How Are You Doing? Time To Review & Reflect
Guest Post by Dennis Miller at Miller On The Money
How many times have you thought, “Why do I always have to learn lessons the hard way? -or- “Why couldn’t I have learned this 10-15 years earlier?” Even in my 80’s those thoughts still cross my mind.
When I wrote for MarketWatch, they dubbed me a RetireMentor. I don’t have fancy credentials, or a highfalutin designation on my business card, but I made it to my 80’s – done OK – and learned a lot along the way.
I was blessed with some wonderful mentors and realized it’s now time to pay back; sharing my life experiences, good and bad, hoping to make the journey a little easier for those who follow.
Friend Chuck Butler, a 16-year cancer survivor is a wonderful mentor. He helps me keep things in perspective. When my tongue cancer disappeared, I called Chuck. He explicitly told me, “Dennis you now have a new job. You are a cancer survivor, and you must now do what you can to help others.”
As each year winds down, I try to reflect and share some of my life lessons, hoping it will resonate with others.
Long-time reader Robert G. sent me a link to an interesting study, Rising to Top Net Worth, by Age.
It’s a cool, interactive chart where you compare your income and net worth to your peers. Enter your net worth on the bar and it shows you how you compare to your age group. You can follow a link to see how your income stacks up for those still working.
Looking Back
I remember the first time I saw one of these analyses. I was in my mid-40s, working my tail off and constantly feeling stressed. Some of my peers were doing very well and felt I was lagging behind.
A mentor appeared and suggested I read about “Male Mid-Life Crisis.” A couple of quotes help define the term and process.
D&D Family Attorneys explains:
“A male midlife crisis often refers to a ‘phase in a middle-age person’s life between the ages of 35 to 65 where they feel compelled to face or reevaluate their mortality, confidence, identity and accomplishments.'”
MedicineNet adds:
“While a midlife crisis is not an official medical diagnosis, it is a common phase among middle-aged people (typically over age 45) that can cause emotional upheaval in their lives as they come to terms with aging.
Signs that point towards male midlife crisis include: Feelings of dissatisfaction with career, marriage, or health. Feeling the pressing need to make major changes in life because time is short.”
Those two quotes nailed it for me. My children were leaving the nest; I worried about getting them through college and being able to retire. There never seemed to be enough money to eliminate worries. I told friends I felt “I was racing to beat the heart attack.”
The children left, I divorced and saw many friends on the same path…starting their lives over emotionally and financially. I took a major step backward financially, realizing I needed to make some major changes….
I am making more money now than I have at any other time in my life right now.
Increasingly worthless as the days go by.
Joe,
You own your own business, correct?
Selling origional art has always been dependent on people’s disposable income.
Good times with lots of money floating around?…TONS of sales and the good life for me and mine! Bad times and financial fear?…Hard times for me and mine. I had more money than God prior to 2008. Thanks to the Kenyan and his communism, my yearly income lost 40% for years after that. I have wonderful collectors in the financial world who call me often about how my sales are as a barometer for the current economy as I told them about my fluctuationg sales that predict financiaal uncertainty. I am the canary in a coal mine for them.
Long before things go to shit, people stop buying art.
This is the best year I’ve had in decades. I sold everything I put out this year, and was swamped with commissions and illustration jobs.
So, our economy is undeniably pure unadulterated shit, and nothing like this has ever happened before to me and my sales. So what is going on?
My theory is that everyone sane is trying to park their money in something tangible and real.
Art is generally a very good investment when known artists with a decades long record of rising value for their work keep producing quality work..
Something I’ve never experienced is happening. And I don’t think it is a good thing even though I’m selling crazy well.
At least you are keeping up. Right?