#education #PublicEducation #PrivateEducation #SchoolVouchers #CharterSchools
Advocates for school choice – that is, allowing parents the ability to choose where to send their children to school, vs. being forced to attend their neighborhood public school – have argued that putting the power in parents over how their children are educated will provide the best education results.
As parents, one could certainly argue that having the ability to choose schools is desirable. But how to give parents such choice has come under scrutiny.
Of course, for the well-to-do, choice has always been there. They have the resources to send their children to any school they want – public or private.
For the not-so-well-to-do, school choice has come in two forms: vouchers and charter schools.
Vouchers are taxpayer-funded certificates that can be used to pay for private-school tuition. These vouchers deliberately siphon money from public schools that desperately need it. Remember, as discussed last week, education is compulsory in America. Private schools can pick and choose their students. Public schools, largely, cannot.
Charter schools are considered “public” schools, but operate with less regulation, as long as they can show performance. They are usually operated by non-profit organizations, away from the local Board of Education. These charter schools, which can also pick and choose students, have had a mixed record. Some have closed. Some have thrived.
New legislation on school vouchers has cropped up in Georgia, according to Maureen Downey, education columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She discussed this in a March 26, 2019, column.
“The resurrected legislation, which now has a lower cap on the number of student who could used the vouchers – passed the Senate Education and Youth Committee … and may reach the Senate floor,” writes Downey, who points out that the legislation has the backing of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
The Georgia lawmakers point to success of vouchers in Indiana and Louisiana, even though neither state has seen big leaps in academic achievement as a result, Downey writes. Yet, she continues, Massachusetts, the nation’s highest-performing state for academics, excels by concentrating on improving teaching and curriculum, not by offering vouchers.
As for charter schools, USA Today reports that many charter schools have closed, while some states have not created a new charter school in years. The first charter school in Nevada is set to close in the spring. “In New Jersey, the charter system is making real estate investors rich,” as they use federal money to build school buildings to sell (to) the charter schools at a hefty profit, the article, also published March 29, 2019, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, says.
We all WANT choice in education for our children. Sometimes, it’s just not practical. Sometimes, individual choice deprives the community of much needed resources. Students will have different levels of achievement in school, but no one wants some to have more opportunity to succeed than others.
The best solution is to make sure your community has good public schools, with appropriate funding to improve teaching and curriculum. Certainly, there should be private, or even charter, options for those students who may want to specialize in a tailored curriculum, or be educated among students with similar beliefs.
Remember, too, that no matter how much a student is educated, no matter their background, or which schools they attended, there are vehicles out there that will allow anyone the potential to really succeed financially. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
We can tinker with education. We can offer gimmicks to make it seem as if we have some options. But there is no substitute for a good, well-funded public education system that EVERONE benefits from. It’s up to each community, and its residents, to make that a priority.
Peter
Author Archives: pbilodeau01
WHY WE NEED PUBLIC EDUCATION
#education #PublicEducation #PrivateEducation #SchoolVouchers #CharterSchools
Public education is getting bad grades.
Wouldn’t it be better to put education in the private sector?
After all, the education bureaucracy is bloated on all levels – federal, state and local. It eats through a lot of tax money and, in some areas, produces dismal results.
We need school choice, the viewpoint goes. It’s better to give vouchers to families and let them choose where to educate their children.
Why should families get stuck sending their children to inferior, neighborhood public schools?
These arguments and questions are consistently forthcoming from public education foes. Recent studies have shown mixed results when comparing student achievement in public vs. private schools.
So why the big push against public education? It seems some people hate that public school teachers are well protected by their unions. It seems that people hate that principals and other administrators are making six-figure incomes in many places, while they, who pay their salaries, are making far less.
Teachers, and probably administrators, in many private schools make far less than their public-school counterparts.
So why can’t one use the tax money he pays for public education to pay for private education for his children, if he chooses?
There’s a reason we have public education in America. That reason is that education here is compulsory. That means every child has to go to school somewhere.
If education were privatized, those schools, as they do now, will pick and choose the BEST students, and reject the ones that might cause trouble – or who they believe might cause trouble.
So if education were entirely privatized, where might those students rejected by private schools get the compulsory education they have to have?
Where would the students whose families can’t afford the private tuition go?
