I’ve often wondered what it would be like to float through my existence on this planet with complete and total ignorance. I wouldn’t know enough to worry about retirement. I’d simply spend to exist and not worry about what awaited me in the future. If I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t worry about whether I’m saving enough. I also wouldn’t worry about losing my pension at my company, like so many other people are already. I would have that euphoria of knowing that my friday paycheck was coming and I had a whole two days ahead of me to blow it all. Oh, what I could do with that much money over a weekend. And the beauty is, I’d have no guilt. I wouldn’t know any better.
Jobs? I wouldn’t know enough to worry about all these jobs getting sourced in India, China and many other places. I’d go to work each day until they told me to stop coming. Then, I’d just have to figure out something else to do. I wouldn’t worry though, because I wouldn’t know I was supposed to worry. I’d have that ignorant optimism that told me, “Don’t worry about it. Something will pop up”, whether it really would or not. I’d never try to calculate the trends to see which professions were the most likely to stay in the U.S. so I’d never fret that I was in the wrong industry. “Global competition? What’s that. Never heard of it, but did you hear the latest Brittany Spears song? It rocks. Hey, let’s go down and drink at the bar all night until we fall off our stools. I’ve got money in my pocket. My treat.”
I’d drive the nicest car I could possibly afford, and heck, maybe even a little nicer than that. If I could afford the payment at the time I bought it, it would be mine. Shoot, if I lost my job, I wouldn’t sweat it. The banker man could just come get his fancy car. It’s not like I’d have money for gas to drive it.
Raising kids? No problem. They’d eat when I eat. Clothes are cheap at the second hand store, so I’d buy them some when I had some money in my pocket. Probably best to get me before I hit the bar though. Once I was there, I’d always end up buying a few rounds and blow through whatever I’ve got in my pocket. (Which would be everything I’ve got because I wouldn’t know any better).
But, all this is just a pipe dream. I’ve long since become enlightened about my career, money, family etc. I know too much now. I’m past the point of no return. I’m doomed to worry about my finances, how I will provide for my family, whether I can keep my job long term, whether I’ll still have a pension when I retire, whether I’ll save enough to be able to retire and support my wife and I, and every other thing that enlightened people worry about. I guess my only hope is that someone will invent a brain washer. If you have one in the works, I’d appreciate it if you could put in a little overtime and get it done. Put me on the waiting list.
Great opener. Don’t forget that if you were blissfully ignorant you wouldn’t have any problem maxing out your credit cards on things that only depreciate – clothing, food, car payments… Yeah. Die broke. Woohoo.
You seem to be stressed and way too much worried about things. You need to track your finances, sure, but not worry about them. You have enough money to provide for your family. Worry about things that really deserve it. Otherwise, you may spend your whole pre-retirement life worrying instead of living.
By the way, great blog. I read all your posts.
Leonardo,
Fair enough point. I know I do highlight some of the things I think about. I actually am not stressed out about all of them, but I do think they are all things we all have to consider as we invest for our future and position ourselves in the work place. Thanks for the comment!!
Hazzard
What I often wonder about is, what’s going to happen to all of these people? As far as I understand, it’s only been within the last couple of decades or so that people have really been living beyond their means. I think the bulk of them are still young enough to work–what happens when they HAVE to retire and have nothing saved? Is there suddenly going to be a large number of newly poor people? A sudden epidemic of insolvency?
GREAT POST! I often ponder the same thing. Not too long ago, I was a complete freakin idiot! Sometimes, I wish I could go back and be that guy for a week or so. I can’t do this…..because now I KNOW.
I often observe the decision-making of my parents, sisters, friends, and neighbors. The thought that usually comes to mind is WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY THINKING? At the same time I know I used to be, act, do, and think the same way.
In a strange way, I was probably happier as an IDIOT because like you say….I didn’t know any better. At the same time, I wouldn’t want to go back.
I’m 39, have a great family (wife & 2 kids), good health, and a net worth approaching $1 million. But I am cursed. I always have to do the right thing, make the right decision……always in “game-mode”. I just wish I could shut it down and be a complete freakin idiot for a week or so. But I can’t……I KNOW BETTER.
Love your blog. My favorite.
