Folks, it is getting tough out there. Part of my time is scouring news sites informing myself and trying to figure out where the financial puck might be going, but sometimes I realize that the puck stops here, and I did the same when I got to this article from MarketWatch. Alessandra Malito responds to readers that write her a question on a financial topic and here is this week’s submission,
“Dear MarketWatch,
I am a 67-year-old lesbian who never married. I am retired. I get a small Social Security payment and a small pension — they come to just under $1,100 a month. I have $100 in savings. I am not able to pick up a part-time job because of some health issues. I own my house and my car. I consider myself blessed.
I worked hard for over 40 years, but never at very well-paying jobs. I have just qualified for Medicaid and food stamps. I owe around $1,000 in credit-card bills and around $4,000 in a bank loan. If I am very careful, I will be able to pay off my debts quicker while saving around $100 a month.
By being careful, I mean I am already buckled down on the frugal lifestyle. No eating out, nothing new ever, I ride my bike when I can, and I even use reusable/washable toilet paper. I’m applying for a scholarship at the health center and use the Buy Nothing Project for every little thing.
Am I allowed to save money and invest while receiving Medicaid? If so, what can I do with $100 a month? I have nothing at all to fall back on and I’d like to change that if possible.
Wanting to Save”
Well I have thoughts on a lot of this and there is plenty to unpack. 7 words in, that’s how long it took before this dear reader had to proclaim their sexuality. This is a finance article what possible relevance does that have? You could have said yu were a retired librarian. I don’t know. My only possible assumption of why gay people feel the need to overshare is that it is similar to sports fans. If someone is a Yankee fan, then they want everyone to know they are a Yankee fan and make sure that no one dares to assume that maybe they like the Red Sox. That possibility isn’t on the table. Since she was writing in the written form I believe she could have mentioned her Subaru and we would realize what she was referring to, which is the finest all-wheel drive sport utility on the road today, but nope, straight to the point or should I say lesbian to the point. Subtlety is dead, but I digress, but it is a pet peeve.
Let’s just say that she decided to not irritate C Thomas today and simply said, “I am 67 years old and never married. There would still be a very real dilemma here. This woman worked for 40 years, and that is a good thing. She bought a house, and a car, and isn’t too badly in debt despite working at not very well-paying jobs. That’s ok. By being frugal she has given herself options. There is nothing insurmountable in her way to improving her financial condition other than inflation. We can address that in a minute.
Now the author very nicely writes that she has to be careful to not earn more than xxx amount to stay Medicaid eligible. She offers the alternative programs that she might be eligible for and wonders if she does have some skills that might create some income without having to get a part time job. All good and solid advice.
I feel like I have buried the lead though. She is using rewashable toilet paper. Folks, seldom in my life have I ever felt a need to reach out and spare a square more than I have for this lady. She doesn’t spend, she uses the Buy Nothing Project for every little thing. Now I had to go look this up and educate myself on this project.
It turns out that you go and download an app and then you create a profile with your name and picture and it places you into this community. Then when you give you get a little dopamine hit of giving and it is the do good sensation. It is charity but the giver gets to give what and to whom they want. I like that. Rather than a panhandler asking for change at the corner, the giver gets to give and get a little dopamine hit as a reward. It’s a nice idea and people if you are still stockpiling toilet paper from Covid please consider people like our frugal lesbian as a recipient.
Other than the washable toilet paper eye catcher, I really liked that this person is trying. Not everyone in this country falls ass backward out of the get rich tree and hits every branch on the way down. Some people never get a break, an inheritance, and never have an opportunity to get much further ahead than break even. I salute you for the struggle and the initiative to learn and earn.
Now we have talked about using your skills now to start earning and putting aside in the past. I hear this gal’s dilemma and I think let’s just looks at the facts here. Let’s assume it was someone else with her setup, a house, a car and free time. She has a car, Uber driver, one ride a day and she makes what $100 a month. If this lady can’t do that, understandable but we need to approach this situation with what do we have and how can we improve our situation. It should be like that in all of our lives. If we are constantly improving, we can also fight the struggle like this lady is doing. I would help her out 100 times out of a 100 versus give change to a beggar. So I will help her out…Listen up lady, you go down to the public library, which are free and funded by the taxpayer which is you, and you go to the bathroom and you roll out some extra TP and you put it in your pocket and you make a trip back home. This is America, and you need to be a little more creative and seize the initiative on the TP front.
