1
Sep
Posted in Monthly Update by Roger |
*Drum Roll* And now, a warm welcome back to the one, the only, the always entertaining Amateur Financier!
*Rolls of Applause*
Yes, I have returned. My hiatus has concluded, and I thank all my loyal readers for sticking with me while I tried to deal with real life. I’ve spent most of August handling not one, not two, but three different visits from members of Sondra’s and my extended families, which left me with little opportunity to get online without being incredibly anti-social. (Normally, I wouldn’t have a problem with being anti-social, but when my mother is visiting…well, I try to not act like a hermit.) If that weren’t enough, I’ve also had to get a new apartment, furnish it, and make it semi-livable in case Sondra comes out to visit. All of this is on top of studying for the start of graduate school…
On that note, I suppose I should talk about graduate school for a little bit. So far, it’s not too bad; not that dissimilar from my undergraduate college, really. The biggest change is that rather than helping in the undergraduate labs, now I’m running one of them all by myself. I’m also in charge of two recitation courses, where the students get more practice in the material and the chance to ask questions in a smaller class setting.
It’s a bit different from what I’m used to; my undergraduate college didn’t have a graduate program, so unlike most of the other grad students, who are Youngstown State (the school where I’m going, by the way) graduates, who had to deal with all of this from the other side of the table, I’m feeling my way through, without really knowing how a grad student should act. On the plus side, I did serve as a lab assistant and run some study sessions as an undergrad, so I’m not flying completely blind; so far, I seem to be doing alright. (Although, you might want to check back when I’m dealing with grading lab reports and recitation quizzes, studying for tests of my own, and doing research to help finish my thesis; it could get busy quickly when everything starts to pick up…)
For the time being, though, I think that grad school should offer me more time to work on my blog than I’ve had lately. Don’t get me wrong, there is quite a lot of work that needs be done (my backpack is sitting at my feet as I write this, filled to the brim with books that need to be read, notes that need to be reviewed, and problems that should be worked out), but with my apartment finally furnished, my cleaning needs at a minimum in such a small space, and few distractions (No TV, no attention hungry dog, and (most sadly) no Sondra makes for a dull, but easy to finish work and studying environment), I should be able to get three to five articles finished each week. Even if I can’t, my goal is to not have to go on another hiatus for the foreseeable future; I did miss my blog (and my readers) while I was on my hiatus.
Anyway, with all of that out of the way, let’s take a look at my finances, as per our normal first of the month procedure. A warning for the faint of heart: furnishing an apartment is not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination, so my finances have been roughed up quite a bit this past month. On that note, onto the numbers:
So, ouch. The decline in my investments is unfortunate (also, if I hear one more person talk about a ‘double dip’ recession, I will have to cause someone some serious physical harm), but the big problem is really the credit card debt. I was a bit too free with my cards when it came to spending to furnishing my apartment, I’m afraid, and now I’ve got a rather sizable credit card debt. My Alexa ranking is not doing much better; it was sliding before my hiatus, but really got nailed when I left for most of the month.
On the plus side, being a grad student means a regular (if not spectacular) income, which, when combined with my (normally) frugal style of living on my own, should allow me to pay down my debt with little problem. (Plus, call me an eternal optimist, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to start earning a little more money with my blog (and other alternative income streams) now that I have more time and more experience.) It will just take a little time, a little effort, and a willingness to keep my spending under control. Really, the same things that it’s always taken. Here’s hoping I can do it well!
Related Websites
4
Aug
Posted in blogging by Roger |
My friends, much as I had hoped to avoid doing anything this dramatic, my current situation compels me to do so: I’m taking a hiatus from The Amateur Financier. For the rest of August, I’m taking a break from regularly updating my blog and posting new articles.
I’m not disappearing completely (at least, not yet). I will continue to respond to comments made on the four hundred plus entries I’ve already posted, talk with any readers, and read and post on other blogs, as normal (perhaps more often than I have been doing lately, actually; I’ve been doing a lot less blog reading than I used to, one of the things I hope to change during this hiatus).
The ‘Why’
There’s several reasons I’m doing this, but most of them boil down to one thing: time. I have been feeling short on time for a while now, having trouble keeping up with everything I need and want to do. I’ve tried to cope by cutting down on what I’ve been doing; in the blogging realm, that’s meant reducing the number of blog entries I publish each week, reading fewer other blogs, and commenting much, much less than I would prefer.
Even with all of those measures, I’ve still been struggling to keep up with my blog in intact. From moving in with my fiancee in January and taking on the role of official dishwasher/laundry washer/dog walker (along with having my computer occasionally kidnapped by said fiancee, while her own is in need of repairs) to getting a job in May, I’ve been increasingly having trouble keeping up with my blog on top of everything else going on in my life. I’ve been trying my best to keep up, but as you might have noticed, there’s been more than a few times when I’ve had to back date posts or try to cram in an article during the wee hours of the morning.
