require some lists and complete honesty. The honesty is with yourself and with those financially entwined in your life. As you are probably aware, one of the major causes of separation and divorce in marriage, break-ups in other kinds of domestic relationships and business relationships is MONEY! Finances are one of the main building blocks of any kind of stable life regardless of whether one is single or married, a sole-proprietor or a partner in a small business or on the management team of a huge global corporation. There is one simple principle to keep in mind here. If you are in debt, you are not and cannot be free until you are out of debt.

Let’s begin by listing all your financial assets and what they are realistically worth. We know certain basic things about finances.

1. While real estate has tended to appreciate over time that can change at any time and just did, to the detriment of a lot of people, many who have already lost their homes and more who will in the future.

2. Most tangible assets depreciate such as automobiles, RVs, boats, motorcycles, time shares, furniture, clothes, jewelry, books, electronic devices, especially computers, tools of your trade and so on.

3. Over the long-term, the stock and bond market outperforms the real estate market, but investing in the “markets” is, always has been and always will be a major risk and you have to be able to tolerate that risk. It would be nice if we knew the future, but to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever passed Crystal Ball 101.

4. No matter what we want to believe, prices continue to increase and most incomes do not keep up with it.

5. Marketing is a science designed to separate the public-at-large from the hard earned money they earn and attempt to preserve for a rainy day.

6. Credit is NOT your friend. It is the friend of the huge banking conglomerates. No one who loans you money in any form really cares about how much that new home, car, pair of shoes, etc. will mean to you. They only care about how much they will earn from your often ill-guided wants and desires. Losing your home, car or whatever is none of their concern.

7. We live in a society of gluttony and instant gratification. The vast majority of the 7+ billion who inhabit this world live for a year on less then you make in a single week. Yet, we never seem to have enough.

The List Of Assets

We could keep adding to this list, but let’s move forward at this point. List all your cash on hand, money in checking, savings (most people don’t have any or very little), money market accounts, CD’s, IRA, 401K and other retirement accounts, investments in stock, bonds, commodities, currency, precious metals, real estate (including your own home, vacation properties and investment properties), vehicles, jewelry, art, collectibles, furnishings, clothes, tools, toys, college funds, pre-paid funeral arrangements, possible future inheritances you know about for sure and anything else you can think of that has value.

Real World Value

Now, next to each item place a real world value. Some of these will be easy, of course. If you have $500.00 in a checking account and $1,000.00 in a savings account, that is their current real world value, assuming the currency won’t collapse and become worthless or runaway hyperinflation doesn’t make a dollar worth a dime. It will be more difficult on most of the other items on your list. For example, your home is a best guess since many factors will determine the real value including changes to your community, foreclosures, closing or opening of a school that serves the community and so on. You may have paid $60,000.00 for a Hummer H2, that by normal depreciation might be worth $40,000.00 when it’s four years old, but then again, with gas prices in the range of $3.50 to $4.00 per gallon and the Hummer averaging, perhaps, 8 to 12 miles per gallon, the market may have tanked and its value may only be $15,000.00 to $20,000.00. This is where the realistic and honesty factors come into play. Don’t kid yourself. It won’t hurt me and it won’t hurt anyone outside those directly intermingled in your finances, like your spouse, children, business partners, etc.

Another thing that has to be taken into account at this time is your marital/relationship status. Are you single or married? Are you in a domestic relationship – romantic or for convenience – and do you own any of these assets in joint tenancy? Do you have joint bank accounts. Does your spouse (male or female) have any claim to any retirement accounts or pensions you have should the relationship dissolve? Do you have disability insurance and/or long term care insurance and/or health insurance if something unthinkable happens? If so, is it adequate to cover all the bases? By the way, I’m not a credit counselor, insurance professional or certified financial planner. I’m simply a guy who has lived for 67 years at this writing and watched untold numbers of people go down the tubes due to business downsizing, closings, car accidents, work related accidents, home accidents, health issues like heart attacks, strokes, cancer, divorce and so on. It’s that Life 101 thing again.

Fire Sale!!!

Next, make another column on your Asset list and call it, Fire Sale Value. If this sounds familiar, I hope you went back to Step #3, Personal Inventory. It will help you speed this process. In this column you’re going to come up with values for your assets based on the worst case scenario where you would need cash fast to cover doctor bills, gambling debts, to put food on the table, a flood, earthquake or wildfire destroying your home, business, etc. and insurance isn’t enough to cover your losses or whatever other unforeseen and heretofore unthinkable event could befall you. Okay, I know, this only happens to other people. It will never happen to you. That’s what “they” all said, too. Is the grass really all that much greener on your side of the fence? Have you really dotted all your i’s and crossed all your t’s? DO NOT be optimistic with these valuations. Mostly, even your most conservative guesses are going to be optimistic, at best. Go visit that pawn shop with your jewelry, computers, stereo’s, TV’s, etc. and get a real idea of their fire sale, worse case scenario value.

