Doug, what you say about buying a good mutual fund and holding onto it is fine—in theory. Unfortunately, however. . . .

Sometimes when you're young, you just don't have the money to invest in anything much. Unless, of course, you elect to eschew any rose-smelling and go to work for someplace like Microsoft. There are several people in my building who work for Microsoft. They go to work at 8:00 a.m. or so and don't come home until 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. They're making some pretty flashy money, but they have grindstone marks all over their noses, they are thin and deathly pale, they have a hard time communicating with humans, their eyes are wide, staring, and unfocussed, and they have lost the capacity to blink.

I could have gone to work for Boeing right out of school like many people in this area did, but I chose not to go that route. Other than a few low-paying odd jobs while I was going to school, when I started to work I opted for self-employment. I gave guitar lessons. Iffy income. Then I started getting paid for singing. Equally iffy. Between performing and teaching, I made a thoroughly enjoyable, but marginal living. I had to pay income tax and FICA, but I didn't have enough money left over to even start a savings account, much less make investments. Had it not been for FICA, I'm sure it all would have been spent for daily expenses—or luxuries, like a new set of strings from time to time.

Tired of such a spotty income, I took an "honest" job (Boeing) I got paid a bit better than minimum wage and due to lots of overtime (engineering drawings for the 747), I started a savings account and bought a car (my first, a little Toyota). Then I got laid off along with lots of other people. Then I worked as a radio announcer. That was a chancy as singing. Changes of format, changes of staff—I worked for five radio different stations in an eight year period (advice from an old radio announcer: "When you get a new job, update your resumé and keep your bags packed!"). So I went to work for the phone company. I got paid a bit better than minimum wage there, too. Got some AT&T stock as part of my wages. Got laid off along with a bunch of other people (divestiture and reorganization). Then I worked for the Bonneville Power Administration as a tech writer. Got laid off due to budget cuts. While working for Ma Bell and the BPA, I did build up the savings accounts, then got myself a financial planner, and on advice, bought into some mutual funds. But every time I got laid off (never fired, just one of the many who constitute the flotsam on the ever-undulating sea of our economy), not only did I lose any company retirement that I'd built up, but I had to use my savings to pay the rent and keep fed. Looking back on it, my income was hardly less predictable when I was making music—and then, I was enjoying myself rather than bowing and scraping and tugging my forelock.

Now, my only income is from Social Security (of course, I could always go back to work—that is, if I could find someone who would hire a 71-year-old geezer in a wheelchair). My wife works part-time at the Seattle Public Library. Part time because of what? Budget cuts. And next year (January), our health insurance premium goes up $85.00 a month. And now, when we could use a little extra, the AT&T stock that at one time was worth about $55.00 a share (which, somehow, morphed into Lucent Technologies stock) is not worth the paper it's printed on (company mismanagement if not outright thievery, Enron style) and the mutual funds are still alive after a fashion, but we'd lose our asses if we cashed them in. Right now, they're worth far less than our original investment. So, Doug, that works only if the mutual fund is worth something when you need it. I'd have been better off if I'd put it all into a low-interest bank savings account. Now, was it my lack of planning? Was my financial advisor incompetent? Or is it a totally screwed up national economy?

Nevertheless, we're not doing too badly. We own a share in the building in which we live (it's a co-op) and our monthly maintenance fee is about a quarter of what we'd normally have to pay for rent in this area (although it took a $30.00 a month jump recently because insurance on the building went up). Barbara and I are used to living fairly close to the vest. I think we're relatively secure, but we're luckier than a lot of people. But—without my Social Security, we'd probably be living under a bridge somewhere.

Did you know that properly prepared, city pigeon compares favorably with Cornish game hen?

Don Firth