TV in America

Here is an interesting piece about how cutting the TV can be good for you.

While I don't think this article is extremely well written, the points are hard to miss.  The article claims that you can be healthier and wealthier by not having cable or satellite. Not only do people save money by not having a monthly bill, but also because they (and their kids) want less toys/items that they see during commercial.  You have more time to do things you want and you can get more sleep (which is part of the healthier part).

I lived with out TV for 3 years while serving in a ministry house in Shoreline.  And since getting married (and the national move to digital tv) left me with no broadcast signal, we have chosen to live with out cable (which both of us did all through growing up).  We watch the occasional TV show (through hulu), but it is on our time frame, not the TV stations, and we have netflix for the night we want to watch a movie. 

I will not claim to never let my kids watch TV, I have realized and heard of enough other parents trying that, but I was limited in my TV watching/computer playing as a kid and I turned out okay (I think so anyway). 

I do think people should try to turn off the TV 1 week a month or something, just to try it and see how it effects their life.  I think it ruined my life. I have a hard time sitting and watching most any sport (on TV) the whole way through with out feeling like I am wasting my time. (since the end of most games is either the only part necessary to watch (its a close game) or its a blow out and there is no point in watching the end).  That being said, I enjoy having a game on if I am doing something like cooking or editing photos, it just hard to have it on and read at the same time. 

I guess I just thought it pretty cool that there are people in society who try this. So, go do something with the people in your life today. 

Oppression

Hopefully this isn't too over the top and you can get something out of it.  We start with a quote.

 

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. -C.S. Lewis

 

Think about that...

 

I read this the other day.   How true it is, that those that think they are doing good, can do so much harm.  I think of a mother 'loving' her child too much, she coddles it and ends up doing more harm to her child then she would like. 

 

But I also think of our broken welfare system. My understanding of welfare is that it is there to help people get back on their feet when they have fallen on tough times.  But I have found in working with people that are in our welfare system, that it appears to be there to keep them down, not to help them get out.  

 

We had a single mom at my daycare (a while back)whose two kids were part of my class, and part of their payment was made by DSHS (department of social and human services).  She worked for a small company doing front office work I think. After about a year she received a small pay raise.  Great, she is moving up and forward in her work.  DSHS saw the pay raise and cut off all her child care payment (even though the amount cut was more than the amount she would make in a month with her raise.  Now she would be forced to make a decision, keep her job and lower her lifestyle further, or quit and so she could take care of her kids.  The DSHS payment should have gone down to allow for her to pay a little more, but it makes no sense taking it away.  It was there to keep her down.  

 

This is how our welfare systems work, they punish success, and encourage contentment with the status quo.  And I understand that is only one example, but there are many many more stories just like that.  Government in my opinion will never be able to fully solve this problem.  It takes people working and building relationships with those in need, that can encourage and promote a better lifestyle.  A personal help, one that can look at the situation and make the decision to help and not just one that has to follow the rules.  And the Church and other NGOs (non-government organizations) need to step up and find ways of filling this hole. We as Christian's need to get off the side lines and show how real lasting change can come about, by being the hands and feet of Christ.  

Rich in America

Came across this in the news recently.  Basically the Forbes list of richest people had gain 8% in value since last year.  And being me, I like to read the comments by 'normal' people below the article.  Most of them complained about how the rich were getting richer and the poor poorer, and how we should do something about that (tax the rich more, etc).

First, 8% in the last year isn't really that big of a gain. My personal stock portfolio (which isn't very big) is up almost 7% for the year (not including dividends).  Which is pretty close to 8%, last time I checked and I assume the rich have people (or are the type of people) that spend more time picking stocks than I do.  So I think they should be making a little bit more.  I also assume that most of the rich have a very large portion of the money invested (AKA working for them).  Whereas I would assume that most American's have a larger portion of money in savings (making a measly 1.5% or so) or no savings.  I recently heard that some ridiculous amount (like 50%) of American's have less than $10k saved by the time they are 50 years old. 

So why are the rich getting richer, and the poor poorer?  Besides the above data I have a theory.  The rich learn how to handle money from who? Their rich parents.  The poor learn how to handle money from their poor parents.  So, the poor start with less money and end with less because they never learned how to manage money.  While the rich start rich and end richer because their money is working for them (see above making 8% instead of 1.5%).

So even if we give the poor money, they don't have the skills (and they often have very pressing needs, which get the money) to get the money to work for them, they often end up just spending it.  Instead of blaming the rich for all the problems of the poor, maybe we should start teaching kids how to handle money (Not going to become financially stable with out the right knowledge).  So that when they get older, they will have the knowledge that will make them successful.  This is (IMHO) one of the biggest failures of our public school system. In 4th grade we did a great study on the stock market, we were split into groups of 4 I think and given $25k in imaginary money.  We got to pick our stocks, great learning tool.  But after 4th grade, I didn't learn anything about money (there was one class in high school that I didn't take that was offered, that was supposed to teach kids how to manage a check book, budget, etc.).  Nothing.  One of the most important things to succeed in our society and our schools aren't teaching anything about it.  No wonder why we end up with so many people that are struggling to make ends meet.

We need to be teaching kids growing up how to handle money and how to get their money to work for them.  Most kids graduate high school and move out end up learning how to handle money on the fly.  Spend a little here, spend a little there, borrow some here, borrow some there, whoops, how'd I get in this big hole?  I think a little financial education could go a long way to helping people take the steps to get out of poverty.  Maybe start that forth grade project and continue through high school, so we could see how the money grew.

I know the problem is very complex and multifaceted, but we have to start somewhere...
Just a thought.

Beating the Street

I recently read a book titled, "Beating the Street" by Peter Lynch.  Peter was in charge of the Magellan Fund for Fidelity for 13 years.  I have always been a little curious about the Stock market, and am always looking for ways to make my money work for me.  I felt like reading this book was a great opportunity to gain understanding of picking stocks.
I wanted to share one bit of information that I found particularly interesting.  This comes from page 33 in my edition. 

"If you had invested $1,000 in the S&P 500 index on January 31, 1940 and left it there for 52 years, (1992, which this book was written shortly after) you'd know have $333,793.30 in your account...If you'd added $1,000 every January 31st throughout those same 52 years your $52,000 investment would now be worth $3,554,227.  Finally if you had the courage to add another $1,000 every time the market dropped 10 percent or more (this happened 31 times in 52 years) your $83,000 investment would now be worth 6,295,000."

I find this so fascinating.  I know its not a get rich over night scheme, and if you had put $1,000 dollars in the S&P 500 in 2000, you'd still only have $1,000 or so right now.  It's not for sure and you need to make wise investments (and this book does a great job of explaining how to look for stocks). Its hard to do, and takes time and research (something schools don't teach a lot of), but from the research I have done, it looks well worth it to me to be making investments in my future, even if that means going with out somethings that I really want now.  And I try to pick companies that are invested in things that I feel good about or that I use.  I don't want to pick companies that aren't doing the right thing.  Which makes picking even harder, because some of those companies are very good at making money, but I don't believe in what they are doing or selling, so I choose to pick a different company.