No Offense: But spell people’s names correctly please. It’s Britney Spears not Brittany Spears. Thank You!
Great post! It’s very true that ignorance is bliss however that person in your story who is unaware of anything financially, WILL infact worry sooner or later and neither him or his family will eat or have a place to live. It will hit him lke a brick wall. I like what Leonardo has stated too. If you are not setting aside time to have fun than pre retirement can seem like a save, save, save asylum. Remember: work hard, play hard. :)
I think I need to do a better job making sure that sarcasm is coming through. I really don’t sit around worrying about this stuff. Have I ever thought about these kinds of things? Sure. My only point was that if I was completely ignorant, I wouldn’t have wasted any time on them.
I’m actually very fortunate to be where I’m at. My family is healthy, we are doing a good job saving, I’ve got a great job with great pay and benefits, and we have many friends and family around us. My family is what’s most important to me. All of this work I do around personal finance is done for them for today, and for our future. It doesn’t hurt that I enjoy personal finance either…… :)
I know what you mean– while some of us are always worried about doing the right thing, sometimes it seems like all these blissfully ignorant and irresponsible people glide through life avoiding crisis– you think something will happen that will teach them the lessons the rest of us think we know, but it never happens. They just get lucky and somehow it all works out. (Though there are also the ones who go bankrupt!)
There’s ignorance and there’s acceptance. The person in your post who goes around blissfully spending everything without a thought to the future is not only ignorant but in denial of reality. It will catch up with them sooner or later, and trust me, they will worry. However, there may be people who don’t care about earning or saving as much, the two primary sources of money worries, because they have found and are content with a simpler way of life. Not in terms of current belongings but in terms of future needs. Like that woman in a previous post who considered herself lucky that she didn’t have a more terminal form of cancer. There’s nothing wrong with that.
the brain washer that you mention is not a new concept by any means. Aldous Huxley wrote about it in his dystopian masterpiece, Brave New World. It was called Soma, and it was fairly synonymous with designer drugs (minus the gruesome side effects of addiction/overdose/hangovers/etc). Oh, and there was the minor drawback of it causing early death (but, hey. . . at least you were young and beautiful. . . . well, that’s how members of this new society think in the book. . . . kinda makes one do a doubletake at our youth-obsessed culture, with 70 year old actresses getting face lifts and so on. . . . ). Hmmmm. . . when taken from those extremes (bliss accompanied by dying young and beautiful vs. knowledge accompanied by old age and entropic decline), perhaps the Soma isn’t so bad. In any case, the book’s protagonist (the Savage, taken from an older world of pain, misery, and tribulation) notes that ignorance might be devoid the pain, worry, and misery that many of us know all too well. But, he also notices that a life lived in ignorance lacks the joy, beauty, wonder, and awe that certain moments in a rich life of self-awareness affords. Of course, he decides that suffering is worth it as long as it offers chances of feeling joy/happiness. Ignorance, like Soma, is probably really more like a tranquilizer. It numbs you, but are you really happy or just detached? As for me, I’ll side with the savage. As bothersome as the world is (and trust me, I agree with every worry you have and I fret endlessly about the future), I’d rather worry than just vegetate. There’s something to be said for being able to tune the madness out once and awhile. Yet, after awhile, I bet that one would sorely miss that wonderful prescence of this crazy world we all live in. If I knew the outcome of everything in my life, and that it would be okay (or I just had that vague sense of optimism that you describe). . . well, life would be damn boring. Forget the Soma, I’d need some good hard whiskey. Well, I’m not saying go drink. . . just, enjoy the uncertainty of things. Actually, I bet you do. . . After all, there’s a certain amount of fun to financial planning, and you can’t tell me that you don’t agree. Any reader of your blog (or of some of the other finance blogs out there) knows that personal finance is an interesting topic, and many of you who think/plan/fret about it (and, in turn, write about your experience), well, to me it seems pretty clear that you love it, as well. So, I hope your post is just nothing more than a bad day, because honestly. . . the Soma and Whiskey aren’t really worth it.
http://www.huxley.net/
oh, and sorry. . . that link was just to show the book cover. The article itself makes some claims that I don’t identify with one way or the other. That was just the first link that I clicked on that had a pic of a book cover.