Cabaret

Remember the Money song from Cabaret? Money money money money money money money.... It was going through my mind a little bit ago as I dipped into a paperback that I'd picked up for some light reading -- The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of your Life. Like others my age, I've been thinking about how much money we have, and how much we need for a comfortable, not lavish, retirement. I don't obsess about it (others might disagree), but I do think about it a fair amount. I've got a spreadsheet that I started keeping about five years ago which lists all of the money we get, all that we have, all that we can expect to get, both incoming and outgoing. As a result of that spreadsheet, I feel that we have a pretty good grasp of what's required, but there is always that Yeah, But.... As in, what if there's a financial crash, and the two thirds of your money that's in stocks and bonds vanishes or becomes a shell of its former self? What if you get very sick, and you are found to have too much money to get any kind of governmental assistance, but not enough to be able to fund your illness and retirement at the same time? What if...and so on, and so on, and so on. What I really wanted, of course, is someone to tell me what the most likely number is that I'll need -- and by most likely, I really mean The most likely given the vast majority of potential outcomes. If you tell me that there's a seventy five percent chance that I'll need four hundred thousand in the bank now, I'll think 'gee, thats only three out of four, which seems like it leaves a large loophole'. If you tell me there's an eighty five percent chance I'll need seven hundred thousand now, I'll still think that remaining fifteen percent is a large loophole, though its approaching bearable. I am looking for something in the ninety percent or so range -- sort of a 'not quite worst case, but in that ballpark'. And no one will give you that without so many caveats and disclaimers that its essentially useless.

I thought that a different approach might be useful, and so I picked the book up. Anything offering a completely different approach might be just the ticket I need to understand not just the components of financial security (I think I've got that) but the logic, the sociology of it (regarding which, I'm fairly naive). It might say too many Age of Love concepts (go with the flow, ride with the tide, what you have is what you need, don't worry about it) ; it might be too mechanistic (fill in the following spreadsheets, make the following assumptions, indicate your priorities in this list...) ; it might be totally useless -- but heck, it's an inexpensive book, so, sure, give it a shot. And thus far, only two chapters into it, I'm finding it to be a good read. The guy has a nice, comfortable writing style, he touches on the things you think about but don't discuss with anyone except your life partner, and sometimes not even them, and he manages to not mince words without being so scary that you throw the book down, shuddering. I'm still reading the Roosevelt book (and liking it; just finished his writing about San Juan Hill, which was not nearly as romantic as I recall from school), but this makes good casual reading for when I want something serious, written well, in a comfortable style.

And who knows? Maybe I'll learn not to obsess about the number.