The public school teachers, because they have to take all comers, have a more difficult job than those in the private schools. Private schools should definitely be an option for families who want to, say, educate children around certain religious beliefs, or whose children may have special needs or who just want the prestige of having their children go to a certain school.
But, public education should be the center of any education policy. It should be properly funded and teachers, and other school employees, should be properly paid and treated with respect.
It’s certainly OK to look for efficiencies. But many governmental entities, for largely political reasons, have given public schools short shrift for years. Teachers are now fighting back with strikes.
Remember, too, that good students will succeed no matter what school they go to. It’s the challenging students, who need the most help, who should be at the center of education policy.
While we’re on the subject, do you think all students should go to college? College is not for everyone, but there are ways for children to succeed as adults without going to college, if they are not college material. There are vehicles out there that allow anyone, regardless of background or education, to earn a potentially significant income without having a traditional job. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Remember that public education is a necessity, much the way police and fire protection are. Don’t give it short shrift. Don’t believe that the private sector can do EVERYTHING better. Because it is compulsory, American education should remain in the public domain.
Peter
(Next week: A look at vouches and charter schools)
RETIRE, OR DON’T RETIRE
#retire #DontRetire #retirement #working
A man on a TD Ameritrade ad tells the financial adviser that he likes working, and that his retirement plan is to keep working.
So, the adviser says, instead of creating a retirement plan, let’s create a plan for “what’s next.”
“I like that,” the gentleman says.
Oh, if only it were that simple. One likes to work, so he just keeps working. He may vary what he does as he ages, but he keeps working because he wants to.
It seems a rather inappropriate ad for this economic milieu. Today, most employees essentially have no say on when they stop working. If they don’t retire when the company wants them to, usually they are given signals to go, or else ….
Worse yet, in many situations, many are forced out of jobs either well before retirement age, or before they had planned to retire.
And, many of these folks want to keep working. But their options suddenly become very limited. They may be forced to take a job that either they don’t enjoy, pays much less than their previous job did or gobbles up more of their time than they care to give to a job. If you selected all of the above for your situation, you are not alone.
So how does one deal with planning for retirement, or for “what’s next,” in this milieu? First, as soon as you begin your career, get your head in the right place. Know that the following will, or is likely to, happen:
• The job that you were hired to do will change over time, perhaps sooner than even you may expect. If you like what you are doing, you may not like what you will be doing next. If you like where you work, you have to decide whether the changes in your employment situation are worth staying with your employer, or trying to find something more to your liking. The current job market has improved enough over the last decade that you may have more options than you realize.
• As you get older, and earn more employee benefits, you become a greater cost to your employer. Don’t necessarily go by your parents’ advice that says if you keep your nose clean, show up every day and do good work, you’ll have a job for life. Someone came up with an arbitrary matrix some years ago that says something like: in the first three years, you get more out of an employee than you pay him. After three years, as the cost of that employee increases, you are paying him more than you are getting from him. You’ve heard of being on the clock? Well, you may be on the clock for more reasons than you think.
Given all that, here’s what you do: first, save. It doesn’t matter how much, initially, you save. Even $5 a week will work, if you are not making much. You may have to go without some pleasures to do it, but do it, and don’t touch the money unless there are dire circumstances, or you are making a long-term investment in, say, a house. Also, put any raises you get into that savings. If your costs go up, cut out more discretionary spending.
Secondly, come up with a plan B that could put money in your pocket whether you survive for years at a job, or not. There are many such vehicles out there that will allow you to spend a few part-time hours a week off work, and potentially make an income that could eventually dwarf what you are earning now. To learn about one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Meanwhile, follow the old adage that says, “plan for the worst, and hope for the best.” Because you like a certain job doesn’t mean you can keep it. After all, the job doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to your employer. He or she can do with it whatever he or she pleases, even move it to a different country, or replace it with a machine.
A good job is a gift. Certainly, one earns a good job. And certainly, one can become really good at that job. It doesn’t mean the gift can’t be taken from you. It’s up to you to prepare for when the worst happens, even if it doesn’t.
So, if you like working, that’s admirable. Just don’t presume that you can always do what you like, for as long as you like.
Peter
SELF-MADE: HOW DO YOU DEFINE IT?
