Imagine going to school, and not having to lug a lot of books home with you.
Sure, we want students to be more physical, but carrying books, backpacks laden with “stuff” for school, is probably not the best way to be active.
Cheryl Atkinson, superintendent of schools for DeKalb County, Ga., recently announced that by August 2014, every middle school and high school student in DeKalb will have HIS own device, with all his textbooks on it. Every teacher will have a laptop. Every school will be wireless.
Maureen Downey, education columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, discussed this in her Dec. 10,2012, column. Atkinson spoke at a DeKalb Chamber of Commerce luncheon about this topic. “The fact is … (students) can’t wait for us to catch up to their style of learning, nor should they have to,” Downey quoted Atkinson.
Technology is eventually going to change education in more ways than one. School districts are scrounging for resources. Their governmental benefactors want to give them as few resources as possible. Many see public education as a costly burden, that wastes much of what is given to it.
Technology can solve a good bit of that problem. Technology is making books – one of education’s biggest costs – obsolete. One day, we could see many classes taught by interactive videos. Imagine having one teacher who teaches a certain subject well, simultaneously broadcast to multiple schools. How many fewer teachers might we need in the future? How many students might get the best education the school district can offer, vs. multiple teachers of various experience and abilities making learning in one school better than learning in another school in the same district?
EVERYTHING A STUDENT NEEDS IS IN HIS POCKET?
Imagine a student carrying everything he needs to learn with in a device. As innovations progress, devices shrink. Someday, everything students need will be in their pockets. Just think: no books, no pencils, no pads of paper. All those supplies that cost money will be totally unnecessary. If you buy each student a device, it will seem like a bargain, compared to all those other supplies.
Education will be like other industries, using technology to do more, and better, with less. These advances may not go over well with teachers and other employees, who will see job opportunities decrease. On the other hand, technology can help the really good teachers get in front of more students. That can only improve education.
Because of the Internet, information is readily available to students. Teachers can spend less and less time imparting information, and more and more time teaching students the best way to use information. Teachers can be more creative with student interaction, and less structured in the classroom.
Education is slow to use technology to increase productivity and improve quality. The education systems have to overcome old barriers to innovation, so that students can learn in their own style, as Atkinson put it.
Imagine making a great income showing friends something on a gadget. How? Visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
We’ve seen many young people so immersed in their gadgets doing insignificant things for hours on end. We’ve seen gadgets keep kids stationary, when they should be moving more. We’ve seen students lugging backpacks full of books and supplies to and from school.
When the school requires them to use their gadgets for educational purposes, they’ll still spend hours with their gadgets, but doing more fruitful tasks. They won’t be lugging books and supplies to and from school, so maybe they’ll want to get out and move more.
Technology may be a curse as well as a blessing, but it is reality. Let’s hope our educational system catches up with reality sooner rather than later.
Peter
Category Archives: Uncategorized
TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION: PART 1
“If I had only an hour to live, I would spend it in this class because it feels like an eternity.”
That was one student’s comment to Jason B. Huett, a technology guru and University of West Georgia professor, when evaluating one of his courses.
Maureen Downey, education columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, quoted Huett for the Dec. 10, 2012, edition. Huett was making the point that education is slow to change the way students are taught, despite the technological advances.
But a larger point might be: must students be bored in school?
As Downey paraphrases Huett, a frontier teacher from a century ago would be agape at the changes in the world, but the classroom would still largely look the same.
That teacher probably was taught that school needs to feel like work to a student. School should be the student’s job. When the student finishes school, he would go to a job that would be tedious and hard, so they had to learn to endure that in school.
If you read a typical textbook of yore, it’s hardly something you’d take to the beach to read – unless, of course you were cramming for an exam in the sun.
TEDIUM AND DUPLICATION
But what if teachers concentrated on ways to make learning more fun, or at least enjoyable? Sure, learning IS work, but a century ago, it seemed we taught students how to be good employees – how to duplicate repetitive tasks that they would do in the workplace when they graduated. We taught routine. We taught doing what you are told, and only asking questions if there was something you didn’t know.
In yesteryears, we gave students information in the only way we knew how. Today, however, students can get their own information through technology, faster than a teacher can convey it. The jobs of the future are going to require more innovation, because machines will handle the repetitive and tedious tasks.
