While waiting on my coffee last Thursday morning, I wanted to send a quick email. While going to my mail one of the news items that change momentarily on the Yahoo home page caught my attention. It was about banker malaise. I couldn’t resist clicking on it, which I so rarely do. SO interesting that this was a news story on the day I reported about money for my kids.
I like to always be fair. At least I really try, I hope. I HATE broad brush strokes of any group. So, remembering that the people quoted in the article are only a very few of the group to which they belong, let me still say they have done neither themselves nor their group any favors. Let me share some of my favorite quotes from the article. And need I even say I will comment on them? Impossible for me NOT to do so, of course. There are times I have simply NOT been able to keep my mouth shut. I’ll provide the link and anyone can check it out for herself or himself. Perhaps others will have a completely different reaction than I did.
(Note: I have copied the address several times. But when I try to click it from here, I receive the message that the internet page can not be found. So I will leave it here. But let me tell how I found it again this morning, in case it doesn’t work for any reader either. I typed in “banker malaise”. When several came up, I picked the Yahoo Finance one, since that is where I read it. The article title is “Bonus Withdrawal Puts Bankers In “Malaise”. It is a Bloomberg article by Max Abelson, dated February 29th. It should begin talking about a man who was in a traffic jam in California who got out of his car and yelled some profanity because he was so frustrated by the fact that his $350,000 salary is not enough.)
“Sans Dishwasher”
There is the man (let’s call him “Sans Dishwasher”) who can not make ends meet on his $350,000 per year salary and who received a reduced bonus this year. He describes his plight as “…where I’m stuck like a rat in a trap on a highway with no way to get out, it’s very hard…” What I find confusing here is the fact that this man is a banker and yet he hasn’t been able to figure out that, no, $350,000 might not be enough if you have failed to calculate some basics about your income and expenses. What percentage of your income, for example, is the cost of private school? And your summer rental makes up what percentage? And how is it that anyone would build a lifestyle dependent on bonuses? Shouldn’t this intelligent guy know that makes no sense?
In another part of the article he says they have no dishwasher and must wash everything by hand. He further explains that his children must share a bedroom and mentions he would like each to have his and her own room, and a fourth bedroom as a guest room. He says “...You have the luxury of a guest room, how crazy is that?” I wonder if it has occurred to him to consider that giving up the summer rental might enable him to have bedrooms for his daughter and son, as well as a dishwasher and, who knows, maybe that guest room? No wonder “…it’s very hard…” It is also very hard when people in parts of the world, here and abroad, have insufficient income for nutritious food for their children, much less hope of sending them to any kind of school.
“Disaster”
“Disaster” reacts to the entire idea of reduced bonuses. Discretionary pay was “trimmed” by some Wall Street firms, some as much as 25%!! One firm capped bonuses at only $125,000!! And still another increased the percentage of deferred pay, as in “you don’t get it right now when you want it”. This gentleman laments, “It’s a disaster…The entire construct of compensation has been changed.” To my way of thinking, yes, it is most certainly a disaster when a parent has lost a job and then has to worry about unemployment benefits not being available. That is a REAL disaster for a family.
“Discounted Salmon”
“Discounted Salmon” seems to understand that his lifestyle needs to change. He actually checks grocery fliers in order to determine where salmon is the least expensive. AND he also investigates where he will find the best price on his favorite breakfast cereal. I think this gentleman might be at the point where he would understand he does not HAVE to have salmon. He did say he had wasted a lot of money. I have to respect and appreciate such a straightforward and honest self- analysis.
“Volkswagen Porsche”
I find “Volkswagen Porsche” to also be somewhat encouraging. He explains that he and his wife have always saved, so they are not so “stuck”. He, like “Discounted Salmon” guy, has made changes; he sold two unused motorcycles. AND he does not drive the most impressive of supercars, only the lower end Porsche, the one he considers to be on the Volkswagen end of the line. I wonder if he gets $7,500 worth of enjoyment from his Trump National Golf Club membership? And what about his $7,500 for the gun club membership? Maybe he could choose only one club membership and save $7,500? Just a thought. Or how about the $30,000 annual fee to belong to the “peer-learning” group, the members of said group most having a net worth of 10 million dollars? At 58, is he getting, or does he even need, that much learning? Maybe he could start his own learning group and make the fee, say, only $15,000. I imagine he would get some takers. Also, just a thought.
This man and his wife are apparently very generous to charity. And yet, I ask myself if the dogs, Zelda and Duke, could also “cut back” their expense from $17,000 a year to only $16,000, what could that $1,000 savings do for those in need? Look at the impact our minimal savings have had in benefitting children. What if each of the guys in this article gave $1,000 a year to help children? How many little lives could be improved?
“Crushing Setback”
I think this guy, “Crushing Setback,” did not get the same amount of print as several of the other interviewees. That’s probably a good thing. The small amount was more than enough for me. He explains that, “For many people of wealth, they’ve had a crushing setback as well.” He goes on to describe his feeling of “…paralysis that does not allow one to believe that generally things are going to get better.” It is always helpful to connect with people who have experienced the same difficulty/disappointment/challenge in life. Maybe this gentleman could go to the nearest unemployment office and speak with those in line who have also gone through that crushing setback. Or, then again, maybe those in line might think he should have easily been in a position to be so well prepared so as not to have HAD to experience any setback. Yeah, on second thought, maybe he should stay home.