August promises to make things even worse; in less than three weeks, I will be starting grad school, which means that I need to register for classes (yes, the way things have worked out, I’m not registered for classes yet), relearn organic chemistry, find a place to live, move in, visit with family members (both mine and my fiancee’s), AND finish my stint of work at Wal-Mart. There is a good chance that I will not have enough time over the next few weeks to keep up with my blog and everything else I need to do; unfortunately, when it comes to choosing between school work, family, and my blog, my blog unfortunately will always lose.
At the end of the month, things get even more complicated; that’s when I start graduate school, and will likely have even less time to spend online. (Although, I’ve had semesters during my undergraduate career where I had so much spare time it wasn’t even funny; if something similar happens, perhaps all my worries will be for naught.) There is a good chance that I might not be able to continue this blog while going to classes at the same time; part of the reason for this hiatus is to give me a chance to build up a reserve of posts for when I’m at school, or at least, figure out a way to bow out of my blog gracefully.
What Happens Next
As mentioned, I’m not trying to disappear completely, simply get a little more breathing room to get things done in the real world. I’ll still be around if you need me; if I manage to get things under control, I might even be back to posting regularly well before the end of the month. As for what happens once grad school begins…That I honestly do not know, yet. Again, if time allows, I might be able to resume blogging by the end of this month without any serious problems; on the other hand, I might not be able to continue with my blog at all, at least while I’m attending classes (a major portion of time for the next two years). In any event, this is not the last you’ll hear from me; I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated on my progress, and to provide a final answer about what will happen with The Amateur Financier soon.
Before I go, though, I’d like to say one final thank you to all my readers for spurring me on, asking thought provoking questions, and challenging my post; you’ve helped to make this blog all worthwhile. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.
Your Amateur Financier,
Roger Raby
Related Websites
1
Aug
Posted in Net Worth Update by Roger |
Ah, another month has come and gone. July was extraordinarily busy, with everything from family visits to graduate school trips taking up time. Add in the fact that I’m still working, studying for said grad school, and helping around the house, and it was a very full month.
Of course, the advantage of all that running around is that the month went pretty quickly. When it comes right down to it, I’d rather be too busy than not busy at all; in the latter case, time just seems to drag on and on, taking forever. Like most adults, though, it’s been many a year since I had absolutely nothing to do; even when I wasn’t working, there was still housework, yard work, and other domestic tasks to keep me occupied. I suppose it’s part of being an adult; the responsibility that comes along with being in control of your own life.
Speaking of responsibility, one of the biggest responsibilities we have as adults is to manage our own money. (Like the way I tied it back to personal finance?) On that note, let’s see where my finances stood at the beginning of the dog days of summer:
Not too much to report on the financial front. My investments are moving upward (July was a pretty good month in that respect). My debts would be going down, but I helped my fiancee get a used car by putting the down payment on my credit card and co-signing for her (she has a decent income, more than me right now, actually, but virtually no credit history; I’ll have to help her rectify that situation). Thanks undoubtedly to the seemingly endless extensions (and my stint at Sanofi, however brief it was), I qualified for further unemployment benefits, so that helps to keep my finances in check.
All in all, not a bad month.
Related Websites
30
Jul
Posted in Future of Wealth by Roger |
Ah, retirement. The (long-term) goal of just about everyone currently working, the time when we can call it a lifetime and relax, enjoying the fruits of our labors. Reaching sixty-five, getting a gold watch, going to Florida and spending the rest of your days in the sun, enjoying life as you live off a fat pension, generous Social Security payments (or the equivalent in most Western countries) and the gravy of any personal savings or investments, to spend however you want.
Of course, that whole paradigm is changing rapidly. (Not that it existed for very long; Social Security dates back only to the Great Depression, and pensions haven’t existed for much longer.) First, people are living much longer than they did in the past, and are much healthier and more active on reaching retirement age. Pension plans originated with railroad workers, as a way to compensate workers who spent decades in physically demanding jobs who, when they reached retirement age (IF they reached retirement age), would be unable to do any work to support themselves. Social Security developed much in the same way, as a way to support those too old and infirm to provide themselves with income through their own labor.
But the days of most people working hard on the rail yard (or farm, or in factories) are largely behind us; many, if not most, workers do white collar work now, and balancing budgets and attending meetings doesn’t leave your body as physically drained as decades of physical labor. There’s also been a great change in life spans over the decades; when Social Security was enacted, it was designed to cover only the exceptionally long lived, and then, only for the few years they had left on Earth. Now, living to seventy (or even longer) is the norm, and spending decades in retirement is common.
Next, ‘three-legged stool’ model of retirement, based on pensions, Social Security, and personal savings, is rapidly collapsing. Pensions are becoming a relic of the past (neither of the two permanent jobs I’ve held since graduating offered any sort of pension to their rank and file, not that I stayed in either position anywhere near long enough to earn a pension). Social Security faces some trouble in the near future, as outgo will soon match, than exceed, the current tax revenue devoted to it; solutions to solve this problem exist, but usually amount to increasing the Social Security tax or cutting down benefits. This leaves a large, and only likely to increase, amount of retirement funding responsibility on personal savings.