#SelfMade #CollegeAdmissionsScandal #FameFromBirth
“What does it mean to be a ‘self-made’ person of great wealth?”
Mary Sanchez, columnist for the Kansas City Star, posed that question in a recent column, also published March 12, 2019, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Sanchez was referring to Kylie Jenner, whom Forbes magazine proclaimed to be the world’s youngest “self-made” billionaire, at age 21, from her cosmetics business.
Jenner is a member of the Kardashian-Jenner blended family. She didn’t exactly launch her business from her garage at night after working a full-time job all day, Sanchez points out.
Actually, she’s been quite savvy at leveraging her birthright fame, Sanchez says.
Alas, most of us aren’t blessed with the gift of fame from birth.
For most of us, if we want to achieve success, we have to do it gradually, over time, and many never get there.
Many of us don’t have the discipline to build wealth over time by saving more, spending less and investing properly.
Many of us never get introduced to a program that would allow us to build wealth by spending a few part-time hours off work – not unlike the folks who build a company in their garages. But, unlike the companies that start in a garage, you can build wealth by helping others do the same.
How? There are many such vehicles out there to allow you build wealth by leveraging your off-work time without taking a second, W-2 job. To check out one of the best such programs, message me.
Sanchez ‘s column was also published at a time when famous people are paying to get their children into prestigious colleges. They are not doing it by donating money to those schools. They are bribing coaches to “recruit” students to their teams who have not played the sport in question.
They are also paying others to take college entrance exams on behalf of their children – in other words, helping the children cheat their way to success. In turn, that means hard-working students who do things the right way are deprived of admission to those schools.
The whole scandal brings to mind how one defines success.
A big part of a successful life is doing everything the right way. That usually means hard work and tenacity. It also means either innovating – filling a need no one else has filled – or following a system that has created success for many others. To put that another way, it means duplicating what other successful people have done.
The college admission scandal has also brought to mind another axiom: if you cheat your way to the top, you will eventually get caught.
So how do you define success? Different people may see success in different forms. Part of defining success is knowing why you are doing something.
Good whys motivate the wise.
And when the wise are motivated, regardless of what they are doing, success will come. When success comes, wealth usually follows.
Success doesn’t come just to the lucky, though any successful person undoubtedly would say he or she has been blessed. One must put himself in the position for good fortune to come.
Kylie Jenner was helped by who she is. Most of us don’t have that advantage. But we all can put ourselves in position for success to strike. It may take some out-of-the-box thinking, but anyone can do it.
Peter
WOMEN SEE RETIREMENT AS LIBERATING
#women #retirement #WomenInRetirement #RetiredWomen
Forget the doom and gloom.
American women are increasingly viewing their retirement years with optimism, seeing the aging process as liberating.
So writes Adam Shell for USA Today. His article was also published in the Nov. 17, 2018, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Women are so enthusiastic when it comes to aging, and that is a different message than what is out there,” the articles quotes Christine Russell, senior manager of retirement and annuities at TD Ameritrade.
Seventy is the new 50, Shell writes.
The stats suggest that women are “planning for a longer life,” an acknowledgement that should home in on taking the financial steps to fund the lives they want to lead in their later years, the article quotes Russell.
If women are planning for a long, healthy and prosperous life, why can’t all of us do the same?
Everyone’s circumstances are different. You might add the adjective “wealthy” to the women who are planning so carefully.
Truth is, we all can do it, to varying degrees. If you are not wealthy, you will just need more time to plan so you can get there.
That means starting early – right when you start working. You may have to start with a small amount. Even socking away $5 every week from your paycheck will be a start. That’s the equivalent of one or two beverages from your favorite coffee shop every week.
Then, as you get raises, sock those away. As your costs go up, perhaps you can bring your lunch to work instead of buying lunch.
In short, you can plan for a healthy retirement by making it a priority in your life.
Sure, not everyone has that discipline. For some, the discipline may have to be cultivated.
Also, expenses, foreseen and unforeseen, will come up for which you may have to tap into your savings. Buying a house is a good example of a foreseen expense. A big medical bill is an example of an unforeseen expense.
Still, if you have cultivated the discipline and made retirement savings a priority, you can catch up relatively quickly.
Some believe that in your young life, you need to provide for your family first. As your children grow to adulthood, you can start saving in earnest.