Incidently, there are ways to make good incomes through repetition and duplication. To check out one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
But, if we want kids to be more innovative, the education system has to be more innovative. If we want kids to be more collaborative – employers are looking for good, team players – we have to teach them that collaboration trumps competition with those on the same team. Sure, we have to evaluate students in terms of what they’ve learned, but what if the grading system were less about beating the person next to you, and more about the student’s and the person next to him’s mutual achievement?
Technology is changing our workplaces, but it is changing our education system at a much slower pace, Downey paraphrases Huett. Huett refers to the education system as a factory model that puts students on a conveyor belt at medium speed.
The workplaces of yesteryear had few innovators. To compete globally as a nation, innovation has to be encouraged at the earliest stage of life possible. Technology can make education more productive, and, perhaps, more interesting to students.
How refreshing it would be for educators to have more students in their classroom who WANT to be there? The jobs of the future will be less repetitive, less duplicative and more innovative – no matter the level a person works in an organization. Workers will relish the mutual success with those around them. It will be work, but it will seem less like WORK. Why can’t school be work, but seem less like SCHOOL?
Peter
OLDER WORKERS STARTING BUSINESSES AT INCREASING RATE
Jody Reeves, 53, dreams of starting a neighborhood seafood shop in Atlanta.
Will she fulfill her dream?
Research shows that the number of Baby Boomers starting businesses is increasing, according to a report by David Markiewicz, a business writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His report was published Sunday, Dec. 9. 2012.
Mind you, most businesses are still being launched by 20-somethings or 30-somethings. But those in the older set, who decades ago looked forward putting their feet up, collecting a pension and relaxing, are launching businesses by increasing numbers. Markiewicz quotes figures from the Kauffman Foundation, which says the number of people 50 and older launching businesses has increased every year in each of the last 10 years.
Also, Markiewicz reports, the percentage of new entrepreneurs ages 55 to 64 has grown to 20.9 percent as of 2011, from 14.3 percent in 1996.
What’s behind this trend? There is a combination of dreams and realities at work here.
For some, starting a business has been a lifelong dream that had to be postponed for years because they needed a steady income to raise families. Back when the 50-somethings were in their 20s, starting a business was risky. Having a job was not nearly as risky. One tends to be risk-averse when security is there for the taking.
In this economy, however, there are new realities. Having a job is more risky than starting a business. Companies are outsourcing tasks to avoid hiring people. So, instead of doing a task for a company as an employee, the company can hire you as a contractor to accomplish the same thing. No guaranteed salary and benefits to pay. No sick pay. No pension contributions. No disability payments.
Some Baby Boomers have found themselves out of a job, but not ready, able or eligible to retire. They have had to start over at the back end of their careers. They are starting businesses out of necessity, and hoping they can succeed.
THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN STARTING A BUSINESS
According to Markiewicz’s report, Reeves doesn’t know whether her seafood shop will ever become a reality. “ Some days, it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, I can do this.’ Other days, I think I might just be better off to go work at Target,” Markiewicz quotes her.
There are a few considerations for anyone of any age when thinking about starting a business. First, do you have what it takes to make it through the launch phase, which could take years, before you see anything resembling a steady profit? Rule of thumb: if you need a paycheck tomorrow, this might not be for you – at least not now.
Secondly, patience and perseverance are essential. If you are the type to try something that may not work initially, then give up on it, starting a business may not be for you.
Thirdly, if you’d love to ditch your boss – if you haven’t already been ditched — but don’t know what you would do instead, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. There are lots of ways to make money without having a job. This is one of the best. If you are intrigued, you might think about getting set up BEFORE you have to, so that when you are shown the door, or when you can’t take it anymore, you can walk out with a smile because you’ve prepared for it.
Putting one’s feet up in retirement is a nice thought. But, to paraphrase poet Robert Burns and novelist John Steinbeck, the best laid plans may not come to fruition, through no fault of yours. Speaking “Of Mice and Men,” getting out of the rat race before the rats win is the best thing anyone can do.
Don’t wait until you’ve lost the race. Take a little time now to prepare so that the rats can only THINK that they’ve won. You will know something the rats don’t know.