A train, in honor of the first pension recipients
On the plus side, there are a large and ever increasing number of ways to save and invest for retirement. The last big change is that funding retirement is increasingly in the hands of the retiring individuals. This has its downsides; now, everyone from waiters to lawyers, doctors to plumbers, blue collar workers to white collar pencil-pushers has to be knowledgeable about investing, if they ever hope to quit their day job. On the plus side, this increasing dependence on your own actions makes it possible to control when you’ll retire; save aggressively, and you can retire early, save very little (or nothing at all), and find yourself working to the normal retirement age or longer.
The Future of Retirement
So, what does the future hold for retirement? We’re probably going to see a much larger range of retirement ages. Many people will find upon reaching the normal retirement age, that Social Security is not nearly adequate to maintain the lifestyle to which they are accustomed and their savings aren’t enough to bridge the gap. Many baby boomers who aren’t going to receive pensions (as well as members of Generations X and Y, if they don’t start saving and investing more for retirement) will find themselves forced to work longer to make up the difference. On the other hand, those who start early, save aggressively, and live reasonable lifestyles will be able to retire much earlier, in their fifties, forties, or possibly even their thirties. The end result is a wide range of expected retirement ages, from ‘middle age’ to well into your golden years.
Partially due to these early retirees, the concept of retirement is going to be reconsidered. No longer will it consist of going to Florida (or Arizona, or any of the other retirement meccas), living in a ‘retirement village’ with a bunch of other seniors, and whiling away the days with shuffleboard and Mah Jong. Instead, retirement is going to look different for different people; while a few may like the retirement village lifestyle (particularly when they become too infirm to care for themselves), other possibilities will exist. Many retirees use the opportunity to see the world, take up new hobbies, or fulfill lifelong dreams. As aggressive savings and opportunities for alternate ’side’ income become more common, there’s likely to be a rise of the retired (or at least, working from home) people who live normal lifestyles, except for not going to work every morning.
Finally, there’s probably going to be a rise in ‘mini-retirements‘ or sabbaticals spread throughout the average lifetime. Rising savings rates and increasingly common alternative income sources (from blogging to real estate investing) combine with the fact that most people will switch jobs many times throughout their lives (often with a break in between as they attempt to find a new position) will make taking off for several months to a year or two during the ‘normal’ working years a more attractive prospect.
Where do you think the future of retirement will take us? Will it be mostly the same as what we see now, or will it be nearly unrecognizable to the average twentieth century retiree? Does anyone else really like the concpet of mini-retirements?
Related Websites
28
Jul
Posted in Future of Wealth by Roger |
One of the (arguably) biggest changes brought about by the rise of the Internet is the spread of entrepreneurial assets and opportunities. It’s now possible to start a business from the comfort of your pajamas (as I’m doing while writing this article), work with employees, contractors, or other business contacts from around the world, and build a sizable company presence, all from behind your computer.
At the same time, many of the services needed to run a company are increasingly available through independent agents. Where at one time you would need in-house groups for legal, marketing, or sales work, it’s increasingly possible to find outside firms that will provide such services, making you a client rather than them your employees.
Smaller, Faster, and More Agile
Welcome to the new business model, where just about anyone can become a business owner. Barriers to entry are decreasing (particularly when it comes to online businesses; as long as you have a personal computer, or even just access to one, you can become a business owner), supporting services are easier and cheaper to access, and groups, magazines, and online resources are helping the confused would-be business owner to get the information he or she needs to run their company. These are just some of the reasons that over 99% of current companies qualify as small businesses.
This process is only going to continue in the future. Besides the ever increasing technology base continuing to lower the bar on what can be done via the Internet, there’s the tendency for companies to beget companies to provide needed services. As more small companies look to incorporate or deal with other legal matters, legal groups catering to small companies arise. As small businesses develop the need to increase their sales force, sales companies arise or other selling opportunities develop (just look at the rise of affiliate marketing online). Increasingly, the key services required to start or grow a business are available without having to devote part of your business itself to running them.
It’s even becoming easier to outsource manufacturing and other primary business activities (so called contract manufacturing). Soon, it could be possible to have a business that produces something (let’s call it widgets), creates a legal structure to support it, and sells it, all in different countries. And it need not be a globe bestriding megacorporation in order to do so.
Dividing and Conquering
That brings us to the large companies, the ones who are big enough to have multiple departments handling a variety of different functions. If the writers of Future Wealth
are correct, they’re going to be under increasing pressure to split their businesses into component pieces. So, the legal team from Ford might be separated into its own law company, providing legal services to a variety of other corporations (which may or may not include Ford itself, depending on Ford’s needs).
Increasingly, businesses will bring in outside corporations to fulfill the functions that the business needs. By doing so, they can focus more of their energies on their main money-making activities. If it’s possible to get legal, marketing, sales, or even janitorial services less expensively from outside corporations than from internal divisions, why not opt for the former option, and allow the division in your company that provides the service to go its separate way, succeeding or failing on its own merits.
