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Write about money, and you're going to tick someone off. It's a touchy but yet so popular topic amongst every "American Household".
Write about poverty, affluence, whether the middle class is disappearing and if so, whose fault it is . . . and people go berserk.
But each story has touched off vociferous debates on message boards and in e-mails about who's to blame for financial failure.
In one camp are the folks who are convinced that American workers are being squashed by the economy, the government, big corporations, lenders, the system in general. They see many, if not most, people as helpless pawns in a game that's rigged against them.
In another are those equally sure that there's no excuse for failing. If you've fallen down the economic ladder, or never figured out how to climb it in the first place, in their view it is solely and entirely Your Own Damned Fault.
The truth is somewhere in between. A decent job is no longer an easy ticket to a middle-class life. It's not just that things like health care and pensions are disappearing; it's that they're disappearing at the same time as our expectations about our lives have risen.
The truth is somewhere in between. A decent job is no longer an easy ticket to a middle-class life. It's not just that things like health care and pensions are disappearing; it's that they're disappearing at the same time as our expectations about our lives have risen.
There are plenty of problems with using income figures, most notably because income alone doesn't reflect the huge variation in living costs across the U.S. Simply put, $50,000 might buy you a comfortable life in Iowa or Kentucky but keep you scrambling in San Francisco or Manhattan. And there are plenty of folks living in high-cost areas with nominally "upper middle class" or even "upper class" incomes who would adamantly reject those labels.
Even if you're young enough and capable enough and willing to adapt, you've got powerful trends standing in your way. Don't expect them to be solved by politicians or to disappear in a puff of smoke.
Yes, the system is against you
There are fewer good jobs for those who don't have college educations. A decline in manufacturing, waning union power and increased globalization mean it's tougher than ever to get into the middle class without a college education. But globalization and outsourcing are sniping away at white-collar jobs as well, and a fast-evolving economy mean few can be content to end their educations after four years.
Health care and health insurance costs are soaring. We have 47 million uninsured, and health care costs eat a big chunk out of the budgets of many who do have coverage. Two of five adults (43%) who buy individual polices, and one in four whose employers help pay for their coverage, spend more than 10% of their incomes on premiums and out-of-pocket medical expenses, according to the Commonwealth Fund.
There is a plan, and it's deceptively simple
The key to your financial well being depends on not what you did yesterday but instead on your goals for tomorrow. The "American Dream" is still alive but you must create a path for success, sometimes you have to take small risks. If you never try, you will never find out, you only fail when you fail to move forward.
Dreamers never sleep with their eyes closed.
Wishing You Life's Best,
Dr. Paul Sran, MBA, Ph.D.
Author/Success Coach
www.yoursuccessdoctor.com
www.professional-income.com
dr.sran@professional-income.com
(877) 978-6742 (Direct)
Copyright 2007 Dr.Sran, MBA, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved
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