Before I write about the last two men and their frustrations, let me make several things very clear. We call it “full and fair disclosure”. I work in the financial industry so I have seen this lack of responsibility; this inattention to income and expenses. I once had a co-worker tell me he NEVER thought about expenses. He was a conscientious worker but he charged just one of his clients $7,000 a year! The client was NOT a millionaire, by the way. I am sorry, but the guy about whom I speak didn’t do any better job than anyone else. And I have never personally felt any of us should consider charging anything other than what was fair, adjusted to the actual amount of work we do in a year. Expenses impact income, which impacts what is charged to a client. To me, a simple concept.
In complete fairness, I also saw the opposite. I saw guys who were not workers. If they charged a client $700 a year it would be way too much for the amount of actual work done. (I say guys only because most of the time there weren’t too many women. Sometimes I was the only one).
A second thing I should disclose. I have always been for regulation of the markets. People speak of the market as if there is some intelligent “force” that the market has that will ultimately result in it all working out well. In fact, I once heard a president talk about “the magic of the market”. There is no magic. The market consists of people investing and divesting monies. And when any enterprise involves people, there is the potential for manipulation, greed and corruption. In fact, as a brief aside, I have struggled to understand why so many Christians in this country buy into this philosophy of a totally unregulated market. Do we not run around saying ALL men have sinned? And don’t we say we should not worship idols? To believe that the market is anything other than what it is seems to me a naiveté that is dangerous. AND it further baffles me because we have now seen the results of inadequate regulation, haven’t we?
For years I have also been opposed to financial institutions getting larger and larger. It has always seemed good sense NOT to put the decisions that have the potential to ultimately affect the finances of so many in the hands of so few whose first job it is to make a profit. I have always thought that doing so leads to two important factors on which we must all depend: that those few people are first of all ethical and principled; and secondly, that they are good at what they do. In my opinion, many, including the men I am commenting on, are living examples of what happens when both ethics and competency are lacking.
Let me set aside the issue of fairness and what I see as ethical behavior for a moment, with the thought of approaching this question from a more objective perspective. We protect people in other important ways. We protect people’s written or other creative works. Students found guilty of plagiarism are subject to expulsion. And it goes without saying that plagiarism in the professional world has serious consequences. We simply do not allow this type of stealing. We protect people’s inventions. Patents protect them so there is no infringement by others. We give people the legal right to protect their homes and property. If we see all of these types of protections as fair and right, then does it not follow that we would protect the savings and retirement dollars of employees and investors? Why would we not protect that which represents the hard work, diligence, and responsibility for self that these dollars signify? If we protect the relatively few with copyrights and patents, why would we not protect the many? Failure to provide protective regulations does not follow a logical pattern of thought that I can see.
The last thing I want to make as well understood as I know how has to do with what I am NOT saying. I am NOT saying these guys are horrible. I am totally convinced that I would like them if I met them. I’d walk away thinking they are nice guys. What I am saying is that it is easy to get lost in life. It is easy, especially in our society, where I think we hear a lot (Actually too much, in my opinion.) about prosperity. And if a parent loves her/his child, it is easy to want too much for them. It takes discipline to say no, both to our children and to ourselves. And that really isn’t anything we hear about very often, is it? So, I’m not saying I don’t understand how life can get confusing, muddled, off track and overwhelming at times. I’m just sharing a different point of view and some conclusions based on what I have seen.
Now I come to the last two guys I will write about. Let me call them “Misunderstood” and “Poor Me; I’ve Got The Flu”. I am unable to decide which one offends me more. It’s a toss up.
Mr. “Misunderstood” contends that “People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress.” And he goes on to illustrate an example of that stress, “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out?” He drives his point home by asking, “How do you do that?” What can I possibly say? The only conclusion I can come up with is that this man has allowed himself to become so self-absorbed and prideful that I think he is speaking sincerely. He truly doesn’t comprehend how anyone could pull her/his children from private school. AND I think he is genuine. He does not grasp why people without money don’t appreciate the stress he and others experience. If this is an example of the American dream, shame on us!
And poor Mr. “Poor Me; I’ve Got The Flu”. He explains so succinctly, “Yes, terminal diseases are worse than getting the flu…But you suffer when you get the flu”. You notice I describe this man as poor; as in deserving sympathy or being deficient in some way. And I do see him as exactly that, poor, for a couple of reasons. First, he is a college professor so he must have innate intelligence. But he has taken that intelligence and guided it by self-interest and condescension. I find his analogy of terminal illness and the flu not only insensitive and therefore highly offensive, but also illustrative of lack of thought, at least any depth of thought. He is correct, if you get the flu, you can be very sick. BUT you have no reason to believe that you will not recover. You might truly feel like you are going to die, at times, but deep down you are waiting for a few days to pass, knowing you will, in fact, recover. How different that is for the person who is getting sicker each day, not better. AND that person knows s/he will not recover. There is most likely no hope. Furthermore, if someone, especially someone with intelligence and earning a quarter of a million dollars a year, gets this financial flu, it is totally self-inflicted. How, you ask? By designing a lifestyle that was BEYOND her/his means. I heard years ago that we should put a cap on our lifestyle; that we should live BELOW our means. I thought that was an excellent idea. If this gentleman had been living at least WITHIN his means, he should have no financial distress. Especially considering that the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau reports the MEDIAN, not average, household income to be $49,445.
I doubt our friend Dorothy would appreciate the professor’s analogy either. She just found out within the last week and a half that she has breast cancer. Her chemotherapy began on Friday. She is already very fatigued. I feel quite sure she wishes the doctors had told her they were going to deliberately give her the flu, rather than to have received the news she did.
Good insights as usual. You are right when you say, "It is easy to get lost in life."
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