The Future of Corporations
So, what does the future look like if these trends hold? First, the nature of corporations will change greatly. Instead of mammoth organizations designed to provide all the corporations needs, there will be smaller ‘business units’ that focus on one aspect of the business’s overall mission (or a small number of related functions). Most companies will stick with a relatively small number of these business units, to save on complexity and the inevitable layers of management that come from having disparate groups all operating under one roof.
Second, those corporations that do grow large and take on many different business units will be less likely to feel compelled to build a ‘whole’ business out of the parts. If there is an economic advantage to having your own legal department (either one that you acquired or one that you built from scratch), companies will do so, but otherwise, why not hire an outside firm? On the other hand, if there is an advantage to acquiring another business or business unit, regardless of its current purpose, why not acquire it? As long as adding it to your empire doesn’t unduly increase the difficulty in managing your company, there’s little downside in doing so.
Finally, there’s going to be an ever-increasing market for services marketed toward other companies. While there may have been a need in the past to have at least some utility to the average consumer in the products that your company made, it’s increasingly possible to market your services entirely to other companies. As more companies try to streamline their businesses, it’s more and more possible to make good by marketing your services to cover the functions that they need, but don’t want (or can’t) provide themselves.
None of these changes are new, really; corporate raiders have been breaking up companies into component parts to find some that are profitable since the eighties, outsourcing was big in the nineties (and continues to be), and business to business transactions have been important pretty much since businesses began. The difference now is the increasing trend toward these traits for all companies, at all levels, from huge companies to lowly start ups. Who benefits the most from these trends will remain to be seen.
Note: as always, I’m not a professional, and these are just my opinions on the future of the corporate structure. If you need to know more about where the future will lay, a consulting company is a better source of guidance (as well as a good example of a specialized business unit like the ones discussed in this article).
Related Websites
26
Jul
Posted in Future of Wealth by Roger |
(This is the first in a series of posts where I’m looking at the possible changes we’ll see in investing and other financial pursuits in the not too distant future. It’s inspired by reading (well, listening to the audiobook version of) Future Wealth, an interesting book about possible changes we could see in the how wealth is considered in the future. I’ll look at some of the ideas raised, starting with the idea of people ‘going public’.)
There are plenty of investments out there, a fact to which my Investing 101 posts will readily attest. Stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, among numerous others, are all available for the individual or corporate investor to add to their portfolio. As a result, you can invest in corporations, investment firms, even government debt.
But for most of history, you couldn’t invest in individuals. There was no way to buy stock in Thomas Edison, or get a bond backed by the earning power of Andrew Carnegie. Sure, it was possible to invest in the companies that they founded, but the men themselves (or rather, their financial activities and money making potential) were not up for bid. The same goes for all there employees; from the highest ranking vice president to the lowest man on the assembly line, the only way to profit from their productivity was indirectly, via the companies they supported. But lately, that’s all been changing.
The Market for People
Yes, lately it’s become possible to invest in individuals, in much the same way as you do in companies. While it’s still not nearly as common (or as easy) to buy bonds backed by the earning power of an individual rather than a company, there’s an increasing ability to invest in your fellow people directly. In general, there’s two possible ways such an investment could be structured:
1) Bond-Like: The more popular method, where investors loan money to the ‘bond’ issuers. The loan recipients have the obligation to repay the loan with whatever interest and other agreements are put into place, but have no obligation to share a portion of their future earnings, from activities made possible by the invested money or other, unrelated endeavors. The first, and probably one of the more famous, example is ‘Bowie Bonds‘, a bond issue backed by the musical catalog of David Bowie prior to 1990. The purchaser of such bonds would get interest generated by the proceeds of those songs in various forms, but had no claim on Bowie’s future income from other sources.
More recently, and much more widespread, are personal loans made through websites like Prosper and Lending Club. If you are an investor in such services, like myself, you’ll buy portions of another person’s loan, and receive regular payments in return (which cover both interest and principle). As with corporate bonds, that’s all you’re entitled to receive; you have no claims on the future earnings of the person, even if your investment made it all possible.
2) Stock-Like: If you do want to have the upside potential when investing in other people, you need to have more of a stock-like investment, trading your money for partial ownership of the person (or at least, of their future income; owning people is largely illegal, and entirely immoral, in modern times). There aren’t too many people who have done arrangements like this, but one woman who is trying to trade her future income for money now is Kjerstin Erickson, who is offering six percent of her future lifetime income in exchange for $600,000. The upside possibilities are impressive; by getting in at the start of her entrepreneurial career, if Ms. Erickson manages to become a billionaire, her investor (or investors) could wind up with $60 million, for example.
