The Emerald Rose

Sounds pretty negative and cynical, BUT keep reading and see what I mean. I am 73 years old, have a few problems, but none that disable me,….and yet there is no one I can find to offer, me a job, or hire me,…..other than the really BAD jobs! Sure I started out working in the A&P Supermarket at 14 , (with the proper “working papers” for a fourteen year old.)That was in 1961, and here we are in 2018 a scant 57 years ago,…but there are no real jobs EXCEPT pushing shopping carts back from the parking lot!!

“So do it” you say, But what about the other 50 years of my work life, what about my entrepreneurial skills, at least 5 other entrepreneurial startups, working in the Banking industry to know HOW banks work in business, learning how to takeover and run businesses including those almost bankrupt and swirling “down the drain” but resurrecting them to a $2,000,000 a year sales business with almost 15 -20 employees, managing a $200,000 inventory, and a fleet of 12 vehicles covering two states? Or the 100% start-up that was the “host of the New England Country Western Music awards, had a weekly television show broadcast on the ONLY affiliate network station in the entire state, and winning a brand new Datsun 300ZX the year they first came out , and receiving numerous national awards, and plaques, superior performance with Maine & New Hampshire, than 60% of the other “major Performance” business zones in this great country! I earned it, and I am not the least bit embarrassed admitting it!!

So what did I do with all the money I made from the “other stuff”, like noted above. To be very honest, I could say I spent it,….but the question is “on what?” It doesn’t really matter, but being an entrepreneur since I was nine years old, I learned you can always make money,….just follow ideas, think about them ,, and how could YOU do it better,…..until now!

At 72 or 73 your body starts to “breakdown”, regardless how much money you have, or in most cases “had”. While you get the social security check each month that you “paid into” for over 50 years, it doesn’t give you much. In my case $1454.80, and for my wife, $1254.00. If your mortgage is paid off you “might” have a shot at making it, if not let run the water in your sink and watch it all swirl down the drain,…..just like where you’re going.

“What about my pensions and investments”,….they might “pad” you a bit, but the cost of living is going up at a far faster rate than your incomes, unless you were a wunderkind at the market, but the long term capital gains will get you there, of course you can ” wash ” them against your write offs, or losses,….but guess what they already got you by the proverbial “butt”. Think about this, ………have you ever seen a hearse headed to the graveyard with a U-Haul it trailer attached behind? I rest my case.

My wife had a great job for the last twenty years, for a small landscaping company, and they paid her for a phone line, rental of our third bedroom as a “remote office”, etc. She handled their accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll the vendor relations , leaving the two brothers that owned it the ability to grow their business expand etc. But they just gave her four weeks notice and she’s unemployed as well. She acted as my bookkeeper as well, and I haven’t had a client since 2015. All good things come to an end,……but with four weeks notice after 18 years?

So we BOTH need to get jobs, it’s not about what you know at this point it’s about “how much do you expect for pay?” (And you better be on the really cheap side or no jobs are there.)

I suppose the “common word” is that ‘you should have been wiser with your money, you should have made better investments, you should have saved more,….etc.,…etc.

Yes we bought our home for $128,000 in 2000, and today they “say” it’s value is over $260,000! But we have had to remortgage it twice to reduce our interest rate, pay off other debts, and all amid the decline in the “worth” of a dollar, and the insane computer generated “appreciation” of the value of the home. But that’s all B/S in that your costs are increasing at rates MORE than you can afford to keep up with!!!

Superficially it would appear that the only way you can survive and care for your loved ones is to cross-over and be a cheat, a liar, and more importantly a THIEF!!

-30-

October 23, 2018