Peter
CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND YOUR CONTROL
The Libra horoscope for Dec. 8, 2012, read: “Don’t waste time speculating about how you would perform in other circumstances. Focus instead on the circumstances you’re in now.”
That horoscope was published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Not everyone takes horoscopes seriously, of course. But this one has a resonating message.
It makes one think about the difference between wishes and dreams.
A wish is something you want, but usually can’t get. A wish is usually something that depends on circumstances to come true.
A dream is something a person can ACHIEVE, regardless of circumstances, if he really wants it.
A dream is usually something a person creates, along with the way he’s going to achieve it.
Circumstances are none of your business. You can’t control most circumstances. Circumstances result from things that happen beyond your sphere of influence. What takes place in your sphere of influence is how you react to the circumstances around you.
For the last three years, the economy has been in the pits. Lots of folks lost jobs. Some still have not gotten new ones. Others have gotten new ones, but at far less than they were earning before they lost their original job.
Jobs are circumstances. They do not belong to the job holder. There is no entitlement to work. Jobs will come and go, through no fault of the job holder. Some will never come back, either to the job holder or anyone else.
Job holders can’t wish for time to go backward. They have to deal with new realities. They have to face the fact that the job that took care of their lives and families is gone. It would be the same as if a hurricane, or other natural disaster, wiped out one’s livelihood, home or entire town. You may have known it was coming, but you never really know how bad it’s going to be until it hits YOU.
CIRCUMSTANCES ARE LIKE THE WEATHER
Most circumstances, like the weather, are beyond your control. When a boxer faces his opponent in the ring, he knows he’s going to get hit. He can do a lot of things to prevent himself from getting hurt, but he can’t prevent everything. And, he certainly can’t prevent his opponent from swinging at him.
We all face certain circumstances. We can’t wallow in the misery, and expect to come out better. We have to DO something to make things better. We have to acknowledge what has happened, but not be paralyzed by it. We must look at the bad, yet see the good – or potential good – of any circumstance.
If you face tough economic circumstances, solutions are all around you. You just have to look for them. Lost your job? There are many ways to make money WITHOUT having a job, and regardless of education or background. To check out one of the best ways, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
If you face tough circumstances, think of all that is good in your life. Let those thoughts dominate your mind. Don’t wish for things to be better. Do what you need to do to make them better. Don’t wish for circumstances to be different. You can’t control them. Establish a dream, write it down, and go about achieving it. If you focus on that, after a while, circumstances won’t matter to you. Circumstances can take away your job, home, possessions and surroundings. They cannot take away your dream.
It’s been said to focus on the things you can control. You can’t control most circumstances. You can control how you respond to them.
Peter
TRIPLETS AD A SIGN OF THE TIMES
Adult triplets all coming home to live with Mom and Dad? Really?
Sounds farfetched, but Procter & Gamble, playing off its Tide detergent ad on the amount of laundry three infant triplets generate, has a relatively new Tide ad with the amount of laundry three ADULT triplets, who’ve moved back home with Mom and Dad, generate.
Though the ad may be effective in advertising detergent, it begs the question: what is the likelihood that ALL THREE adult triplets would be so down and out as to move back home? Better yet, what is the likelihood that Mom and Dad would almost playfully work together to wash their adult kids’ clothes? In fairness to Mom and Dad, they want the kids gone – not because they don’t love them, but they NEED to be on their own.
Parents who’ve raised triplets, and perhaps other kids, look forward to that empty nest when the kids are grown. They want to still see them, but they don’t necessarily want them living back home. If you are a parent, would you welcome your, say, 30-year-old still living with you? If you are the 30-year-old, do you want to be living with Mom and Dad?
In recent years, with the number of job losses etc., parents have been a fallback for younger adults whose lives were suddenly changed. The young person can save on rent, perhaps even food and other living expenses, by hanging home. But as much as parents may not want this arrangement, the young person shouldn’t want it either.
For many, getting out of the house to live on one’s own is a goal as a young person. Parents, meanwhile, undoubtedly look forward to lives they’ve never been able to live while raising children. When the economy is going well, everyone should be happy with their own independence.
BAD ECONOMY MEANS UNINTENDED LOSS OF INDEPENDENCE
The unintended consequence of the economic downturn is the number of people who lose their independence. Mom and Dad could disallow their child or children to move back in, but most parents have never gone through what these young people are going through. They’ve never seen so many young careers threatened by forces their children can’t control.