Of course, that’s fair from a guarantee, as any number of would-be billionaires can tell you. If Ms. Erickson doesn’t earn at least $10 million over the course of her lifetime, the investors won’t even recover all of the initial investment, let alone any profit. If she chooses a low paying profession (she’s currently working at a non-profit) or happens to die *knock on wood*, the prospects for recovering the investment look even worse. Things aren’t all cheers and roses for Ms. Erickson in this situation, either; besides the inevitable sense that she should do something with the money (or otherwise take more risks in her financial life), there’s the fact that her earnings will be decreased throughout the rest of her life. Presumably, she’s considered these facts and decided it was a trade worth making, but allowing others to invest in you might not be for everyone.
Where We’ll Go From Here
So, since our focus is on the future, what does the future hold for investing in people? Well, as mentioned, bond-style investing in people seems to be here to stay, with companies like Lending Club making it a fairly big business already. Peer to Peer Lending, as it is otherwise known, is still not considered as vital a portion of your investing portfolio as, say, stocks, but do represent a useful way to diversify your holdings.
Stock-style investing, though, is rather unproven. Depending on what happens with Ms. Erickson’s bid for investors (along with those of Saul Garlick and Jon Gosier, who are offering three percent of their future earnings in exchange for $300,000), this may be a viable way for up and comers to raise funds. Of course, as mentioned, future entrepreneurs might have to accept more modest levels of income and/or offer a higher portion of their future income for such arrangement to take place.
From there, it’s possible to open up secondary markets in human investments, buying and selling contracts for future income streams in individuals. Perhaps in the future, you’ll be buying and selling ‘people’, or at least, portions of their income, more often than companies. Or perhaps mutual funds will develop that allow you to invest in recently graduated business majors or biochemists. Or maybe college will be funded entirely by selling shares of your future income to interested investors (maybe that will cause incoming freshmen to spend more time studying).
The future is hard to see for certain, but there is a good chance that it will involve investing in people.
Related Websites
23
Jul
Posted in work by Roger |
I was reading through some of the newest comments I’ve gotten for my ‘Unemployment and Motivation‘ post (still one that attracts the most attention, thanks in no small part to MSN featuring it in a story), and something that was left in the comments made me think. (Yes, I do read and attempt to respond to all the comments I receive, even if it takes me a while.) A reader who called him- or herself DW left a message about going abroad to find employment opportunities, since all the jobs seem to have been outsourced from the US.
That got me thinking. There does seem to be an increasing number of people who are going abroad to make their fortune, or at least are considering doing so. (Austin of Foreigner’s Finances has been living that dream since before he started blogging, to cite just one example, and he seems to enjoy his life greatly.) Add to that the fact that people have been coming to the United States to find a way of making a living since before there even was a United States, and going to a foreign country to work and live has a rather long history.
Plus, this could be the view out your window
Which brings us to the question I raised in the title of this post: Should you outsource yourself? Is it worth going to a foreign country in order to find employment? Do the pros of going abroad outweigh the cons? Well, let’s look a bit closer:
Let’s Go Abroad! – Pros
-Exposure to a Foreign Culture: One of the biggest reasons we go to foreign countries, whether to work or simply to visit, is the opportunity to experience a new and different culture. While you might get a superficial idea of what a country is like from a two week visit, working in a foreign country for a year, a semester, or even a month will allow you dive deeper, getting a better feel for the country and immersing yourself deeper in the culture.
-Building Connections Around the World: In the same vein, working abroad allows you the opportunity to meet and get to know people in cultures and parts of the world to which you’d otherwise never have exposure. While visiting gives you opportunity to see the sights, take some photos, and maybe grab some souvenirs, living and working in a foreign country presents the opportunity to dive deeper into the culture and form connections with the people there. If you’re hoping to have a collection of friends from all over the globe, there are few ways to do so more effectively than spending some time working abroad.
-Money, Money, Money: Let’s be honest, one of the biggest reasons to work abroad is the same as the main reason we work, period: Money. Just like working at home, working abroad is the opportunity to earn money. But because you are working in a foreign country, which uses a foreign currency, you have exchange rates and different costs of living thrown into the mix, as well. If you move to a country with a lower cost of living, where your dollar (or pound, or Euro, depending on where you are reading this) can stretch further, your savings may be enough to provide you with a higher standard of living abroad, or last longer than you thought in said country. In a similar manner, a strong exchange rate for the foreign currency you are making could lead to higher levels of wealth when (or if) you go back to your home country. Think of it as similar to Forex investing; profiting off the differences in exchange rates, and the changes in said rates over time.
Let’s Stay Home! – Cons
-The Language Barrier: This may or may not be a problem, depending on where exactly you do (and what language(s) you speak), but it could end up being a doozy. Particularly if you’re an American, you may not have any skill speaking in a foreign language, and if you move to a non-English speaking country, there will inevitably an adjustment period as you try to learn the language and otherwise get acclimated to your new situation. Even when you learn enough to communicate with the citizens of your new country of work, you’re still likely to have an accent and get funny looks from the natives, even if you could otherwise pass for one. Speaking of which…
-Distrust and Isolation from the Natives: Let’s be completely honest here: not every country is warm and welcoming of foreigners who want to work in their borders. In the US, you can see this in the reactions that immigrant workers get when trying to cross the borders to find a job. Yes, there are countries that will welcome you, even encourage you to come and work in their borders (to go back to Austin, he’s working as an English teacher in Japan, a position I’ve been led to understand the Japanese highly encourage Americans to take), but in many places, you could find yourself mistrusted, or even feared, by your new country mates.
