Option Queen Letter By the Option Royals Jeanette Young , CFP ® , CMT, M.S. and Jordan Young, CMT 4305 Pointe Gate Drive Livingston, New Jersey 07039 www.OptnQueen.com [email protected]March 20, 2016 Why are Americans so angry? Well if you review the wage charts on www.thechartstore.com you will quickly come to understand that today the average wage earner is bringing home less income than s/he did in 1973. The statistics showing inflation used by the Fed do not reflect the sad truth that costs are outpacing income growth and thus, the average wage earner has less disposable income today than s/he had 40 years ago. Costs such as healthcare, insurance, food, tuition, etc. continue to increase and are not reflected in the government’s data. Unfortunately the average worker has to pay these bills and feels the strain that these increased costs have put on their budgets. Clearly when the average worker looks to the elected representatives all they find are people who do not have to live in the system and who retire on the government’s dime which , is an extremely generous dime at that. We believe that these elected officials should receive the same benefits as the people that they represent. That means live on our healthcare and pensions, or lack thereof. So why are there fewer jobs available? This is not such a simple question. Automation has replaced many functions with computers and robots where once stood a human. Think of your old stomping grounds from the mid-nineties, the blockbuster, the Sam Goody, the bank teller. Automation has helped spur frictional unemployment in our economy as a separation of generations has created a technological skills gap in the work force. Perhaps this is the biggest elephant in the room. It's hard to get angry at something like technology; a wall will certainly be of no help there. We do believe that the time will come in the future, where the sophistication of technology and algorithms will become so advanced that it poses a serious social problem for employment. Imagine the day when a robot can assist a doctor during surgery, when an algorithm can decipher your tax documents and when software scans for compliance issues. Some of these advances are already poking their heads into the present. Automation is only starting to become an issue and we believe the days of social angst as people are pitted vs. computer are decades away. The real culprit is a cultural one. We live in a society that has sold a generation the dream of a college education and a cubical. Much of the younger generation has been told that to be successful is to go to college and to work a white collar job. Not only is this notion flat out false, but what we in this country need are plumbers, electricians, carpenters, car mechanics etc. We believe in education but we should encourage people to move into careers that they will
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Option Queen Letter By the Option Royals
Jeanette Young, CFP®, CMT, M.S. and Jordan Young, CMT