If only we were all so passionate about our finances

I joke around a lot. But I’ve had an honest-to-goodness epiphany over the last month.

I know exactly what I will do for the rest of my professional life once my radio career is over: I want to work with parents and their kids on financial planning. That’s the world I’d have gone into if I hadn’t found my niche over the air.

But, honestly, I almost feel a calling to do this. I don’t care if I make any money. We have got to reverse what is going on. We have to.

Let me give you my rationale.

It starts with state lotteries, which are government sponsored and endorsed. A New York Times columnist recently dissected the mind-boggling numbers behind this fraud and found that as many as 50 million people swallow net losses of $1,000 a year in lotteries — the biggest rip-off gambling game there is.

To me, that’s government being evil because demographic studies show that a disproportionate number of those who play lotteries tend to be lower income and less educated. So when the government sells this pipe dream of lottery riches, that’s who they are preying on.

If people between the ages of 20 and 65 took that $1,000 and put it in a mutual fund that returns 5 percent a year – which, historically, would be on the low end — that would be worth $150,000. Every one of those people could receive what they consider to be lottery riches if they just spent the money on themselves instead of buying the snake oil government sells them.

Here’s another stat: One out of seven American households have negative net worth, according to an analysis by Bloomberg. U.S. Census figures show that more than 14 percent of American households owe more than all of their assets are worth. That is so sad to me. And with pensions disappearing, what’s going to happen? They will be beholden to the government.

Sorry to make this so much about politics, but they play a role. I supported George W. Bush early in his campaign but turned on him when the nation’s debt exploded. Obama, in 2008, called the debt Bush incurred on the nation unpatriotic. Eight years later, he has almost doubled it – we’re at an estimated $19.3 trillion. And politicians want to add more by paying for everybody’s college and borrowing and … we’ve got to stop! We can’t do this anymore!

There are 318 million people in the country. That means every man, woman, and child in America owes $60,000 as their share of that debt. The median family income is only about $52,000. We can’t have the median households with negative net worth.

This is about freedom. The forces that want to control us are governments and corporations. They do that controlling by making us beholden to them. We’ve got politicians shouting, “Vote for me and I’ll give you free stuff.”

The nation is setting a horrible example and it’s time to start working with our kids to get away from what our politicians are doing. That why I’ve set this new dream for myself.

But, scratch that, it’s not a dream. Dreams are things that happen when you’re asleep, goals are things you happen while you’re awake. This is my goal.

Because it’s time to wake up.

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