-Homesickness: Unless you have no friends or family that you’re leaving behind, you’re liable to miss your home at one point or another. While the numerous advances in communication and travel technology make it much easier to stay in contact, even across the globe, there’s still no way to work in one country and still climb into bed with your significant other in a country hundreds, even thousands, of miles away (although, the first person who invents such a method will find themselves with a LOT of orders from eager business travelers, among others). Depending on your personal life, this fact alone could destroy any hope of living abroad; at the very least, it is something you should consider.
Should You Seek Your Fortune Abroad?
As you can probably guess, there’s no hard and fast answer to whether it is better for someone go abroad in order to make money. I think, thanks to improvements in communications and transportation technology, as well as the increasing mobility of people throughout the world, that it’s easier than ever before to go abroad, whether for a short period or for the rest of your life, to find work, and to live in a foreign country. (Even one where you don’t speak the language) But whether that’s the right choice for you is up to you and your loved ones.
Would you consider working abroad? If you have worked abroad, would you recommend it to others? (I’m looking at you, Austin!) Do you think that advances in technology make it easier to work abroad nowadays?
Related Websites
21
Jul
Posted in Wacky Wednesday by Roger |
Previously: There was good news and bad news about your latest attempt to use time travel to become rich without hard work or the need to wait for decades for your money to grow. The bad news is that your grandfather ended up withdrawing your money and using it himself decades before you were born. The good news is that he seems like he started a business with the money, so perhaps all is not lost…
As you talk to your aunts, uncles, and cousins at your grandfather’s birthday party, you begin to realize one of the biggest problems (if one of the generally unacknowledged ones) about using time travel to alter reality: you are out of sync with everyone you know, heck, the entire world. Just about everything you say, from talk about current events to comments about which school your family members are attending, just gets you weird looks and weirder responses. You decide to simply stop talking until you have time to closely scrutinize the history of the last fifty years and get on the same page as everyone else.
Still, you can’t resist trying to learn more about what your grandfather did with YOUR money. He talked about a business he opened back in the sixties, and that it ‘changed his whole life’. He didn’t mention any names, what the business did, or HOW it changed his life, although from the bored and knowing expressions on your other relatives’ faces, it’s a story that he told often enough that nobody needed to hear it any more. Nobody but you, that is.
So, you attempt to subtly ask your relatives to share information about the business, without mentioning sports, politics, current events, or any personal information that would lead them to believe you’re not who you say you are. (You can’t be sure that time travel exists in this version of reality; perhaps you’ll be mistaken as an identity stealing cyborg and dissected instead.) It takes a while (none of your relatives particularly want to talk about Granddad’s business), but you eventually learn that it was called Omnicorp (an ominous company name if ever you’ve heard one, even more ominous than ‘Microsoft’), and it still seems to be in existence.
Excited, you decide to cut out all the middlemen and go directly to the source. “Grandpa,” you ask, trying to sound curious but not completely ignorant, “tell me about Omnicorp.” You think you’ve done alright; the question is vague enough that Grandpa can interpret it any way he wants, and will be unlikely to jump to the conclusion that you’re completely ignorant of the past five decades of family history.
“Well, well; I’m glad one of my grandchildren still wants to hear the stories from this old man,” he responds, beaming. He proceeds to regale you with the story of how he used that sudden, unexpected wealth (YOUR money, you think with no small amount of bitterness that you play as close to your chest as possible) to start the Omnicorp, the ‘company that provides everything you need’ (somehow becoming even more ominous when you know the purpose behind the name). He was planning to start with the consumer goods of the day that were becoming more and more essential to the average household, and gradually growing to be a major competitor in every technological field on the planet.
You give him credit; he has chutzpah, if nothing else. Still, if the the business was still around, he must have done something right. You aren’t in a giant compound, patrolled by bodyguards and decorated with gold and diamonds, so you’re guessing he never achieved his goal of a company that was tops in the incredibly large field of everything. But even a small business, allowed to grow for decades, could still be influential and an excellent source of profit.
You want to ask what Omnicorp currently makes, but he speaks up before you have a chance, “You want to go visit the the factory? This party’s starting to get a bit boring…” You couldn’t ask for a better opportunity (or narrative convenience), so you readily agree and accompany him on a trip to the factory (he drives, so you don’t have to ask for directions to a place you should know how to reach).
You whistle in spite of yourself; the factory is big, really, really big. You see the large ‘Omnicorp’ sign, and follow Gramps inside, still wondering what it actually produces. Inside you see row after row of hamster cages, and you inadvertently flinch; there’s still so many memories of grooming hamsters. You take a moment to remind yourself that these hamsters can’t talk, when you start to hear voices all around you.
