Brian63
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2001
- Messages
- 1,639
- Location
- Michigan
- Gender
- Male
- Basic Beliefs
- Freethinker/atheist/humanist
A little history:
Currently I am in my young 40s. In my mid 20s I unfortunately developed epilepsy (chronic seizures). One common side effect of seizures is that they can erase large chunks of your long-term memory. That is the case with me. I remember very little of my childhood and almost nothing of my adulthood. So much of my life is a blank screen. That seems abnormal to others, but it is the only way I can recall living in this world, so it seems normal to me. What at least “seems” abnormal to me is how well others remember so much of their life.
During my adulthood my bad health problems also resulted in bad financial problems. Now I am on a path to recovery in both areas. However, I am ignorant on matters of personal finance. Also, here in the U.S. the state of our society has me really concerned. When I have viewed graphs from personal finance experts illustrating how investments grow over time (“invest early and often”), it is appealing to join in myself. Those charts and graphs represented the state of our economy over the last few decades. Now though, my confidence in American democracy even is very shaken and with it I also feel much less confident that the American economy would survive or thrive alongside it. We are living in unprecedented times, so looking at market history does not inspire confidence that I could similarly be financially better if I invested.
How much and in what ways does the state of politics affect your personal finance choices? Does the fact that in America we are facing grave threats to our democracy and basic political institutions make you more cautious about how you personally invest in the economy? Does your financial adviser speak with you about it or not?
Currently I am in my young 40s. In my mid 20s I unfortunately developed epilepsy (chronic seizures). One common side effect of seizures is that they can erase large chunks of your long-term memory. That is the case with me. I remember very little of my childhood and almost nothing of my adulthood. So much of my life is a blank screen. That seems abnormal to others, but it is the only way I can recall living in this world, so it seems normal to me. What at least “seems” abnormal to me is how well others remember so much of their life.
During my adulthood my bad health problems also resulted in bad financial problems. Now I am on a path to recovery in both areas. However, I am ignorant on matters of personal finance. Also, here in the U.S. the state of our society has me really concerned. When I have viewed graphs from personal finance experts illustrating how investments grow over time (“invest early and often”), it is appealing to join in myself. Those charts and graphs represented the state of our economy over the last few decades. Now though, my confidence in American democracy even is very shaken and with it I also feel much less confident that the American economy would survive or thrive alongside it. We are living in unprecedented times, so looking at market history does not inspire confidence that I could similarly be financially better if I invested.
How much and in what ways does the state of politics affect your personal finance choices? Does the fact that in America we are facing grave threats to our democracy and basic political institutions make you more cautious about how you personally invest in the economy? Does your financial adviser speak with you about it or not?