Sometimes you get the feeling that the deck is stacked against you. Coming from a solidly middle class family, I didn’t wake up every morning wondering if a banana and two Pop-Tarts would hold me over for the entire day. There was never a question about getting basic medical care or buying school supplies.
But the deck seems to be stacking and stacking higher against me now. It’s a deck made up of debt. Any variety of debt really—take your pick. Student loans, a laptop charged on a credit card, and the list goes on. Am I alone in this situation? Absolutely not. I’m one of millions. Am I comforted in that knowledge? Again, absolutely not!
Too big to feel accountable: Wall Street bankers Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs), Brian Moynihan (Bank of America,) John Mack (Morgan Stanley Chairman) and Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan Chase).
This line of thought was brought on by the congressional hearings today with Wall Street bankers Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs), Brian Moynihan (Bank of America,) John Mack (Morgan Stanley Chairman) and Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan Chase). They aren’t hurting for money, employment or future security. Instead of a rant about injustice and inequality, let me instead say I harbor a mixture or emotions that includes jealousy, outrage, and greed. I would never want their lives, but I’d like enough to pay off MOHELA.
While I’ve been scraping together change for occasional fast food splurges ($2.87 on Black Jack tacos can deal a devastating blow to a grad student’s budget), I’ve also been trying to save here and there. In a moment of desperation and disbelief that I’ll ever achieve financial stability, I dusted off an old copy of The Young, Fabulous and Broke by Suze Orman and began to read. It got me thinking.
This is Suze. Listen to her.
If I can get $1000 and invest it, that’s a start. It’s not a huge start, but let’s try to look on the bright-ish side. The glass is half empty, but at least it’s filtered water. $1000 in savings to me (and many others) feels like winning a five-state Powerball. With that, I could open an IRA account and begin to build something…anything.
Before I start singing “We’re in the Money,” let me remind myself that this is a just a start. That means continuing to contribute in the future—when I’d rather buy an iTrip…or even a grande rather than tall Starbucks.
Goal #1: Be able to afford a grande Starbucks
The thought of investing doesn’t make me feel like a big fish (maybe fat cat would be a better analogy here), but it makes me a feel a little bit better about the future.
In the meantime, I’ll have to trust those bankers with my precious small sum of money. I feel better already(?)