The good news for children is they have time to recover. Presumably, the triplets in the Tide ad are all single. Matters get really complicated if the adult children have spouses and families themselves. It also gets really complicated for the person who is close to retirement, but not quite there yet. Their unexpected lack of work may sentence them to an extension of their work life, in some fashion.
Add to that the trend of companies refusing to hire those who have been unemployed a while, and you have the makings of a very slow recovery. Meanwhile, those who want to be independent – parents and adult children – can’t be in many cases.
What to do? If you are indeed forced to move back home with Mom and Dad, don’t stick them with your laundry or any other life chore. Live as if you were on your own. Sure, you can eat meals together, but if you don’t eat at the appointed family time, make your own meals.
If you are indeed unemployed, and are looking for an income source, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. This is among the better of the many ways out there to earn income, without having a traditional job. If you already have a job, don’t presume it will always be there. Check out other ways to make money – and save money, too.
If you are a parent and have adult kids at home, you, too, can buy into this venture and have your kids work with it. That may hasten their independence, and yours.
Having kids around is great. Many parents whose kids they never see would relish having their children home – for a time. But, after a while, they will want them to go to their own homes. The kids, after a while, should want that, too.
Peter
TUNE IN: DON’T DROP OUT
We’ve all heard about students getting through college, not finding jobs and facing mounds of debt.
Was the education worth it?
But what happens to students who start college, don’t finish, and still have lots of debt?
Ben Casselman, writing for The Wall Street Journal, says these dropouts’ job prospects are a whole lot worse than those for kids who finish college.
Casselman’s article presumes the student’s decision to drop out was his. But, in fact, many parents are pulling their kids out of school for financial reasons.
It brings to mind the financial services ad on TV, in which the father, worried about losing his job, feels pressure to pull his daughter out of school for a semester or two. He knows his daughter is enjoying her college experience. Then, dad gets word that his daughter has made the dean’s list. He then decides to work with his financial adviser to figure out a way to keep her in school.
Let’s take a look at this situation. First, if a student is already in school, and doing well, even though debt is being accumulated, would there be a great difference between paying off a $10,000 debt with reduced job prospects, and paying off a $40,000 debt, with better job prospects?
As a parent, did you and your child talk long and hard BEFORE the student went to school, about how his or her education would be paid for? Did you and your child discuss what would happen if dad, mom or both lost jobs? Would they drain their retirement account(s) –probably not a wise decision –to pay for their child’s education?
Would the student assume ALL the debt for his education, or does the student expect help from his or her parents to cover that? A student may get his or her first lesson in responsibility if he or she KNOWS he or she owns that debt. He or she may think twice about what they study in school, how hard they will work at school, whether they will get a part-time job while in school and what other sacrifices he or she will make.
NOT ALL COLLEGE DEGREES ARE CREATED EQUAL
If a student wants to major in, say, the liberal arts – students are urged to follow their passion – is there a discussion among student, parents, high school or college counselors and other trusted adults about realistic career options? If the realistic career options are few, and the student still wants to study, say, music or drama, is there a discussion about what the student will do to earn a living after college, while he or she pursues his or her passion?
There are oodles of options for any of these situations. First, discuss the student’s hobbies, to see whether there are possibilities of earning money with them. For example, is the student gifted in music, but also likes to tinker with cars? Perhaps the hobby will help the student make a living, until the student’s passion becomes monetized.
Second, there are many ways to make money regardless of education. To check out one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. Having a financial Plan B early in one’s career may give a student time freedom, and financial freedom to pursue his or her passion sooner rather than later, and also pay for his or her liberal arts education. This may also be a great option for the student who has already dropped out, and is saddled with debt. It may not matter how dismal that former student’s job prospects are, if the former student sees the program and diligently works it.
Most importantly, it’s paramount to make decisions on how to deal with all eventualities BEFORE the student starts college. If the student, for some reason, doesn’t do well in school and has to leave, plan early for what will happen next. Parents, meanwhile, have to decide how their child’s education would be paid for – regardless of what happens to their job(s).
