"Another day, another brick." Archives
"Another day, another brick."
The Capitol Hill Brain Trust has decided that not only may every worker play, but they must be offered an IRA account. With pensions quickly disappearing, individuals will have little choice. Some of the IRA funds I am familiar with (from several years ago) could be traded at least once a week without any penalty or commissions (I know, I traded thousands of shares of Tribune stock on just that basis). I understand that many funds which handle IRA accounts have instituted penalties for excessive trading.
Nevertheless, we have reached a point where almost every employed individual must take on market risk. You may believe it is necessary; I did too, until one evening I was talking with Anna, who had been cleaning our offices for decades. Asked how my day went, I commented, "Another day, another dollar." Anna said her family (which was Polish) had a different saying -- "Another day, another brick."
Anna's retirement predated mine by two years; she and her husband (who worked 38 years as a janitor in large apartment buildings, and in which they lived rent-free) sold the five apartment buildings they had acquired and moved back to Poland where they live very well.
So we must, first, save and then we must invest. But the market is not the only place, it is certainly the most convenient...and potentially the most treacherous. If we were reared in a croc zoo we would have an enhanced appreciation of risk. If, on the other hand, one were reared in a society that lauded you for spelling a word phonically (but incorrectly), if your athletic prowess were determined by T-Ball, if rowdiness were not dealt with through a severe reprimand but Ritalin-type drugs, and the ultimate form of punishment was a 30 minute "time-out," then you will have a populace of individuals unfamiliar with risk of any kind.
Daily Speculations, September 12, 2006
September 13, 2006 06:37 AM Caught Our Eye
