Money Matters
That old expression, “I hate it when that happens” comes to mind whenever I find myself thinking of money. It’s funny, I made a career out of running and building large money management businesses (Bankers Trust Private Banking, Deutsche Asset Management, Bear Stearns Asset Management) and yet I have little or no respect for money. Wow, that seems like a big disconnect, but I would argue that the experience of running money management businesses is a big part of that lack of respect. I found that the people who cared the most about money were the people with whom I would least want to spend time. I also found that money did not yield more than short term happiness and that if transferred to others (as in inherited) rather than being earned, it was not at all fulfilling or satisfying.
Did I “earn” my money? Always an interesting issue to ponder since I always said that the day any of us in the banking world added as much value as a fifth-grade teacher would be a proud day. The world rewards bankers but not fifth-grade teachers. I suppose an economist would say that the system sees more scarcity in a good banker than in a good teacher, but I suspect, unfortunately, that it has more to do with the fact that people prize money more than kids’ education. Someone who makes or saves a buck is deemed more valuable than someone who brightens the eyes of a ten-year-old. Sad state of affairs, but very real.
So why am I thinking about money this morning? Simple, I got my American Express bill. There are three of us who use that account, my wife, my youngest son and me. I provide minimal support for my youngest son, who is out of college and figuring out what he wants to do (i.e. in between jobs). I just check that total to gauge if he is using it excessively or for small items where a credit card is needed. That is the case, so no issue there. My wife and I use this as our main medium of exchange. Some of it is basic food and shelter type stuff. Some of it is the raft of small donations we get asked for every day by friends and family. And then, the most interesting one for me is the ebb and flow of e-commerce purchases. She buys and returns with regularity (way too much effort for me, but she likes that “shopping” experience).
The big money issues I ponder with my Amex card are these: a.) big ticket expenditures mostly for travel for us, the kids or family, b.) the amount and extravagance (probably an overstatement by most urban standards) of entertainment expenses (eating out and shows), and c.) vestigial charges that I simply haven’t gotten around to cleaning out, even though I try to do so once in a while.
I am really pondering the big-ticket travel these days. We spent a lot on a cruise earlier this year that we think was at best so-so. It was to a less exotic location we thought would be more exotic (New Zealand / Australia) and we were alone since our friends bailed on us. It made us cancel a solo cruise down the Nile for next year. We are both well-traveled, but more and more, we value times with friends and family much more than sight-seeing. I think that says that doing family/friends vacation house stays probably rises in importance and go-see vacations fall in importance. Seeing the world is simply not that big a deal any more. Media gives us as good or better experiences and there is less and less “genuine” exotic foreign experience. We loved a trip to Morocco a dozen years ago and yet some friends who just came back from there said it was very crowded with tour buses with all manner of foreign tourists. The world is becoming a smaller and smaller place.
As for entertainment, we are not lavish entertainers or foodies who have to test out the latest trendy restaurants, but just being in New York is a generally expensive eating out experience. The real problem is my own tendency to always pick up the tab. That is somewhat about friends and family and our friends and family don’t happen to have the means that we have, so our “generous” “liberal” “egalitarian” leanings make us always feel that $500 means less to us than it does to others we care about. My wife and I have agreed that we will do a Thelma & Louise off the cliff if we end up running out of money sooner than not live our lives with the gusto and inclusiveness that we practice now.
The last category is the one I always feel most offended by. Those bastards with the auto-enrollment charges and the phone companies that happily charge us for lines long since unused. The truth is that one third of these are unfair charges that simply need to be cleaned out regularly. Another third are laziness on my part. I have a Global emergency phone service I pay $17/month for. I bought it for emergencies when I’m on my motorcycle in the Sahara. The truth is, its like the New Yorker cartoon with they urban dweeb looking at the big Swiss Army knife when the clerk says it will save your life if you are ever stuck in the north woods. That guy would no sooner be stuck in the north woods than I would be stuck in the Sahara. Just cancel the damn service and give the unit to my son to sell on EBay.
The point is that when we are still in the working world we tend to be too busy to take good care of the details of life that people of more modest means watch like hawks to keep their expenses in check. I really do plan to do a better job of this, but for now I just put a scheduled payment into my Amex account. I scheduled it for two days before it is due. You would think I was a cash manager at a big company or something. It would make zero difference to me and my bank account to pay that bill today versus three weeks from now, but for now it is the one punishment I can exact on Amex for sending me a bill that is higher than I like. Believe me, taking it out on Amex is a lot less costly to me than addressing my son, my wife or, God help me, myself with the reality of controlling expenses better.
Dear LR,
What a surprise that I would have a couple of I hope germane opinions.
If you need friends who don’t put money as the sole purpose of lives, we’re your guys. I’m joking, I know you have more friends than you can handle as it is.
Do I worry about money, yes. My parents grew up in the depression era in poverty or damn near its edge. Therefore my father was concerned about having enough to care for his family. He also instilled in me a similar attitude although my starting point was not as dire as his. To us money is a necessity and we have been fortunate enough to build up some extra. Even after putting three kids through college and helping them with buying their homes. It wasn’t until I sent the last tuition check to Penn State that ‘discretionary income’ entered our vocabulary. Mary Jane was still teaching so we had only limited time to travel and are so boring we didn’t take full advantage of that time. Perhaps it was due to too many doctors appointments. That’s a story for another day.
Your mentioned teachers in a comparative way as a touchstone of our value system. Mary Jane is an excellent teacher forced to retire early due to disability. She taught second grade and was the most requested teacher in the school system. You are correct about the value of putting the joy of learning into many many students. Some people think teachers put in 6 & 1/2 hour days. There are a few that do but most put many hours staying in the classrooms or at home doing grading, lesson planning and much more. MJ is very intuitive and never treated each child like a Model T coming off an assembly line. She honed in on their strong suits and emphasized that not everything has to be carried in your head but knowing where to find what you don’t was also important. She would stress that they should never accept not trying their best though they might not be the best in the class at it.
We also have felt that school systems have things ass backwards. People think more highly of high school teachers than middle school teachers who are above elementary teachers. No. Put the emphasis on the lower grades. As she did, teach them as they start out to give their all, accept some limitations without feeling bad about themselves and always appreciate that they know more today than yesterday. Build the students self confidence at a young age and they will be better students all the way up the ladder of learning.
As to those who think teachers are overpaid, Mary Jane and I did some math to blow that idea out of the water. Assuming she just babysat 24 kids for 6&1/2 hours a day, that comes to 156 hours. Let’s also assume you could get a babysitter for $15 an hour. Multiply that 156 by $15 and you get $2,340 a day. The State of New York requires at least 180 school days a year. Multiply that times $2,340 and that comes to $421,200 a year. She wouldn’t have needed to pay for a college degree or even read or teach the children. And you can add four more years of earnings to her expected working life span. Say 30 years. Not allowing for inflation, that brings her earnings to $12,636,000. Even if you think you can get a sitter for $10 an hour (good luck) her yearly earnings would be $280,000 a year. Still think they are overpaid?
As you said, I value the personal self confidence building and ability to learn as a greater good and a better future for us all. I don’t want a doctor who sees me as a dollar sign.
Sorry if I got off on a wrong tangent to stand on my soapbox, but I think it jives a bit.
Sincerely, The Long Writer
This makes sense. I identify with much of what you wrote.