Gee! This is pretty depressing isn’t it? There are so many more scenarios, but we’re going to move on. Remember, being free, ultimately, is going to mean detaching yourself from “stuff” and money and determining the basic core values that are really meaningful and valuable to you. But, we’ll look at that a little later.

What Do You Owe?

Start a new list and title it “Liabilities.” Now, you’re going to list every single thing you owe no matter how much or who you owe it to. Start off with your home and vacation property mortgages, The main thing right now is to consider how much you owe on the principle amount borrowed. Then go to your vehicles (all of them), toys, tools, credit card debt carry-over, home equity loans, signature loans, other secured loans, student loans, loans from family and friends, gambling debts (oh yeah, don’t hide from them, if you have them, list them), loans on investments, real estate properties, business loans and lines of credit you’ve personally had to guarantee, medical bills you’re paying off, deficits in investment accounts and so on. You probably didn’t think your list could be this long. Surprise, you’ve been kidding yourself like most people do. When you get to the bottom of this list (and you’ll probably continue remembering little things you forgot), tally up the total. Ouch!

Reality Time

Now, here comes the real eye opener. Subtract your liabilities from your assets. If the resulting number is a positive number then that’s how much you’re worth (and remember, if you’re married, you really only worth half that much). If the resulting number is a negative number then face it, you’re bankrupt.

I told you this might surprise you when I outlined the 12 Steps for Living Free. You (like most people) don’t want to look at reality, so you typically skip over things and conveniently forget to list them. This certainly isn’t a full and necessarily accurate balance sheet that an accountant can prepare for you if you give him or her ALL the information they require, but it’s accurate enough to give you a pretty good idea of where you really stand in life.

I hope you came out with a very, nice, large positive number. The reality is that most people are 90 days away from bankruptcy. A major illness, loss of a job, natural disaster or any of a number of other events could pull the rug out from under you if you’re like most people.

But, there’s more. OMG! Haven’t I made you miserable enough? Sorry! The facts are the facts and reality is reality. We’ve only examined the assets and the liabilities – and don’t forget to subtract the liabilities from both the “realistic” valuation and the “fire sale” valuation of your assets. The pictures could be and probably will be very different.

Time To Crack The Nut

Now, we have to add in the cost of day-to-day living. Your assets and liabilities don’t address those added expenses. So, it’s time for another list you can call Monthly Living Expenses or Monthly Overhead (a bit more business-like term).

Here are many of the items to include on the list, though not all of them, certainly. Let’s start off with the more mundane necessities like food, clothing, transportation, job related expenses, school related expenses if you have children, prescription and off the shelf medications, supplements and vitamins and similar items. Next, let’s add a big category, insurance. Make sure to list the monthly premiums (or if you pay them quarterly or some other frequency, calculate the monthly cost) for life, health, car, house/homeowner/renter, disability, long-term care, dental, RV (if you have one), vacation property, flood, title and any other forms of insurance you carry for yourself and your family’s security.

Then there are utilities like gas, electric, water, sewer, telephone and cell phone. You can add entertainment like cable or satellite TV, Internet, Netflix, book purchases online or at stores, theater tickets, movies, concerts, dining out, dinner parties and vacations. Don’t forget monthly expenses for the kids that may have to do with school sports programs, concert trips, field trips and such. Also, remember you have federal and possibly state income taxes, and various other local, state and federal taxes you are required to pay.

And the last major category is monthly debt service. This can be a little tricky because you may pay some of your other categories with your credit cards, so you’ll need to separate these so you don’t list them twice. But, most will be pretty clear cut, your mortgage payment(s), car payment(s), secured loan payment(s), signature loan payment(s), and so on. If you have money withheld from your income to be deposited toward any of your retirement or pension accounts, that is money coming out of your income each month, so count it as part of your expenses. It does have the benefit that it is increasing the value of your assets on the other side of the ledger.

