Editor: Crass Cash

Whether you believe in creationism or evolution, the one thing we both can agree on is that at one point we were cavemen.  Or is that caveperson now?  

As a result our human instincts were traded over many thousands of years to focus on three thiings: sex, sleep, and food!  I'll leave the whole sex and sleep thing up to you, but the food part is important to financial planning.  How can that be?  Because at one point we always lived on the verge of starvation.  Every day we would get up and try to find our next meal.  Occasionally we'd find some food that didn't rot for a few days, but otherwise were always looking for food.  How is this different from those of you who live paycheck to paycheck? 

It's in our genes.  We don't know if we'll be alive tomorrow, so live for today.  The average lifespan back then was around 30, so wtf was retirement???  With this said, things have changed whether you like it or not.  People now live to an average age of around 80 and many times age forces you to retire.  

We fight other battles of wanting to eat steak with french fries and then washing it down with a root beer float.  We now have to fight these urges or else you're going to wage a war with diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  We can't eat whatever we want, we can't drag a cavewoman back to the cave for sex, and we can't live paycheck to paycheck.  Don't follow your instincts when it comes to these animalistic urges.  Show discipline!  

 So with all of this said, the unhappiness that comes with living paycheck to paycheck is now put on you.  You're an adult now with freewill and discipline.  Show it by not living paycheck to paycheck!  Go setup a savings account and have money automatically drafted into it each pay period.  When you get to 6 months worth of living expenses, stop!  Then divert that same amount of money into a retirement plan whether it be a 401k or an IRA.  You'll thank me later!  

Editor: Crass Cash

Apparently it's becoming a bigger and bigger trend to just give your kids money to support themselves.  While reading the magazine MONEY I was struck by how 46% of adults gave their kids money to support themselves had to themselves either take on debt, delay a life event, or postpone retirement.  This is sad and dangerous!

Remember, there are no scholarships or loans for retirement.  You're on your own!  While we may all would like to give our kids a head start in life or to make their life better.  Enabling them so that they can become financial irresponsible doesn't help anybody.  

Editor: Crass Cash

Looking for a job?  Things are looking up then!  Both the Orlando Business Journal and also Barron's this week are featuring the job market on their front page.  The OBJ is talking about how contractors can't find enough subs to work for them!  As I've said repeatedly, if you're looking for a job then construction offers a wonderful pathway.  Not only this, but it looks like the shortage is only going to get worse.  

The USA still is not producing enough homes to meet current housing growth rates. We need to be building over 1,000,000 homes a year and that's not happening.  There has been a back log of commercial space as well since the Great Recession and developers are now playing catch up.  When I visited Seattle a month ago there were 6 cranes in the air all redeveloping downtown.  I would say this is the exception across the country, rather than the rule, but it's happening more and more. 

This isn't just for construction through.  Hospitality, accounting, medicine, construction, IT, manufacturing, and agriculture are all hiring.  And a big part of it is because people are dropping out of the workforce and staying out.  There are differing views on this and the truth as usual probably resides somewhere in the middle.  
A lot dropped out of the workforce because they couldn't find a job and as a result they stayed out.  However, the baby boomer generation is also retiring more and more each day.  They've worked their whole life and now want to enjoy their golden years.  Don't forget that there are a lot of people who worked but maybe didn't quit because they enjoyed working or because they didn't know any different or maybe their were just scared to stop.  The Great Recession ended those fears because it forced them to stop.  Once they got used to it they stayed retired.  

The other factor that is much more worrisome is that people found that they could not work and still get by because of disability, savings, and social security. Your guess is as good as mine as to how much fraud there is will collecting disability when you don't really need it.  That's actually what the Barron's article focuses on.  

Regardless, these people are not working, which is a great opportunity for those of you who actually are.  Finding jobs in markets where demand is high has two great benefits.  First, it allows for you to find a job because of increasing demand.  Secondly, the previous workers in that field were always employed which means that they can now retire.  This helps reduce the labor supply, thus allowing you to keep your job, find another, and also to increase your wages.  Win-win-win!