You look around in surprise, glancing at your grandfather. He’s standing next to a sign that says ‘Omnicorp: Proud Maker of Animal Translators Since 1978′. Your mind reels at the implications; first, that animal translators actually exist, and second, that your grandfather has been making money off them since the time of disco (did disco even exist in this reality? If not, they really dodged a bullet). It just seems surreal (even more so than everything else that you’ve gone through lately).
You’re about to ask your grandfather all the questions burning in your chest, when a screen comes on next to him. A dog appears, along with the crest of the President of the United States. Your granddad, without missing a beat, says “Hello, Mr. President.”
Holy Hand Grenades, Batman! Is a dog really the President? Is he an improvement over the recent humans who’ve held the position in your original reality? (It would be hard for him not to be.) Is Roger losing the already tenuous connection between these stories and personal finance? (Yep, it’s already gone.) Find out on the next Wacky Wednesday.
Related Websites
19
Jul
Posted in politics by Roger |
I have a secret to share. It’s one of the most important secrets in politics, one which most commentators are reluctant to share, but which can, once you hear it, color every political discussion you hear. The secret is this: Most people, regardless of their political leanings, are logical, rational, intelligent people who have come to their political positions through reasons and rationality. To put it another way:
Your political opponents are not idiots, delusional, brainwashed, or evil; they simply differ from you in their views.
Now, there are those who are are ill-informed, irrational, or just plain crazy; even though they seem to get an exceptional amount of media coverage (normally because they are much more entertaining than the well-informed, rational, sane supporters of a particular position), the crazy ones don’t represent all, or even the majority, of the members of any sizable political organization. Judging an entire position on the basis of a few supporters gives just as biased a view as judging all the members of a race based on a few members thereof.
Limbaugh and Moore: Biased, but apparently talented member of a colonial era band
The Trouble With Political Commentary
So why does it continue to happen? Well, as mentioned, the crazy, irrational commentators get a lot more press, and make for much more entertaining show hosts for the wide variety of political talk shows out there (at least, for those who agree with the political positions espoused in said shows). As Cracked notes, for a successful talk show, you need to have both a consistent thesis (liberals are taking your freedoms, conservatives are selling out your freedoms to big business, aliens are kidnapping our puppies, etc.) and commentary on current events; unfortunately, the former tends to overshadow the latter.
Of course, it doesn’t help matters that there are numerous issues that are naturally divisive. From abortion to homosexual marriage, there are some issues where due to differing religious, moral, and/or ethical views, coming to an agreement that satisfies all parties is difficult, if not impossible. Some issues, by their very nature, lead parties with different views into conflict (if you believe that life begins as conception, abortion will always be tantamount to murder; likewise, if you believe that women should have absolute control over their own bodies, forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term will always seem like slavery; finding a middle ground is hard, if not impossible), other issues bring the desires of a minority into conflict with the will of the majority (does the majority of a city or state have the right to prevent a homosexual couple from marrying, or does the couple’s rights to privacy and to do what they wish in their own bedroom over ride majority objections?); in either event, you end up with a situation in which intelligent, well-meaning, educated people disagree.
Once the issue gets into the media echo chamber and distorted by each side in attempts to appeal to their base, it’s even harder for those rational people to create a concensus among all the groups trying to shout each other down. At best, you end up with at least one group horribly disappointed when the other group gets their way; more often, you end up with everyone disappointed by the eventual agreement that is reached.
What to Do
On a national level, there’s little that one person can do change the current state of politics. (Unless that one person is someone like Glen Beck or Keith Olbermann; in theory, they hold the kind of power and influence needed to change the entire tone of politics in the country.) There is quite a bit you can do on the individual level, though, to avoid falling into the worst pitfalls of the political realm, such as:
1) Remember that those who believe different things politically aren’t delusional or evil: The same comment I used to open this article is one of your strongest defenses against falling into the belief that your way of looking at issue, and only your way, is the only logical conclusion one can draw about an issue. Although it may not always make sense to you, they likely have their own reasons for their particular beliefs.
2) Expose yourself to alternative viewpoints: If you’re like most people, this could be as simple as going to a family reunion and starting any vaguely politically motivated conversation. In case you would rather not subject yourself to the angry yelling of your relatives (at you or each other), there’s plenty of other ways to find out about viewpoints outside of your own. If you are a conservative who wants more knowledge of left-leaning views, Alternet is a good place to start; for those of us on the left, I’ve heard good things about RedState. (Although, honestly, I need to take more of my own advice on this point and try to follow more conservative thinking.) At the very least, you’ll gain a valuable insight into how your ‘enemies’ think.
3) Realize that you might be wrong: Hard as it might be to admit, we are all fallible. Perhaps, as you’re doing your research into what other political beliefs, you’ll find information that you hadn’t considered before, or viewpoints that you didn’t hear before. Your position might prove to be partially or entirely misguided, and you might need alter your views. If you keep an open mind, who knows; you might just develop a new view of the world around you.