Add all the dollar amounts on this list together and this is your monthly “nut” to crack. Subtract this number from your total income (that you can count on) each month. Now, you know how much you have to go to savings or for some discretionary pleasures. This is what you NEED to maintain your lifestyle just as it is today with no significant improvements. And, if your income doesn’t keep up with the increasing costs of things like health insurance, utilities, gasoline, food and so on, then at some point in time, you’re going to have to dip into your savings account to finance today’s lifestyle. This is called deficit spending. If you want a good example of exactly how this works, watch the evening news about how the U.S. government operates and what the impact of this kind of spending formula has had on Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, to mention a few.

Sure, you knew all this. I’m not trying to insult your intelligence. But, are you operating like the U.S. government or like the Coca Cola Company? The government doesn’t produce anything, they take money from taxpayers – allowing all kinds of special concessions to all kinds of people with “special” interests or needs. Then they spend that money wantonly and simply borrow more when they don’t have enough. How long can this be a FREE country if we keep adding to our $14 trillion debt – sooner or later someone has to pay the piper. How long can you continue the illusion of being free if you owe massive amounts of money. At some point in time the U.S. government won’t be able to borrow any more money and neither will you. On the other hand, the Coca Cola Company operates on a simple formula – they take in more money then they spend. What a concept. And, it works.

It’s Show Time

So, now we’re to the bottom line of this step, Step #6 Finances. What is it going to take for you to get to the point where you can say you’re financially free? You may have noticed that there is an interconnecting pathway within these steps. While each is distinctively an individual step, action from various steps will definitely impact the other steps.

How do you define living free in financial terms in your life? If you are part of some kind of partnership like a marriage, domestic relationship or business partnership, do you see eye to eye with your partner(s)? If you are single and self-sustaining and self-supporting your choices, decisions and actions are much simpler then if two or more individuals have to come together on dreams, philosophies, choices and actions.

I stated it earlier, you can’t be in debt and be free. So, if you are in debt (and unfortunately, very few people aren’t in some form of debt situation), how can you eliminate your debt? If, after you created your asset, liability and overhead lists you, find yourself in a reasonably healthy and positive financial situation, can you simply go through the downsizing process, simplify your life, sell off high value (and possibly high debt) assets to clear those liabilities off your books? Perhaps you can work with a credible and highly reputed financial planner to create a plan to lower your monthly/annual overhead and apply the income that was paying for that higher overhead to paying off debt and reducing your liabilities. Those are two likely scenarios. Each will require a plan and a reasonable time line to execute and accomplish.

If you’ve been kidding yourself for more then a couple years and now, after being brutally honest and evaluating your actual financial position, you realize you’re not likely to get out of your liability position during this lifetime. You may have to consider drastic measures. If this is a realistic scenario, it’s important to accept that your assets will most likely be attached when you die and there will be no estate to leave your kids. You’ll never be able to stop working as hard as you are now. You’ll never be any freer then you are now. You’re doomed to the life of a wage slave, even if you own your own business. Then what? You could quit everything and abandon your home and lifestyle and just go off the grid. I don’t recommend this kind of action. Maybe you could just sell off whatever you can, take the money and leave the country and start all over again in a different country. Sure, that’s possible. But, we’re in a global society and your anticipation of privacy is pretty slim. Your records will follow you and catch up at some point in time unless you can do a very successful change of identity. Frankly, This isn’t a great idea, either. Bankruptcy is yet another alternative. If you’re in this kind of situation, let’s face it, sooner or later you’re going to default and your house of cards will collapse. The longer you go on, the more hopeless the situation will likely become and the more people you’ll potentially hurt. So, why not consider just doing it, getting it over with and starting out fresh.

Call In The Cavalry

Now I’m going to make this very emphatic – DON’T DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU GET PROFESSIONAL LEGAL AND ACCOUNTING ADVICE! I am not a legal, accounting or financial professional and even if I were, I don’t know your specific circumstances. It’s absolutely vital that you seek the appropriate professional help. Take your lists with you. Tell them everything about your life, lifestyle, job/business as well as your “partner(s)’s if you have one or more. Tell them your dreams and aspirations. Explain how you plan to live your “new” life free, frugally and fiscally responsibly. Give them an idea of the time line you’ve tentatively established.

Tell them what actions you’ve taken to date. For example, explain that you’ve eliminated your wired phone lines, gone to a flat rate cellphone service, cut the cable service to the most basic service, restructured and re-shopped your various insurance policies and reduced your insurance cost by 30% (or whatever). Indicate that you do more shopping at Walmart instead of the high priced supermarket and Nordstrom’s and cut you food and clothing bills by 50%. You only have someone in once a month to clean the house instead of weekly and don’t plan to have anyone once you downsize to a smaller home or apartment. Show them you’re willing to take on more of the direct work yourself by letting go of the lawn service people and mowing your own lawn. Additionally, indicate what other actions you plan to implement to reduce your overhead and simplify your life. Perhaps, you’ve closed six of your eight credit card accounts and use only one with the other as a back-up for emergency use.

