Let Me Dream On

When I was 12 years old, I had a job delivering magazines. If I collected from all my customers on a good day (some were not home, others were procrastinators), I would make 15 cents. My favorite was an ice cream parlor where I could get a triple dip cone for a nickel. When I turned 14, a neighborhood teenager asked if I would take over his paper route as he had a better offer. So, I peddled papers in our immediate neighborhood, unlike my widespread magazine route. Besides, I didn't have to collect and took home $2.20 per week.

While in high school, an entrepreneur neighbor who ran a saw factory (jig saws to band saws), offered me a job at 40 cents per hours. In college, I held as many as three part-time jobs. One job was unique. We made polka grisar (Swedish mints about one inch long with two red stripes circling the middle). We worked in pairs and one day, the boss called us in and informed us that we were too good at it. He wanted the mints to look more homemade and less professional. That I guess is the first and only time I was accused of perfection.

Skipping ahead a few years, I was assigned to an International assignment overseas. We sold our home and I wondered what to do with the proceeds. Our consultant said to put it into CDs for those years which we did at 18%. Imagine that today. Then my final position was in a retirement complex where the average age was 82. Guess where many of the retires had their money? In CDs. They were skeptical of the stock market and wanted to play it safe. Then the CDs began to move downward which meant that their fixed income was diminishing posing a serious challenge for these octogenarians who had been so well rewarded.

The other day I received a Shareholder Update and Annual Report. Page viii gave the figures for the Annual Total Returns of the Cash Reserves. Past 10 years: 1.81% Past 5 years: 0.71% Past 1 year: 0.02%. One of my bank accounts last year paid me 22 cents interest. And I suppose we all realize what “worry free” investing has done with cash accounts, including CDs. Somehow, we Seniors remember our 15 penniess a week peddling magazines but the $2.20 weekly paper route doesn't sound too bad in comparison with some aspects of today. Or does it?