Related Websites
16
Jul
Posted in philosophy by Roger |
There was a bit of a shuffle over the comments of Rand Paul (Republican candidate for Senate in Kentucky) and John Stossel (media commentator, now on Fox) regarding the Civil Rights Act. Rand Paul came out in favor of allowing private businesses to discriminate on the basis of race (only private businesses; he favored continuing to require government to behave in a non-discriminatory manner). John Stossel then came to Paul’s defense in the this particular case, arguing that ‘The free market, as usual, will address the problem. It punishes racists. A business that doesn’t hire blacks will lose customers and good employees. It will atrophy while its more inclusive competitors thrive.’
Stossel raises an interesting point: could the free market have ended discrimination without government intervention? Or were the government actions like the Civil Rights Act and its prohibitions on employment discrimination a needed remedy to the segregation era?
(As an aside, Paul has said that he supports nine of the ten total titles in the Civil Rights Act while opposing one of them. A perusal of the titles of said act seems to indicate that the one that gives him trouble is Title II, which prohibits ‘discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce’; being the only title in the act that affects privately owned businesses, that would seem to be the part of the bill in question.)
The Free Market Alternative
First, a few words to defend Mssrs. Paul and Stossel: they do raise a decent point. Assuming all other things being equal, businesses that voluntarily restrict their clientele will find themselves at a disadvantage economically. In business, the only color that really matters is green (money, that is), and refusing to accept the money of a certain group on the basis of skin color is a poor business decision, putting you at a disadvantage to your competitors.
Let’s have an example. We have two diners in a particular town, White’s and Gray’s. White’s only serves Caucasians, while Gray’s serves any race. Let’s say further that the area where these two competing diners are located has a population that is 90% white and 10% black. White’s, by voluntarily restricting the type of people they allow to be served there, should receive less money than Gray’s, which will get all of the black diner patrons as well as a sizable portion of the white patrons. (To say nothing of ALL the white diner patrons who, like Paul and Stossel, personally oppose discrimination and would not support a restaurant that discriminates against other races.) All other things being equal, Gray’s will get more business, take in more money, and prosper, while White’s will sputter along, and eventually fade away. The free market has done its job again.
The Reality of the World
In the real world, things aren’t quite that simple; there are many ways that White’s (or any businesses that opt to discriminate) could prove successful, even without black (or other minority) patrons. For example, let’s suppose that a sizable portion of the population opposes integration (certainly reasonable in some areas of the country, even now; back when the Civil Rights Act was passed, that was rule, not the exception, in large parts of the country). This group visits White’s exclusively, providing them with a dedicated, committed clientele who help to keep White’s in the black, even without any minority patronage.
There are also other ways to discriminate, of course, besides refusal of service. A business that served black patrons, but charged them a higher price (or simply forced them to sit in a particular area, much as diners in the Jim Crow era kept black patrons from sitting at the counter) would enable a business such as White’s to have its money and discriminate, too. Think of Rosa Parks on the bus; while charging her the same amount as the white passengers, the bus driver (and the bus company that set the policy the driver was following) was doing his best to provide her with inferior service.
None of this discussion so far even gets into the fact of employment. If companies are able to hire only whites for their businesses, or to pay black employees less than white ones (both possible if we take a strictly hands off policy when it comes to any business owned privately), we can end up in a situation where black (and other minority) workers are less well off than whites, have less opportunity to use work as a way of building up wealth for themselves, and less chance to help their children get ahead, helping to perpetuate the cycle for another generation.
The Conclusion
It’d be nice to live in a world where discrimination is a relic of a by-gone era, where everyone looks back on racism as a completely and wholly alien idea, where discussions over repealing civil rights laws are purely academic. Alas, we’re not there yet (although, I like to think that we’re getting closer); there are segments of the society, in some places powerful and influential segments, who want to use economic and legal means to keep the people they dislike from attaining power, on the basis of race, creed, gender, or some other personal trait.
Listen, Rand Paul and John Stossel, I understand the desire to get government off your back; nobody wants to be looking over their shoulder constantly, worrying that the government will levy huge fines or shut down their business because they missed a hiring quota or were otherwise unfairly judged to be discriminatory. But the problem is that without that fear of government intervention, there’s a sizable number of businesses, particularly small businesses, that would have no problem discriminating against minorities in hiring and service.
We as a society have decided that laws like the Civil Rights Act should exist, in spite of any infringement on individual rights that might result. Perhaps Mssrs. Paul and Stossel are correct, and we’ve advanced enough as a society that repealing the Civil Rights Act will have no (or incredibly minor) ill effects on society at large. But I don’t think we’re ready to take that chance (and given Paul’s backing away from his statement and repeated support for the act as a whole, he apparently feels the same). For now, I’m happy with civil rights legislation as it stands, and until I see an overwhelming swell of support for its repeal (with a sizable amount of that support coming from traditionally discriminated against groups; getting a majority of white people to support the right to discriminate could just mean they want to discriminate), I’m fine with keeping the status quo.
Related Websites