Like everything in the 12 Steps for Living Free program, nothing is an overnight process. You took actions over a period of time to “imprison” yourself in the lifestyle you’re seeking to shed. You have to pay the price to extricate yourself. However, each small step you take is one more step toward the living free lifestyle you’ve identified for yourself. I compare it to losing weight. You didn’t gain all the weight you may desire to eliminate in a day, a week or a month. It happened a little at a time over a period of time. The same is true when you want to lose the weight. If you want to lose 30 pounds and you set a goal to lose one pound a week, you’ll reach your desired weight in 30 weeks. If you go on a crash program, you may lose it, but it won’t be a healthy loss and it’s virtually certain that you’ll regain it just about as fast as you lost it because you didn’t actually modify your lifestyle.

I told you I cut my overhead by about 80% in one day. But, that was my combined personal and business overhead (which in my case are basically synonymous). However, I began the plan for that to happen a couple years in advance of the actual event. It was little steps. It was little modifications in my lifestyle and my business operations. It was a process to become a reinvented person. And that’s exactly what you’re going to do. I’m not unusual in what I’ve accomplished. There are many people like me and I meet more of them all the time. None of them want to go back to their old lifestyle (me included). It’s an ongoing process for all of us. And, here’s the simple fact. If I can do it anyone can do it and most especially you.

Next time, you’ll be adding another process, Step #7 Avocation, to the 12 Steps for Living Free and it’s going to dovetail right into Step #6 Finances.

“Properly experienced, life is a very risky behavior.”

Those are the words of Chris Guillebeau, a young man, wise beyond his years. Well, perhaps, it’s not so much that he’s wise beyond his years as much as it is that he, at about 31 years of age, has realized and chosen to forego all the societal conditioning about good jobs, security, conforming to what everyone else is doing and he’s living his life FREE.

Chris’s blog is called “The Art of Non-Conformity” and that is the life that he lives. I won’t tell you Chris’s entire life story because I’m going to give you a link to his blog in this posting (but, you’ll also note that I have listed it in my Valuable Links side bar). Chris is a great example of living and working free. His most immediate goal is to visit every country in the world by the time he reaches 35. At last count, he’s already visited over 120 countries. He has a business schedule this year with, obviously, lots of trips and travel planned. Oh, and I should also note that Chris is married. So, he also has found the person who understands him and his drives and is supportive of his dreams and goals. Of course, she is open to adventure and taking risks in life, too.

So, what does Chris mean by his statement, “Properly experienced, life is a very risky behavior?” Well, you can read his blog posting if you want it first hand, but essentially he began talking about the three Mr. Hood (OR) climbers who risked their lives and lost them this past week or so. He spoke about Christopher Reeves (Superman, to most of us). He talked about how people tend to always take the safe route in life. They may have dreams, goals, ambitions and, maybe even some dragons to slay, but they never realize the dreams, achieve the goals, meet their ambitions nor face those dragons. All of these typically require some pretty risky behavior. He wasn’t suggesting that everyone should be climbing sheer, vertical rock walls, jumping out of airplanes to see how long they can freefall before opening their parachute, driving race cars at 200 mph, being dropped off by a helicopter on the peak of some high mountain for some extreme skiing or scuba diving in shark infested waters. But, then again, if any or all of those things are your dreams – then what’s holding you back?

I left a comment on Chris’s blog page because he was talking directly to me (and apparently over 130 other readers who have left comments, so far). As I’ve been reading through the comments I’ve been totally amazed by the exciting people who are following Chris’s adventures. As I approach the ripe young age of 65, being in the 3rd half of my life, I guess, I thought I was probably a little unusual, an “old fogy” following this “youngster.” But, I discovered that I was wrong in my assumption. One person said they were in the 3rd third of their life and reaching for and living their dreams and another said he was 70 and doing the same thing. There were women who are traveling the world alone. One such woman said she was born and raised in Chicago and had been the victim of several acts of crime in her home town and while she’s traveled the world and is now living in Mexico as part of her dreams, she’s not experienced the acts of crime that she did in her hometown in the good ole US of A.

