Sometimes life choices are right, but other forces destroy the job/profession leaving the worker with nothing or near nothing to use to recover a decent life.
Lost everything in 2008? Stocks went down 65%. Money left over had to be for underwater investments.
It’s choices. Unfortunately too many out there do not have the skills or discipline to do the right thing. I say a $1k ‘gift’ into the s&p 500 for every newborn. Absolutely no withdrawals until age 59. That will expose their choices.
A couple of the toughest things to do are:
1. Get the gumption to leave the hometown for greener pastures. I’ve known many people who have never travelled outside their community, county or state. The fear of the unknown paralyzes a lot of people. They want to stay near mom and dad, relatives, and their friends.
2. People haven’t been trained to broadly watch the economy and how it is changing. What jobs, occupations and professions are going to disappear in the next 10, 20, or 40 years? What new ones will arise to take their place? How do I get trained for what’s coming? If you aren’t particularly ambitious and are happy screwing lug nuts on the left rear wheel all day long, you will be out of work. Retooling yourself is hard to do, but you have to be prepared to do it two or three times in a career.
Nobody ever said life was easy.