Blog Highlights

Nearly a year after abandoning this blog, people continue to keep reading! I am so thankful for being able to provide value to those who continue to come back!

Top 4 Posts:

1. Jim Rohn's 70%-30% Financial Independence Rule
2. Izu's Ripoff Acronym for Whole Life Insurance
3. Breaking Down the HUD for Tax Purposes
4. Cash Value Life Insurance

Author Favorites:

1. Izu's 100-200 Property Valuation Rule
2. 4 D's and the Cycle of Life
3. Everyone Should Own a Small Business
4. Spring and Fall Cleaning
5. My Personal Proclamation

Thanks to All the Readers

Thank you for supporting my blog!!! It has been a pleasure to provide financial education to those willing to read. Just remember knowledge is useless unless you actually take action and apply it!

Thanks to the thousands of reads, a partnership was developed!!! Please visit finlit.biz for future articles. Anytime you have a question or need some advice, you can e-mail me at scottizu@gmail.com.

We can do it by ourselves, we can carry all that burden by ourselves, but how much stronger are we when learn to ask for help and utilize each other's strengths. Good luck!!!

Dedicated to the readers.

Why the Silicon Valley Software Engineer is in Trouble

Most people go to school hoping that they can increase their income. In my case, I decided to become a senior software engineer in the valley and made a great six figure income. Fortunately, I often listen to stories of older people and attempt to learn from their experiences. This is why I tried to keep expenses down, putting a large percentage away each month (eventually, I switched fields).

As it turns out, the average life of a software engineer is about ten to fifteen years. After that, the engineer is likely to see cutbacks, downsized divisions or the hiring of younger and more talented folk.

So, why are software engineers in trouble?

First, of all, I need to cover some background. Imagine one person makes 30K a year and another makes 100K a year. If each saves the same percentage of their income each year, which one's money will last longer during retirement? If you answered, "They both will last the same amount of time," I'd agree with you.

The reason is that the person making 100K has developed habits to spend that money and while that person may change those habits, it can be difficult to change habits even after retirement has begun. People's spending habits tend to match their income and generally don't change too much even after retirement hits. This means that it is very likely that the two people will the same amount of time during retirement.

Now, add onto that the fact that the software engineer is likely to lose that income stream well before retirement. Also, add onto that the pride that the software engineer has built up and the inability to reduce spending habits. Doesn't it make sense that if the software engineer has 500K saved but previously made 100K per year, that the software engineer will last about 5 to 7 years in retirement? Doesn't the typical retirement last 15, 20 or even 25 years?

I guess that might explain why the Department of Aging is so busy doing reverse mortgages and/or selling houses to help people pay for the rest of their retirement.

Dedicated to Ken Klingler.