Many people pointed out that you could be killed in an auto accident right outside your home or have a heart attack sitting in your little cubicle at work or be the victim of a violent crime in your hometown. In fact, statistically, everyone is more likely to have that kind of experience before they would by doing something most people would consider fool hardy, dangerous and risky behavior. But, think about it, most of the people who follow these, so-called, foolhardy, dangerous and risky behaviors – carefully plan every facet of what they plan to do and experience. They learn how to skydive from a seasoned instructor, they learn to rock climb or mountain climb from experts, the same with scuba diving or extreme skiing or any other kind of, so-called, risky activity.

Here’s the thing. Yes, sometimes, bad things happen when someone risks climbing Mt. Hood or Mt. Rainier or Mt. McKinley or Mt. Everest or dive on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia or drive racing cars, motorcycles, bicycles, sail small vessels around the world or trek through small, underdeveloped countries where many people still live very primitively. You can name many other risky behaviors. But, those who do these things prepare themselves physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually, and equip themselves properly with what they need to live out their dream and achieve their goals. Are there some foolhardy people who rush into things without thinking, learning, training, equipping and conditioning themselves for the adventure? Of course, there are. But, most go through the necessary learning and preparation.

I would dare say, there are far less people, as a percentage, who die or are seriously living hurt living their dreams and adventures then the number who die or are hurt in airplane crashes, train crashes, automobile accidents, falling off ladders at their own home or have work related accidents doing something they don’t love doing. How many people do you know (and probably a lot you don’t know) who are walking time bombs – and I’m not referring to radical terrorist, suicide bombers – I’m talking about people who have extremely high blood pressure and either don’t know it or don’t do anything about it. Or how about people who suspect they are having some kind of medical problem, but don’t go to the doctor and find out because they fear what they don’t know. The attitude is, “what I don’t know, can’t hurt me.” WRONG! That attitude killed my mother when she had just turned 63. How risky is it to try to schedule too many things and now have enough time to accomplish them, so you do dumb things, like drive too fast and recklessly and – you make one miscalculation and your next stop is the morgue.

But, here’s the real point – “Properly Experienced,” as Chris points out, “life is a very risky behavior.” So, why are more people killed or maimed taking the “supposed” safe route, giving up on their dreams, putting all their security in a job, community, home, whatever, where there is a greater possibility that they may die – ANYWAY! None of us will get out of this life alive – and you certainly won’t escape death by “playing it safe,” since that’s were the highest number of people will die, by a huge magnitude in comparison to those who live their dreams. The commenters on Chris’s blog seem to repeat the same thing numerous times – they’d rather die doing something they wanted to do, living their dreams, then die as a spectator in the grandstand of life.

THAT is what “Living and Working Free” is all about. Of course, everyone has different dreams. I wouldn’t suggest that taking risks in your life means that your dreams have to be about any of the activities I’ve mentioned in this article. In fact, maybe your dream is to “take this job and shove it!” What will it take to do that? Do you have dream of simplifying and/or downsizing your life, giving up the country club membership, moving into a small, easy to maintain house and spend your time generating whatever income you need doing something you love to do? Are you like me – with a desire and dream to see all of this country and as much of this continent as I can (with short trips to other parts of the world) as a wandering nomad in an RV? Maybe you want to trek the world, like my son, and see the sights and get to know and live with the people of the world, but not as the typical tourist. Maybe you want to write books, paint paintings, compose and perform music, create useful inventions. Maybe searching for lost treasure or antiques or archeological finds are your dreams and passions. So, what is stopping you?

Oh yeah, you have a family, you have to keep the job because the economy is in bad shape and you might not be able to get another one. You have to keep a roof over their heads. You have to keep them clothed and educated in schools. Well, here are some irrefutable facts – you only live this life once, you will die and it could be later today or tomorrow – no one knows that – and the people who act and live their dreams are the people who make things happen in this world.
I just learned that another friend of mine died on Christmas Day at the ripe young age of 61. She has been on the invitation list of an event I have coordinated for the past 8 years (actually, long before I took over the coordination). She kept saying she really wanted to come and hang out with all her friends – she’ll get there one day. Well, “one day” will never come for her anymore.

This past Friday evening while a friend and I were enjoying a meal at a local restaurant, I met a young family – father, mother, three younger children – who arrived at the restaurant in a pick-up truck that was pulling a 40’ 5th wheel trailer (RV). They were seated next to us and I couldn’t help introducing myself and asking about their lifestyle. They are full-time RVers, the children are home schooled on the road as they travel the country. The father is a traveling evangelist and a master plumber, so he has, at least, a couple ways to generate income as they travel. His wife schools the kids and makes a home for them wherever they are. They are living their dream and adventure. The family is together, they feel secure and they are living and learning so much about people, places, life and living free.