The moral: plan early. Don’t force a situation no one wants, without some backup plan. Not all college educations are created equal. Passions don’t always produce incomes. It’s always better to plan your life, and make your income work around it, as opposed to planning your income, and working your life in around it. Sometimes, though, you plan your income and eventually gain your financial freedom.
Plan for surprises. They are sure to come.
Peter
WHAT IF …
What if …
You could have all the money in the world!
What if …
You could have all the love in the world!
What if …
You could have all the friends in the world.
First, don’t wish. You have to first take control of your life. People wish for circumstances, but circumstances are none of your business. You have to accept circumstances, and deal with how you are going to react to them.
The victims of the recent storm Sandy WISH they were completely recovered. In fact, many are still without power. Many still face a mess to clean up. Also, as news reports indicate, the storm is creating an unusually high demand for used cars, because the storm damaged so many people’s cars beyond repair. The price of used cars will climb nationwide as a result. The silver lining here is that some people who may have had their eye on a used car may now decide to buy new.
Another silver lining: millions of charitable donations are coming in to help the victims. They will be forever grateful.
Tempers have flared a bit as power is slow to be restored. News reports indicate that offers to help from non-union power crews from other states have been declined. No one knows how much more quickly power would be restored if certain work rules were not in place.
Still, most in the affected area will eventually recover and prosper. Why? Because they are resilient. What happened to them was anticipated, yet unstoppable. Preparations may have been better in hindsight, but no one really knew how much damage there was going to be.
All the money in the world, all the love in the world and all the friends in the world could not stop the storm. Yet they, combined, will make recovery more bearable.
Since all the money in the world could not have stopped the storm, what good is it? Having money for money’s sake is useless. But money can help you do things that you might not otherwise do. All the money in the world won’t bring power back to you sooner, if you are still out from the storm. But it will allow you to help your affected friends and neighbors who are not as lucky as you are.
During such a tragedy, we see acts of cruelty and kindness. Those with money can be cruel or kind. If you are among them, you have a choice. Choose wisely. Choose the latter.
If you don’t have a lot of money, and would like to have the freedom money can give you, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You’ll learn how to achieve financial freedom, and you’ll hear many more stories of kindness than cruelty.
If you are stuck in the storm’s aftermath in the cold and dark, take heart that this, too, will pass. You may have to get a new car. You may have to get a new house. But if you are still alive, take solace that it could have been much worse. It was for some who live near you.
It’s natural to be angry, but anger wastes energy. Channel that energy into helping others as best you can. Even if you don’t think you are able to help others, you have more ability to help than you think. Do what you can.
Strive for amassing all the love and real friends that you can. If you are successful, to quote Team National founder Dick Loehr, eventually, the money will chase you down.
Peter
30-SOMETHINGS SWEAT RETIREMENT: PART 2
Those in their late 30s today are more worried about retirement than those in the Baby Boom Generation, which is retiring, or on the verge of retiring, now.
A Pew Research Center survey, as reported by Hope Yen of The Associated Press, says that about 49 percent of those between 35 and 44 said they had little or no confidence that they will have enough money for retirement.
As discussed last week, time is on your side if you are in this group. There are steps you can take to stave off disaster. We talked about presuming your job will change and presuming any pension promises made to you will be broken. If neither happens, and you prepared for the worst, it’s a bonus for you.
But there are two other areas about which you should think if you are in this age group, and are worried about retirement.
Your spending habits. We talked last week about the “need” to keep up with all the latest technology. Do your gadgets last you a long time, or are you constantly trading up for the newest stuff? If something works for you, even though it may be “old” technology, sticking with it may help your retirement. The money you’d spend on upgrades will be more useful working for you so you can retire on your terms.
COFFEE: A RETIREMENT BOOSTER?
But there are other spending habits to think about. Lots of folks like Starbucks, or other premium-priced coffee. When your grandparents or parents were your age, coffee was coffee. It might have cost a dime in your grandparents’ day, and up to 50 cents in your parents’ youth. For that dime, or half-buck, that you spent in a coffee shop, you got all the coffee you wanted. Unlimited refills were yours. Today, you pay $2 for a cup of coffee. Many places still give you unlimited refills, but that idea is trending out. Starbucks never gives free refills. Other places are charging, say, 50 cents for every refill. Sure, the coffee shops and restaurants need to make a living, but a cup of coffee a day from a shop can add up to real money over a year. Do the math: $2, multiplied by, 250 workdays (5 days a week over 50 weeks) is $500. Put $500 a year into your retirement account starting at age 35, and if you work until you are 65 (30 years) is $15,000 in contributions over that time.
