Perfect Conditions Versus Hospitable Conditions

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I didn’t get married until I was 40 years old. If I were a complete narcissist, I could easily blame that futility on women. After all, there wasn’t perfect neutrality in my dating world. Many women weren’t looking for a mate (they were already married), many women weren’t looking for a white mate (they preferred a mate who was black, Hispanic, or Asian), many women weren’t looking for a male mate (they were lesbians), and many women weren’t looking for a less-than-mediocre mate (they had sensible standards).

Thankfully, I’m not a complete narcissist. So I never blamed my struggles with women on women. And the reason for this is simple: I was dopey in a lot of respects, but I was smart enough to know that I didn’t need perfect neutrality in the dating world to get married. All I needed was critical neutrality. As long as enough women wanted to get married and weren’t turned off by my whiteness and maleness, I was the master of my destiny. My job was to become better—to be more than a beer-swilling slob. And once I did this and markedly improved my substance and prospects, I easily corralled the fabulous Mrs. Groovy.

I bring up my dating futility because it highlights an important lesson that far too many Americans need to learn. In any area of life, particularly romance, health, education, career, and finances, you don’t need perfect conditions to succeed. All you need is hospitable conditions—an ample supply of whatever external factors are key to success. And as long as this critical mass exists, so to speak, you’re the only thing that stands between you and success.

Now, to further drive home the point that hospitable conditions are all a reasonably competent, reasonably motivated person needs to succeed, I shall turn my discerning gaze toward personal finance. Here we go.

Personal Finance and Hospitable Conditions

For hospitable conditions to exist in personal finance, you need opportunity. Not perfect opportunity, mind you, just critical opportunity: an ample number of ways to learn and exploit economically valuable skills.

“Okay,” I hear you conceding, “that makes sense, particularly in light of your marriage example. But what exactly does ‘critical’ opportunity entail?”

Well, in order to succeed financially, you need to learn, work, save, and invest. Critical opportunity thus means an ample number of low-cost teachers, an ample number of job and self-employment options, an ample number of retailers selling cheap consumer goods, and an ample number of investment opportunities.

Does America have these things? Let’s see.

An Ample Number of Low-Cost Teachers

Does America have an ample number of low-cost teachers?

Yes. K-12 education is free to every child, regardless of how poor his or her parents might be. Sure, some public schools are better funded than other public schools. But every public school has enough money to provide instruction in math and English—the foundational knowledge upon which most economically valuable skills are built. And, sure, many public school teachers are a far cry from a Mr. Holland or a Jaime Escalante. But most public school teachers are competent, and most public school teachers care.

And, of course, K-12 education isn’t the only place in America where you’ll find low-cost (to the student) teachers. Here are three more options:

1. Books. Books are free to rent from your local library, and books are very affordably priced at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Books aren’t flesh and blood teachers, of course, but they’re a great substitute. They taught me the fundamentals of programming and relational databases and allowed me to shift careers at age 45. They also taught me the fundamentals of economics, civics, politics, carpentry, decorating, nutrition, and personal finance.
2. The internet. The internet isn’t free at home. It costs around $60 a month. But the internet is free at the library and McDonald’s and many other places. More importantly, however, is this: the internet is chock full of free learning resources. Three that immediately come to mind are YouTube, Github, and The Khan Academy. Again, these learning resources aren’t flesh and blood teachers, but they’re a great substitute, and I’ve used them on countless occasions over the past several years to advance my skills. Recently, these free “teachers” taught me how to remove rust from metal, how to make cheesy potato bread, and how to import a large CSV file into a MySQL database via a shell command.
3. Community college and trade school. My neighbor’s son went to the local community college and got an associate’s degree in welding. He’s been out of welding school for roughly a year now and is making over $60K as a welder. My nephew went to a driver-training school on Long Island and got a CDL. He’s been out of driver school for about four months now and is making nearly $80K as a long-haul trucker. Both my neighbor’s son and my nephew spent less than $5,000 obtaining their respective credentials. They both also spent a relatively minor amount of time obtaining their respective credentials. Welding school was two years. Driver school was four months.

Could America do a better job of providing its citizens with access to low-cost teachers? Absolutely. An apprenticeship program run by companies and subsidized by the government would serve the typical American far better than higher education. And speaking of higher education, the vaunted bachelor’s degree is a callous joke. Forcing people to take 40 courses when 10 or 15 courses are all that’s needed to inculcate them with the knowledge needed for most entry-level jobs is a monstrously inefficient way to award a credential (thank you, morally and intellectually superior “progressives”). But despite the lack of a worthwhile apprenticeship program in this country, and despite higher education being wedded to a grossly inefficient (for the student) business model, there is no shortage of low-cost teachers in this country. The typical American has the means to learn anything he or she wants to learn.

An Ample Number of Employment and Self-Employment Opportunities

Does America have an ample number of employment and self-employment opportunities?