Let me close this posting by quoting one of the commenters on Chris’s blog. “Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom.” Bymes – Thanks for reminding us all to go for the freedom!” That came from the writers of a blog called SoulTravelers3, a couple in their early 50’s from Santa Cruz, CA. They are traveling around the world on an open ended adventure with their 5 year old daughter. They are home schooling her as they travel and while she learns about the world in way very few children in this country will ever learn about it.

Check out Chris’s blog posting at http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/beware-of-life/#comments

Enthusiastically,
Ed

Living Free – An Attitude? Part II

In my last posting, I began a discussion about how greed and power worked in the human species. I chose the banking industry as an example and I led up to a basic layman’s concept of the banking business. Now, we’ll ramp things up a bit. Here is where the greed and power starts mucking things up.

The bankers realize that they basically are making money off OPM – “other people’s money.” How can they capitalize even more on that so they can make more? Being creative and talented (and we’ll talk about that more later), how about if they loan the depositors’ money back to the depositors at a higher rate then they are paying the depositors on their savings? How do they do that? They simply convince the depositors that they are better off buying things right now that they can’t afford by borrowing the money for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, etc. so they can realize they’re dreams NOW – instant gratification. Don’t save your money until you can afford that house, that new car, that 60” LCD, flat screen TV and so on. It will take you a long time and you may never realize your dreams.

This is where the depositors’ greed kicks in. They want all these things now because they are told they can have them now. We live in the land of plenty. We have a right to have all these things, after all the Declaration of Independence says we have the right to life, liberty and happiness. Oops! I forgot a word – the “pursuit” of happiness – there is no right to happiness, just the right to pursue it. But, we think if we get that new house NOW that we can’t really afford, we’ll be happy. If we get that shiny new SUV or convertible NOW, we’ll be happy. If we get those new shoes or that nice silk shirt NOW, we’ll be happy. And, we have a job that we can use the money from to pay the monthly payments for these items – and the bankers will even tell you that you can do it. Get the “stuff” NOW and you’ll be happy.

Now, get this picture – the bankers are borrowing your money (your savings) and paying you 3% (if you’re lucky) and then they are loaning it back to you and charging you 6%, 9%, 12%, 18% and even more then 20%. Simple arithmetic shows that a depositor will never get ahead in the long run under this scenario.

But, the bankers want to make more money. After all, now we call stealing money and manipulating people . . . “talent.” And in order to attract the best “talent” in banking we have to pay huge salaries that are totally unrealistic – then sweeten the pot with huge bonuses in the six and seven figure range and, not to let the investors out of the picture, we’ll give stock options so these “talented” criminals – I’m sorry, I mean bankers, can purchase large blocks of stock in the bank at special preferred prices and dilute the equity and earnings of the original stockholders. But, that’s okay, because the original stockholders are convinced these “talented” bankers can come up with lots of new “creative” ways to fleece depositors and borrowers. Why . . . there is “float,” late fees, over limit fees, a fee that’s charged to merchants when you use your credit cards, default swaps, bundling mortgages that were bad when they made them and peddling them off to some other greedy investors believing they are buying quality investments, and so on.

This is why we are in an international economic crisis. And, let’s not only blame bankers, just replace the word banker with other industries. And this isn’t something that just happened over the last decade or so; it’s actually been going on since the beginning of civilization. And then every so often, the bankers (or whoever) get caught with their hands in the cookie jar and the house of cards collapses and it starts all over again.

But, remember when you point a finger at someone there are three fingers on your own hand pointing back at you. We are all in this together. There is no individual (including children, we teach them young) who are not implicated. It is unimaginable that Bernie Madoff could have operated his scheme, essentially, undetected for as long as he did, if it wasn’t for the greed factor. There is an old saying, “If it looks to good to be true, it virtually always is.” Even the U.S. Treasury was recently scammed by a Nigerian e-mail money scam. They fortunately nipped it before the taxpayers were fleeced even more, but there it is again.

Living free can never happen when an individual or a family is totally beholding to someone else. That’s what has happened to our country. Our government with a taxation system that is nothing more then an illegal shell game has scammed us. It is so complex that virtually no one, including the government, can tell us how much we are actually paying in taxes. We are prisoners to jobs that we HAVE TO HAVE to just keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs and basic transportation – BUT, we have to have cable TV and high speed Internet and cell phones, etc., too. Pretty soon, we are not free. We are imprisoned by our own greed. There is a satire on the little ditty sung by the Seven Dwarfs of Snow White fame. It goes like this, “I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go.” That’s not very funny. Well, this is long enough for this posting. In the next posting, we’ll see where this goes to next.