Say those contributions that money doubled every 10 years in your retirement account. In the first 10 years, $5,000 in contributions doubled to $10,000. That $10,000, plus the second 10-year contributions of $5,000, doubled becomes $30,000. That $30,000, plus $5,000 in contributions, doubles to $70,000. That’s not much for a retirement nest egg, but you augmented your nest egg by that amount, just by skipping the daily cup of coffee on the way to work.
Remember, your grandparents made a pot of coffee at home before work, and put it into a Thermos that kept it hot all day. You could buy your own bags of whatever coffee you like, and try putting it into a Thermos. Sure, it’s a pain in the neck to carry a Thermos, and your friends may laugh, but you may have the last laugh at retirement.
Finally, your free time. We all love free time to watch TV, play sports, enjoy our families etc. But what if you took some of that free time to work on your fortune? Retirement would not only not be an issue, you might even be able to retire VERY YOUNG! There are many ways to leverage your time into activities that could produce a lifetime, residual income. To check out one of the best ways, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. It’s thinking outside the box, but if you are still young, and fretting about retirement, you have to think of alternatives you’d never thought of before.
It used to be risky to start a business. But today, starting a business appears less risky than trying to keep a good job for 30 or 40 years. If you can keep your regular job for as long as you can, and start a business on the side, you may have the best of all worlds.
This is not your grandfather’s, or your father’s, job market. Like the gadgets we like, jobs change. Companies are finding ways to hire fewer people, no matter the skill level. Pensions are changing. The defined-benefit pensions, paid for entirely by the employer, are disappearing quickly. Employees have to contribute toward their own retirement.
If you are between 35 and 44 years old, you have time. Little changes in how you live and work could make the difference in when and how you retire. Let your friends laugh at you. Retirement planning is no laughing matter. For if you do what you can for you, you’ll have the last laugh.
Peter
30-SOMETHINGS SWEAT RETIREMENT: PART 1
If you are 30-something, are you worried about your financial security in retirement?
A survey by the Pew Research Center, as reported by Hope Yen of The Associated Press, says Americans in their late 30s are more worried about retirement than those of the Baby Boom Generation.
The 30-somethings should be concerned. However, they have time to do the right things.
If you are in this group, think about the following: your job, your pension (if you have been promised one), your lifestyle, your spending habits, your free time.
First, your job. No matter how “good” your job is, it may not last forever. Your forebears saw complete industries go from thriving to dead – or at least on life support — in a generation. If you have or had grandparents who worked in a factory, is that factory still around? Remember, your grandparents thought that job was as good as gold, and it probably was FOR THEM. But they may have lived to see those jobs disappear – something they never expected when they were your age.
No matter what industry you are in now, EXPECT it to change. New technology is making the way we do things differ by the day. What you are doing now may not even resemble what you may be doing as you approach retirement. Can you live with that? Will you see the changes BEFORE they hit you, so you can act accordingly? It’s difficult to anticipate change you don’t know is coming, but regardless of how your job, or industry, changes, your expectation of change will serve you well.
A PENSION FOR CHANGE
Second, your pension. If you are lucky enough to have a pension as part of your employment package, count your blessings. However, at this stage of your life, your pension is little more than a promise, unless you are contributing your own money toward it. We are seeing pension promises broken every day, and those older than you are having retirement planning disintegrate before their eyes.
Do you have a parent who is at or near retirement age but has to keep working because everything they’d worked for has all but disappeared? From your vantage point, you can learn from this. Start now to save for your retirement. How YOU prepare your own resources for retirement will make a difference in how and when you will be able to retire. Remember, the retirement planning that you do, with your own money, can’t be taken from you. It can go up and down with the markets, but your own money and efforts are yours forever. It’s a promise you can keep for yourselves.
Promises from employers can be broken. If your parents have or had an employer that is keeping its pension promise, they are very lucky. Even unionized or government pensions are coming under scrutiny. If you are employed in a unionized or government environment, and you are in your 30s, don’t expect the promises made to you today to hold up at, say, age 60. If you plan that things will go away, and they don’t, that’s a bonus for you.