That works only if you know that your job will be there for as long as you want. Few can say that today.
If you have trouble leveraging your income, perhaps leveraging your time can accomplish the same thing. There are many vehicles out there that allow people to spend a few part-time hours a week and pick up a potentially lucrative income in addition to their regular W-2 income. If you are willing to step outside of your box and check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Saving for retirement, and planning for a long life, mainly requires discipline and prioritizing. Anyone can do it, by spending less and saving more. You can still treat yourself, but make those treats worthwhile and rare – perhaps until those later years come.
To quote the old adage: do today what others won’t, so you can do tomorrow what others can’t.
Peter
CUTTING VACATIONS SHORT
#vacation #TimeOffWork #TimeOff #vacations
You may go on vacation to refresh and recharge.
You may take a vacation to catch up on chores at home.
Mostly, though, you go on vacation to get away from work.
Yet, 63 percent of professionals cut their vacations short because of pressures at work.
So says a statistic published by USA Today. It was also published Monday, Nov. 18, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
One can read a lot into that number. The employee may be frightened about losing his or her job. The employer hates it when key employees take time off, so they pile up the work for that employee while he or she is gone.
Or, companies run with so few employees that when one is gone, the whole operation suffers.
Here’s something to ponder, if you are an employee: your employer gives you vacation time as a benefit in hopes that you will use that time to relax and come back raring to perform.
Use that time to its fullest, if you know you will never get it back. In some cases, it may pay off for employees to “save” their vacation time to get a nice payoff when they retire. Most employers, though, don’t offer that. For most, it’s use it or lose it. For those, not using vacation time puts money back in the employer’s pocket.
Still, there could be some very good reasons to cut one’s vacation short. Perhaps there is a co-worker facing a grave illness and doesn’t have enough vacation time to get paid for all the time off he or she will need to fight that illness. Perhaps the healthier workers may want to donate some of their time to that person.
A hurricane or some other disaster could strike your place of business while you are away. It may be important for you to get back and help get the business back on its feet.
But just because your employer doesn’t WANT you to use all your vacation, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. If an employer lets you go because you used your vacation, legal action is possible. Or, better yet, find a better place to work.
What if you could go on vacation worry-free, with no pressure on you to return until YOU want to? One might call that financial independence. There are many vehicles out there that potentially could give you the ability to one day fire your boss, and go on vacation whenever you wish, for as long as you wish.
But, you have to be willing to look at something that may be outside of your comfort zone – something you could do part time, without affecting what you are doing now. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Meanwhile, if you have a job in which you can just be off, where no one really replaces you and there is no pile of work sitting on your desk when you return, consider yourself fortunate. Or, to put it another way, you can perhaps consider yourself expendable and you might need a little more job security.
One of the definitions of job security is whether your boss has to replace you while you are gone.
But regardless of your job situation, using your vacation time is money in YOUR pocket. Cutting your vacation short puts money back in your boss’ pocket.
So, take time off if you can get it. Enjoy. Use all that your employer gives you. It’s time you will NEVER get back.
Peter
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
#baseball #BaseballSeason #TroublesInBaseball #HopeSpringsEternal
This time of year, hope springs eternal for every baseball fan.
Spring training has started. The first pitch of the regular season is just around the corner.
Yet, as USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale writes, all is not well in the baseball world. His column on the subject also ran Feb. 22, 2019, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
One star free agent, Manny Machado, just signed the richest contract in Major League Baseball history. He’ll play for the San Diego Padres for $300 million.
Still, other star free agents are still unsigned. Some of them, Nightengale writes, have few teams bidding on their services.
And, there’s talk of s players strike in 2021.
Players, and probably fans, wonder why these stars still linger on the market so close to the beginning of the season.
Aren’t the teams still in competition with one another? Don’t they want to suit up the best team at the start of the season so they have a shot at getting to, or winning, the World Series?
Long-term contracts for stars used to be the norm. But with the prospect of injury, a risk that a “star” will not be a star anymore after getting all that security, are keeping owners, in many cases, from betting big on one or two players. They prefer short-term deals, just in case.