Enthusiastically,
Ed

The New Normal . . .

Well, time sure flies when you’re having fun – hmmm, are we having fun, yet? It’s been over a month since my last posting here. Yes! I have been busy. Doing fun things? Well, yes and no! But, I’m not going there, now. And I’ll pick up more on the Freedom Isn’t Free theme later

I just received an e-mail from my friend Dick Strader who is the full-time RVer I wrote about a year ago or so. He sent along a picture of the famous Apache Observation Location – Tucumcari Mountain, after which the town of Tucumcari, NM was named. He’s teasing me. He knows how bad I want to be out on the open roads seeing this continent. But, my time will come and it’s getting closer.

I haven’t heard from my other friend, Andrea, who was out seeing the country in her converted van. I trust she’s doing okay and thriving. Another friend from Winchester just joined the “living and working free” lifestyle. Actually, she gave up her apartment last October, just before I left the ranch. She left this past Saturday to start a new life and lifestyle in Florida. She called me from Georgia on Sunday. She should be in Ft Lauderdale by now.

Today, on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the evening radio magazine on public radio stations, I heard a feature called “The New Normal.” I believe it was one of the show’s hosts, Robert Siegel who interviewed various people or received calls and e-mails from people across the country describing what the “new normal” is going to be when the U.S. returns to “normal” after this economic event (call it what you will, collapse, crisis, recession, downturn, depression, whatever). It was interesting. No one from the calls and e-mails they aired seemed to expect the U.S. to return to where it was before the event – at least not in the foreseeable future – or maybe never in our lifetimes. They were all somewhat optimistic, yet still pessimistic and cynical. But, alas, they were probably not far off the target. Actually, they weren’t all that pessimistic. I think I would say they were realistic. No, we’re not all going to go back to living in log cabins or caves and groveling for bits of thrown out food or foraging for berries and hunting for our protein.

It seems that they expect that everyone (except a small percentage of the “Haves,” as Robert Ringer, best selling author ( www.robertringer.com ) calls the one class of people in society) to be living a more conservative and frugal lifestyle. Housing will downsize into more affordable and manageable homes. People who should be renting instead of owning too much house with a mortgage they can’t afford, will be renting. There will still be cars even if GM and Chrysler join the dinosaurs in the La Brea Tar Pits. As a matter of fact, we’ll still have all the necessities we’ll need and some nice things that we want to have – probably just not as many – and we’ll learn to save and be patient instead of the instant gratification our country became so accustomed to. In reality, life will not be bad, it will just be real – and probably more pragmatic.

But, the middle class may not be the same middle class that was created in this country over the past 80 years since the Great Depression. Again, referring back to Robert Ringer, who wrote, Restoring The American Dream, since recorded history began (and probably long before that) there have always been basically two classes of people. The one class is a very small, elite, aristocratic (often self-created) class of wealthy, powerful people – the “Haves” Everyone else, the vast majority, were the “Have Nots.” Some of the Have Nots, had more then other Have Nots – this became what we called the Middle Class. In other terms, there were the Upper Class and the Lower Class – so, obviously, anyone who had a little more then the rest of the Lower Class still didn’t qualify as the Upper Class, hence – the Middle Class. It’s all very obvious and logical. But, for the most part, the Middle Class still qualifies as Have Nots. And this is why we are in the trouble we’re in. But, that, too is a subject for another day.

What concerns me, a very basic, simple, pragmatic person is how we’re going to pull this off in the future. Now, lest I sound “holier then thou,” believe me, I’ve been just as guilty as a lot of other people in some ways. I’ve lived decently all my life. I’ve indulged myself when I shouldn’t have, but I liked credit and instant gratification. I would definitely consider that I am one of those in the Middle Class – and when I was younger, I had dreams of becoming very wealthy. That was not to be, at least not from a financial perspective. However, I actually feel that I’m wealthier then I could have ever imagined – but in my own terms, not necessarily those of a materialistic society.

So, what are my concerns about the future? Well, like I’ve said many times, I’m basically a simple person. So, I look at things from a simple and, maybe, a somewhat logical perspective. We currently have approximately 77 million Baby Boomers in the U.S. (we won’t talk about the rest of the world). A very large number, possibly the majority, of these folks have lost much or most of their retirement savings. Many have lost their pensions. Many have also lost their jobs or will lose them in the future, before they were/are ready to give them up. So, they are going to need to have jobs to be able to survive for the rest of their lives – and the Baby Boomers will be the generation with the greatest longevity in history. But, we don’t have enough jobs for all these Boomers and since people are cutting back on spending and will continue to, according to predictions, savings (when there is anything to save) is going to trump having stuff, so where will the jobs be for this aging population?

