Life Sometimes Gets Things Backwards!

Sometimes our lives seem to be backwards in many ways. A current movie, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, seems to support that contention. I have not seen the movie but have read that it is a story about a man who is born “old” and then, as time passes, he gets younger and younger! He ages backwards.

I have always maintained that there is another aspect of life that is basically backwards. When we are young and in our twenties we usually have a lot of time and not too much money. We are generally healthy, possess more energy, a wealth of interests and are continually seeking excitement and action. Our pursuit of the many earthly pleasures such as travel, good food, hot cars and extravagant toys and gadgets are often far beyond the limits of our income.

As our life unfolds and we graduate into our fifties and sixties, we find ourselves in just the opposite situation – we have more money than we can often spend, but we do not seem to have the time, nor inclination, to do so. Our physical selves have become worn like an older car – our tires have less tread, our engine is getting clogged with sludge and our body is suffering from the dents and scrapes of numerous encounters with life. We aren’t as interested or capable of nonstop travel, rich food and drink and a hectic and demanding life style. We are more content with an afternoon nap, Kraft dinner for lunch and an exciting evening reading a new bestseller.

Perhaps there is a way of realigning our financial resources with our needs. A man’s earnings over a lifetime can be projected. I am sure that actuaries can determine the total salary, including performance bonuses and cost of living changes, for any profession over a 35 to 40 year period. For example, a starting teacher will make $35,000 in year one and a $135,000 a year, forty years into the future. Salary gradually increases with time. A teacher should be able to make about $3- 4 million over a forty year career.

I propose that the lifetime salary of any profession be redistributed, with more salary paid during the first twenty years and progressively less over the last twenty years. Our highest salaries should occur during the period of our life when we are more ready, willing, and in need of greater resources. As we get older, our needs and generally our wants decline substantially. We basically need less money in our senior years.

Why not align these two factors more appropriately? Life got it backwards originally and it’s now time to correct that little error.