Yes, even highly paid athletes undergo on-the-job issues. They may pale in comparison to the issues in your world, but still …
If you find yourself in a situation in which the good times seemed to have disappeared, the ballplayers are feeling the same thing, perhaps on a different level.
The ballplayers may think that going on strike in a couple of years will solve their problems. You may not have that ability.
But you still have to take matters into your own hands.
If your world is no longer what it was, YOU have to change it.
Are you not making enough money? Is your job to your liking? Is your job, and other life events, eating your time alive? Do you long for a different lifestyle?
If you answered no to the first two, and yes to the second two, know that there are many vehicles out there that can put more money in your pocket, and more time in your life to do what YOU want.
To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
Remember, times change and, in this day and age, quite frequently. Gravy trains eventually slow, and even come to a stop.
Promises that you perhaps have relied on through life can be broken. What you were hired to do may change.
People need to be open to things they may not have ever dreamed of doing. If they are not, they may be left behind.
So pencil yourself into the lineup and take your turn at bat. You may never play baseball for a living, but you can still make your life a real hit, or even a home run.
Peter
WAGES RISING, BUT NOT ENOUGH TO KEEP UP WITH COSTS
#RisingCosts #WageIncreases #ImprovingEconomy
The economy is improving.
Therefore, interest rates are rising.
Therefore, wages are increasing as unemployment is decreasing.
Therefore, costs of just about everything is rising, which may be canceling out wage increases for many.
In its Weekly Explainer, published Oct. 29, 2018, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution took on this subject, largely quoting economist Aaron Sojourner of the University of Minnesota.
Sojourner spent a year as part of the Council of Economic Advisers in Washington.
The unemployment rate is now as low as it has been since the dot-com boom. Yet, it’s really hard for a lot of people to get a meaningful raise, which is defined as exceeding the price increases of necessities, the article says.
Real average hourly earnings, meaning wages adjusted for inflation, in August for all employees are up 0.1 percent, the article quotes the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall prices have increased by the same amount during the same time period, the article says.
“On average, most workers were running in place,” the article reads.
Moreover, for ordinary workers over the last year, real average hourly earnings actually decreased 0.1 percent, the article quotes the BLS.
If you are an average worker, whether or not you have gotten a raise recently, you probably feel that you can’t get ahead.
Sure, employers are fighting over a finite labor pool, poaching even within a restaurant chain, some of which have eased their rules against that.
So one may end up going from one job to another, doing pretty much the same work, and might see $1 an hour more. But if the cost of what you have to buy is increasing by that much, you may think it’s better to keep up than to fall behind – and it is.
So what’s a person who really wants to get ahead to do? That depends on whether that person is willing to look at things that can put extra money in his or her pocket, without interfering with what he or she is doing now.
That doesn’t mean a second, relatively low-paying job. It means looking at something that could dramatically change your life for the better.
There are many such vehicles out there that potentially can do that. To check out one of the best, message me.
Meanwhile, keep your eyes open for a better-paying job. Look at doing something you may never have thought you would do. Rather than complain about how things are, do something to make your life better.
Though employers may look desperate for help in some areas, there’s only so much they are going to pay for that help. No matter how much your boss may like you, if you threaten to go, there’s only so many inducements he or she will offer to convince you to stay. Try not to make such a decision on emotion. Always have your mind on what would be best for you.
When unemployment is down, wages go up, and prices go up to pay those higher wages. It’s a progression you cannot stop. But you can look at things that, with a little effort outside of your job, and a strong goal for your life, can allow you to reach your dream.
Peter
HIGH STRESS ABOUT FUTURE
#FutureOfAmerica #FutureOfUS #MyPersonalFuture #StressAboutFuture
More than two-thirds of Americans are stressed about the future of the country.
So says the American Psychological Association’s annual “Stress in America” survey.
Isaac Stanley-Becker discussed the survey in a Washington Post article, also published Oct. 31, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Though the article focuses on politics, let’s step back and discuss stress in one’s own life, and how to combat it.
First, we have to know what makes us stressful. Certainly, it can be the political environment, but the country has survived – and thrived – despite any politician.
More likely, though, we have things in our own lives stressing us, and we use politics as a blame outlet.
One stressor could be a job. Some people are overworked, underpaid and have no time to enjoy what really matters to them.
Others worry that a good situation that they have at work – no matter how much they might complain about it – could disappear tomorrow.