But, it doesn’t stop there. It appears, that while we weren’t looking, probably because we were too busy spending, there is now a generation in our country called the “Echo Boomers.” The first Echo Boomers are just turning 25. Now, here’s the glitch – the Echo Boomers are a larger generation then the Baby Boomers. It is estimated that there are more then 80 million Echoes. They are getting out of college, grad school, high school, vocational school and junior colleges and needing jobs, too. Where are those jobs going to come from? Oh, and I haven’t included the legal immigrants or the illegal immigrants.

Well, this is a bit longer then my usual post and I’m really trying to shorten them, but I will explore this more in the future. There will be some direct correlations with living and working free in this. But, for now, just think about it?

Thoughtfully,
Ed Helvey

Now It’s REALLY Getting Serious!

Microsoft is cutting 5, 000 jobs - the first layoff in the company’s history. Intel is cutting 6,000 jobs and closing plants completely. Sony is eliminating 16,000 jobs and cutting corners in every way they can. That’s 27,000 more people without a way to pay their bills.

Now, we know things have been pretty serious, but when Microsoft becomes part of the fray -- I think, maybe, if we haven’t already, we should really start taking this economic crisis seriously. Of course, those aren’t the only negative signs today - we had the largest number of people filing for unemployment in 26 years - some 550,000+. Analysts are saying that there are going to be a lot more big companies who will default on their loan obligations - that adds more stress to the banking part of the crisis. The housing market continues to spiral downward. Ouch! I checked my measly little IRA today and found that since approximately one year ago to the week, the value has dropped by 40% and from less then a year and a half ago, it’s dropped by just less then 50%.

Is this impacting me? Of course! Is it impacting you? Well, if it’s not you must be living in a bubble.

So? Do we all run and hide, bury our heads in the sand (I have it on good authority that it’s difficult to breathe with your head buried like that)? Actually, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft made an insightful comment. He said something to the effect that (and I paraphrase) “we’re not experiencing a ‘recession.’ What we’re experiencing is a ’resetting’ of our consumer economy.” In other words, our economy finally reached the breaking point, the point where the house of cards collapses and has to be reset. Another economist said that we have to have an economy based on Main Street and not Wall Street. Wall Street has created a country of phantom wealth, not real wealth - which is why it’s able to collapse so easily, there’s really no substance behind it.

Is this the end? Are we facing a financial Armageddon? I don’t think so. I think we may be facing reality. And exactly what is reality? Reality is what’s left when you take your designer clothes of and stand naked in front of the mirror. There aren’t as many “pretty people” in our society as we think there are - but you can hide all of reality with smoke and mirrors and money can buy a lot of that. Another way to look at reality is to look at a woman who uses lots and lots of make-up. She may appear very attractive, even beautiful, with all that expensive stuff on her face. But, when it comes off, there is reality. She could have zits, pock marks, freckles and whatever else. But, as a society, we all want to be “pretty people.” Heck, there are even men who wear make-up and, of course, toupees, not to forget body slimming under garments. But, here’s the fact, strip us all naked and we become pretty plain and pretty equal in most ways.

If you’re following my blog (and I currently have no idea if I’m writing to myself or how many people may be following my line of thinking) you probably know that by freeing yourself, in whatever way you can justify for yourself, from all the “stuff” that costs money and is just a lot of window dressing you'll likely be a lot happier and fulfilled. You can have more time to enjoy life, find work that may not pay as much as what you may think you’re worth, but bring you joy and fulfillment and live a happier lifestyle, while so many others are gnashing their teeth, wailing, ending up homeless - “not by choice” and certainly not happily homeless. Stuff costs money. Most stuff we don’t need - we just want it. And all too often we want it because someone else has it, we have to keep up with the Jones’s or we are just addicted to spending money.

So, I think there is something to what Steve Ballmer said about this being a “resetting” of the economy. I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom of this fall-out by a long stretch. But, I believe a lot of us are going to break out of our buying habits and find out what really makes us happy. Then we’ll begin living simpler, more fulfilling and happier lives of living and working free, rather then as slaves to McMansions, costly, gas guzzling SUV’s and other gas hog vehicles, expensive utility bills, cable TV, designer clothes and prepackaged, prepared foods or eating out too much. Sounds pretty boring doesn’t it. Don’t knock it unless you’ve tried it. Heck! We might even get to know our families, friends and neighbors better.

Enthusiastically,
Ed