LIFESTYLE CAN CREATE WEALTH
Third, your lifestyle. In this age of ever-changing gadgets, people wait in long lines for fancier phones, etc. People want what’s hot. They want it even though they know that the minute they get it, something else will make it obsolete. When your grandparents and parents were young, they may have bought a TV or a radio, or a stereo system. They expected to use it for decades without replacing it. Today, people replace their gadgets annually, if not more frequently, so they can have the latest, trendy thing. If you have a gadget that works for you, think long and hard before replacing it. Your friends may laugh at you for having “old” technology, but you’ll have the last laugh when you put the money that you would have spent on the newest gadget into your retirement fund.
We’ll talk more about spending habits and free time next week. Meanwhile, as you ponder your retirement and fret about what it will look like, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. This may be one way you can put your mind at ease when it comes to retirement. Who knows? It might even put you on the road to retiring EARLY!
Time is on your side. Things you do – or don’t do – today may determine the type of retirement you will have. Think hard, and choose wisely.
Peter
TEACHING GRIT
Sometimes it’s not how good you are at something. Many times people succeed just because they persevere.
Maureen Downey, the education columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, spoke to journalist Paul Tough, author of “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character.” He says that that characteristics of persistence, self-control, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence may contribute more to a child’s success – no matter the background – than just learning words and numbers.
Downey goes on to describe research done on kids who graduated from the KIPP program in The Bronx, N.Y. Many of the kids in that program graduated middle school, high school and went off to college. They’d earned the highest test scores of any Bronx students and the fifth-highest scores in New York City in 2003. Downey quotes Tough, who cites KIPP co-founder David Levin.
Yet, only 21 percent of those young achievers earned a college degree. What happened? It appears, Downey quotes Tough, that the students who succeeded showed the greatest optimism, were able to recover from setbacks, didn’t let a bad grade destroy them and would seek extra help from professors. They would turn down going to a movie to spend the time studying.
Many educators have said that it’s the parents’ job to instill character in a student. Educators in the past have focused heavily on making students feel good about themselves (self-esteem), and some students have learned that just showing up deserves reward. As an aside, showing up on time is a big part of a success routine, but it should be expected.
Some parents have been overly concerned about protecting students from harm, and bailing them out when they get in trouble. We’ve seen that attitude follow them into adulthood. Do you know a 30-year-old who still leans on his parents to survive? Is that behavior natural, or was it carefully taught?
FEELING GOOD IS OK, BUT …
Tough seems to want to get kids away from the feel-good attitudes. He believes they should experience adversity, and learn to find ways out of it. They should learn gratitude, generosity and social agility. Do you know someone who won’t go to something that could benefit them, because they have a negative opinion of the people who might be there?
Do you know someone who will never turn down a chance to have a good time, even though their time could be better spent at more constructive activities? Do you know someone who won’t look at something that could really benefit them, because they are not the least bit curious?
Sometimes resiliency is more valuable to a student than self-esteem. Most resilient students already feel good about themselves, and know that success is up to them. Combine that with generosity, gratitude and the desire to help others succeed and you’ll have someone who WILL succeed as an adult.
So, it may not be just math and reading that students need to learn. They must combine what they learn with character attributes that will maximize what they’ve learned. To paraphrase Wendy Kinney, director of Power Core, a close-contact business networking organization, each business person can identify a person in his field to whose skills they aspire, but has a less successful business. At the same time, each business person can identify a person in his field who should never get referrals, but has a bigger business. How one markets himself makes the difference.
Related to that, most people can identify a person who started what should have been a great business, but didn’t have the grit to stay with it long enough to make it succeed. Perhaps, had they been taught the virtues of character in school, the result may have been different.
Do you have grit? Can you take a punch, get up and keep fighting? Are you looking for the best way to apply that grit to be the most successful? Do you want to help others succeed with you? If so, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. It’s one vehicle that can help the gritty person become successful, no matter the education.
The more resilient, gritty, optimistic and generous people we have in this world, the better our world will be. Do you want to be part of the gritty solution, or be the grit that clogs the works? If you don’t see yourself as gritty, but wish you were, you can learn to change.
Peter