Now I want to talk about this lady because she isn’t a victim, she is honorably doing all she can with what she has and she is winning, but she has an enemy. She is on the fixed income and inflation eats at a situation like hers the worst. She might get some adjustments on her pension and social security, but no one needs deflation more than her. She needs her dollars to buy more than they did last year. She doesn’t need her groceries to go up 40% like what has happened in the last 4 years. No, she needs a responsible government to help her out, and she isn’t getting it.
Economists view deflation as the worst possible scenario. This fear stems from the Great Depression when there was so little money in the system, and it changed hands so infrequently that commerce slowed to a standstill, and it was hard to get it restarted. Remember these programs came along afterwards. These people would benefit, they aren’t losing their job they don’t have one. Their dollar would buy more, and their standard of life might go up. This is a weird intersection of economic events when a society is so tied to government support that a depression looks favorable.
A depression can be and has been a terrible situation for many Americans, but so are periods of high interest rates. We have talked to death about Jerome Powell and how he is keeping rates higher for longer even if he has verbally pivoted, the rates are still there. Banks are in trouble, zombie companies can’t get refinanced, and higher rates reduce the future cash flows of high growth companies whose value lies far in the future. Let’s consider the fate of our frugal lesbian though. She thinks she can save a $100 a month. In the article, the author suggests a high-yield savings account as an investment vehicle, but I might suggest going straight to the US Treasury website and buying a short-term Treasury bill. Let’s use a simple example. The lady saves for a year and gets $1000 saved. She puts in a T-bill earning 5%. By the end of year two, she will have another half of a month’s savings, $50. She will have saved another $1000 by then and can repeat this process. Higher interest rates aren’t bad for our saver or any saver. The savers, not spenders of the world, should be benefitted for saving. If we get higher interest rates then they will. If you don’t think interest rates are going higher, then I suggest you look at a long-term bond chart or the US fiscal debt. That doesn’t mean bonds are a vehicle of choice to fight inflation, but merely shows how inflation can be offset and how higher interest rates are one person’s problem and the other’s answer to prayer.
If you spend any time on social media or related online sites you will come across the social media influencer. These digital, like all walks of life, come in all shapes and sizes. The most egregious little piss ants are the rich wannabees. These are the ones complaining that their Rolex dropped 40% this year or bragging about how their 9 houses are sitting vacant and not supporting their lifestyle of mimosas and avocado toast in Sante Fe. There are a lot more people in the world grinding out the rent like our little frugal lesbian than what appears at the top of a Youtube algorithm. We need to remember that and be mindful when complaining about much of anything. We also need to head to the library and grab a few rolls of TP and maybe a book on skills that we can learn with our time.
People are survivors by nature, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. Just today I was reading about how Aldi’s is gaining more shoppers because on average their prices are 6% cheaper than Wal-Mart. I didn’t know anyone’s prices were cheaper than Wal-Mart. Patrick Thomas writes for the Wall Street Journal, that their foot traffic is up 26% and it’s because they do things differently like making the consumer put a $.25 deposit down to use a cart and not unpacking the items and saving labor. These are little lessons that we can learn and use for our own lives. Don’t buy trash bags, use your grocery bags. Boom savings. Don’t buy paper towels, use rags and wash them. Boom Savings. Don’t buy Tupperware, reuse your containers, boom savings. These are all practical uses, but it sure would be easier if we could get some help from the government. That is why it is so damned important to vote. You can’t save your way forever. Our government used to increase its citizens’ standard of living, and hopefully they can again. In the meantime, I’d take a little stroll down to your local lending library. I’d pretend to peruse the periodicals before heading over to the water closet and stocking up on some one and a half ply. It sure beats reusing and washing your own TP at home.
People are washing toilet paper now
Sincerely Yours,
C Thomas Printer
On this date in history… 93 years ago to be exact, the Empire State building opened; it was the world’s tallest building for the next four decades.
Also born on this date …frontierswoman and friend to Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane.
Thank you for listening today and you can find all of our articles and more on our website cthomasprinter.com.