JZ has also brought up a subject in a roundabout way, that I know something big is happening soon. He’s got $3,000 left over at the end of this job, and he wants to invest it. He is particularly unsavvy when it comes to money or investments, at least anything over $50. He certainly knows that dribble [of $3,000] is not very much money at all. He has also mentioned the new inheritance tax on anything over $1,000,000 which is also not very much money. Yes, I know I am the one who once said such as tax could never arrive too soon, but then I’ve never actually lost any sleep over such a law. Still, a million “beats a swift kick in the yarbles with a frozen moccasin”.
Couple that with his interest in finding us a “partnership” and I concluded his dad must be planning on giving them inter-vivos cash money. This was confirmed finally today, JZ invited me to go sport fishing next weekend. The job will be finished and he wants to treat, as I have never gone deep sea fishing. I asked if this means we have nothing to do after the job, and he said he would find something. It seems his dad is giving each of the children [a handsome bonus]. I can see how this is a halting decision for his dad, who certainly knows as well as I do that JZ knows nothing of holding on to money. He gets a free condo, yet can’t manage the monthly fees. Recall when his condo got mysteriously paid off a few months back? He asked me if I thought it was his father, duh.
Still, the situation is to be confronted. I can understand that JZ would prefer to show some definite financial responsibility under threat of his estate being administered for him. While he has come a long way in the last few years, there is a chance his dad could leave the cash in trust or something. Thus, it is really important that JZ invest that $3,000 so that his dad can see him still having it years down the line. JZ has not asked yet, but I drew up a 15 year plan. It is conservative for the unadorned fact that I know it is wrong for people to either win or lose on their first big investment. It causes very wrong thinking.
Now JZ can relate directly to my Denny’s coffee fund. Only he needs condo fees, for when dad is gone and you get behind, they take away your property, type of thing. My guess is the $30,000 represents some kind of tax-free limit, but that it could be a yearly thing. Thus, JZ would need three such years to be able to earn enough interest to pay his monthly condo fees. Not too encouraging right now, I know. However, he is not dipping into the principle and he would have a long term written plan that produces results. There is a long standing criticism that they don’t teach this stuff in school, but I can understand that when I consider the type of person that becomes a schoolteacher, and the futility of getting kids to listen in the face of have it all now advertising.
I’ve drawn up three scenarios; best, worst and expected. In the worst, he only gets the first draw and his dad lives another 15 years. JZ should still be able to make the condo payments, but he has to become gainfully employed rapidly. For JZ that means running a store. JZ knows that he has fallen behind and this issue is a struggle for his very survival. I’ll help where I can, but I can’t create twenty years. I was in my mid-thirties before I even got on my feet and forty before I could invest a cent. Yes, I know those inane theories that you can always find a few dollars a week to invest. That is the thinking of the stupid middle class. Why, they’d not understand, did I just not cut off the cable TV until I had $10,000 together to invest? Reminds me of Just Once Mark, the jock whose father paid for his university education, a year-long cruise around the world to play soccer at ports of call, then a house in the best part of town, topped off with a job at the phone company. Mark always maintained that his father had helped him only “just once”. Yea, from birth until thirty-five, hey Mark.
It is now 8:30 and I am going to try to catch that missed two hours of sleep. This is technically Sunday already, but I’m still thinking Saturday.
Published 2014-05-01. This is a revealing post. Back then, JZ and I were two guys who hated work, loved women, and were concerned about the future. We discussed running a store. Since we were not yet long-term pals, you can see how leery and critical I was of joining forces with the guy. We would definitely have gone belly-up in the pending recessions, but 2004 was still a happy time. At that time, I'd only casually met his family for a few minutes here and there. And my life expectancy was two years.
