“Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.”
— Étienne de La Boétie, 1548
*****
When you were young, you lived under the rule of your parents.
“As long as you live under my roof…”
How many times have you heard this?
Now that you’re older, you don’t live under your parent’s roof. You live under the roof of the good ole U.S. government.
Their house. Their rules.
Difference is… when you were a kid, you really weren’t old enough to be independent.
Now that you ARE an adult, you ARE old enough to be independent.
And yet, I see it again and again.
Grown ass adults relying on the government to take care of them in their old age.
Now, I’m not saying you should feel bad about accepting Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.
These programs were forced on you. Just like Obamacare.
What I’m saying is… the government doesn’t have as much power as you think it does.
Don’t underestimate it. But don’t be cowed into submission either.
How do you take back control?
Stop using voluntary programs.
When I was 18, my parents booted me out of the house.
I had 2 weeks to find a place to live, scrounge up a security deposit, and get a second job to pay for it all.
And I did it.
Now, it wasn’t easy.
The second year out on my own, I ran into financial problems. The heating bill skyrocketed to over $300 one month (I lived in a drafty Victorian house in upstate New York).
Had to request HEAP (which was a government program in NY that helped pay for heating bills for people who needed financial assistance).
Some people say that program was a good thing for me. It let me keep the heat on.
But it taught me a lesson: I didn’t want to be dependent on government programs.
Dependency sucks.
So… whenever I saw government tied into a program, I bailed if and when I could.
The first time an employer offered me a 401(k), I declined.
These things are creatures of the U.S. government. Ditto for IRAs, 403(b) plans, and anything labeled “qualified retirement plan.”
Qualified means it’s qualified for special tax treatment.
It never made sense to me. Every year the government runs a deficit. It spends more than it brings in in revenue.
Every year, the national debt increases.
The government is STARVING for cash.
Now… why (and how) could they legitimately hand out a tax deal like a 401(k) or IRA?
And the reality is… they don’t.
For every penny you save, there are 8 pennies taken away from you… and most of the time you never see it unless you run the calculations and really take the time to figure it all out.
What’s the alternative?
Use private contracts to secure your savings and your future.
If you’ve never done this before, it’s a bit like walking on ice.
You have to balance yourself or get help learning how to balance when there’s no government safety net.
So…
If you want to improve your balance, go walk on some ice.
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