Still others are stressed by family or other personal circumstances.
Generally, stress doesn’t get rid of itself. Either the stressor goes away, and is replaced by something better or more pleasant, or the person finds a way to relieve the stress.
For many, when one stressor goes, another steps in. That’s why people can’t depend on good fortune to strip them from stressors, although, if it comes, good fortune is usually appreciated.
Usually, some type of action is required to remove stress, or at least minimize it.
What kind of action? It might be to look for a better situation. Good fortune comes to those who prepare for it, so by looking for a better situation, you are preparing to find it.
Family or personal situations are a bit more delicate. You can’t erase your family. But there may be situations that you can remove yourself from. Then, you have to keep from being sucked back into such vortexes.
If you believe your job is threatened, or if you have a job that is eating you alive, there could be a simpler way of removing that stress.
Look at how you spend your non-work time. Family and recreation can be important stress relievers, but you might consider spending a few, part-time hours a week pursuing a completely different goal.
There are many vehicles out there that can enable a person to supplement, even replace, an income by spending a few part-time hours a week. Though they don’t involve a “second job,” there is work involved. But the rewards can be life-changing for the person who really needs to remove stress from his or her life.
To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
As for the future of America, there is a lot more good out there than bad. Though the bad stuff gets more publicity, and rightfully so, the good things often go unnoticed, at least by a wide audience.
One way to ease any stress about America’s future may be to go look for those good things. Take a walk in the woods, observe the beauty, and see what destination finds you. You may find that walking back to your originating point is completely unappealing.
As you make your journey, take care not to overlook what could be good for your life.
Peter
DRUG PRICES ALL OVER THE MAP
#PrescriptionDrugPrices #DrugPrices #PrescriptionPrices
Stephanie Garman picked up her prescription at CVS one day.
This time, she took a look at the receipt.
Retail price: $355.99
Her amount due: $3.47
In other words, she paid a1 percent co-pay for her relatively expensive drug.
David Lazarus took on this subject in an article for the Los Angeles Times. It was also published Oct. 8, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Someone is obviously benefiting from this, but I don’t know who,” Lazarus quotes Garman.
Garman obviously had good insurance. “The purpose of insurance is to protect patients from the full cost of medical care at the point they need it,” Lazarus quotes Patricia M. Danzon, a professor of health care management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “An insured patient never faces full price,” Danzon is quoted as saying.
Lazarus also quotes Amy Davidoff, a senior research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health, calling drug pricing “a black-box negotiation process” between drug makers, insurers, and middlemen – called pharmacy benefit managers – who haggle behind closed doors over how money changes hands.
Patients who have good insurance can purchase drugs blissfully ignorant of how much drugs cost. Patients without insurance get billed the full rate. If they can’t afford the medication, drug makers often have programs for such people to get their medications at costs they can afford.
We won’t get into the complications of pricing drugs, other than to say that drug makers want to get back the cost of developing the drug, which can take years or even decades, and the cost of getting the necessary regulatory approval, marketing the drug to prescribers etc. – as well as make a profit.
They will hire the benefit managers to negotiate the prices with various prescriber networks, and to supply those networks.
Not everyone is charged the same price. It can depend on volume, which network you are in etc.
Bear in mind, too, that largely happens only in the United States. Other countries with single-payer health systems tell the drug makers what THEY will pay for medications.
Since drug makers make their largest profit in the U.S., they don’t want this system to go away. They know that those who really need their drugs will do whatever they must to get them, even if it means going broke.
This is a tough problem to solve. We want to keep the drug makers actively doing research to find new therapies for various diseases. We want to make drugs as affordable as possible. At the same time, we want to make health insurance as affordable as possible.
One thing the average person can do: look for different ways to make money so that if a big illness requiring expensive treatment hits you or your family, the cost will be less painful. There are several vehicles out there for putting a good bit of extra money in the pockets of those willing to explore them. To check out one of the best, message me.
Meanwhile, we need to continue to look for ways for people to get well without having to liquidate their retirement savings, sell their homes or sell valuable family heirlooms at pennies on the dollar, just to pay medical bills.
With all the ingenuity we have in the U.S., someone certainly can find a way to do that, whi8le satisfying all concerned.
Peter