Yes. There are roughly 7.7 million employers in this country. Not all of these employers, of course, are perfectly neutral when it comes to the superficial traits of potential employees. The White House, for instance, will only consider filling retiring Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat with a jurist who has black skin and female plumbing. So if you’re an eminently qualified jurist who has labored mightily over several decades to master the intricacies of constitutional law, but are sadly cursed with non-black skin and/or non-female plumbing, you can forget about becoming a Supreme Court justice. There will be no equal opportunity for you from this White House.

But thankfully, most of us aren’t jurists looking for an appointment to the Supreme Court. And, thankfully, most employers in America aren’t as narrow-minded and bigoted as the current White House. Most of America’s 7.7 million employers just want competent employees who will show up on time, do their work with aplomb, and get along with their fellow employees. Anyone who has these valuable traits will thus have no problem securing employment in today’s America.

But what if working for “the man” isn’t your thing. You want to be your own boss. Are there ample opportunities for self-employment?

Without a doubt. In fact, thanks to the internet and smartphone, it’s never been easier to explore a side-hustle or start a business. Consider the following:

YouTube
Airbnb
Uber
Esty
Doordash
Turo
TaskRabbit
Rover
Upwork
Fiverr
Outschool
Teachable

All of the above gig-economy apps are great ways to bolster your income and start a business. YouTube is particularly intriguing. Have a niche passion, hobby, or schtick that attracts a devoted fanbase and you can find yourself on the receiving end of a pretty impressive income stream. Here, for example, is a bloke from Australia who makes bank talking about Tesla.

And here’s a guy who makes bank exposing fake gurus.

And here’s a guy who makes bank being an asshole.

But wait, there’s more! America’s entrepreneurial-minded aren’t limited to Silicon Valley apps for entrepreneurial succor. Yep, you can start a side-hustle or a business without an app. The guy who Mrs. Groovy and I went to for handgun lessons is a retired engineer and gun enthusiast who started his instructor business to keep busy. An old acquaintance of mine who was a D1 lacrosse player in college is now operating a lacrosse academy in Florida and making big bucks. My brother decided to monetize his 30-plus years of MMA experience by opening a gym and training future MMA fighters. Anyone with skill or a particular knowledge that other people value has a potential business.

Finally, businesses are nothing more than solutions to problems. So as long as America has problems, America will thus have business opportunities. Just ask Elon Musk…or Jeff Bezos…or Brian Winch—a fellow who started a six-figure business removing litter from parking lots.

An Ample Number of Ways to Save Money

Does America have an ample number of ways to save money?

Hmmm…let’s see.

eBay
Craigslist
GasBuddy
Kayak
Poshmark
Freecycle
Honey
GoodRx
EveryDollar
Dollar General
Aldi
Costco
Goodwill
Habitat for Humanity

The above resources are just some of the ways frugal Americans stretch their dollars. And these resources only scratch the surface of America’s frugal-friendly landscape. For instance…

There’s no law saying you can’t be a minimalist.

There’s no law saying you can’t live in a trailer or a tiny home.

There’s no law saying you can’t drive an old car.

There’s no law saying you can’t go to a local state-run community college or trade school.

There’s no law saying you can’t be half-normal, or one-third-normal, or one-quarter-normal.

For most Americans, saving money is more of a mindset problem than an income problem. They simply lack the imagination and/or courage to buck the ridiculous materialism our elite overlords have foisted upon the republic. He who dies with the most stuff wins!

An Ample Number of Ways to Invest

Does America have an ample number of ways to invest?

Yes. When I was born in 1961, the IRA, the Roth IRA, the HSA, the index fund, and the discount brokerage firm were all still figments of someone’s imagination. The traditional IRA was invented in 1974. The Roth IRA was invented in 1997. The HSA was invented in 2003. The first index fund was created in 1972, and the first discount brokerage firm appeared in 1975. So anyone becoming an adult post-2003 has had everything he or she has needed to turn him- or herself into a mini-Warren Buffett.

And here’s another thing anyone becoming an adult post-2003 has had to ease the transition from saver to investor: the internet. Providing one has a checking account, one can literally go online and in 30 minutes have a Roth IRA account that automatically grabs money from one’s checking account every month and puts that money in a target-date index fund. Investing in America today is so damn easy, a gender-studies major could do it.

Excuses Are the Opioids of the Lazy

I did poorly economically under presidents Reagan, Bush 41, and Clinton. I did okay economically under Bush 43. And then things really changed. I did awesomely economically under Obama and Trump. And I’m doing awesomely economically under President Biden.

So what changed? Did American leadership drastically change for the better some 15 years ago?

No. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we have the worst elites in the history of mankind. Never have so few, destroyed so much, and thought so highly of themselves.

But the one thing our elites haven’t managed to destroy yet is critical opportunity. And that’s the key. For my whole adult life, there have been plenty of ways for the average schnook to learn, earn, save, and invest. I didn’t take advantage of these things under Reagan, Bush 41, and Clinton. I started taking advantage of them under Bush 43. I took wholehearted advantage of them under Obama and Trump. And I’m wholeheartedly taking advantage of them under President Biden.

Excuses are the opioids of the lazy. We got to stop coddling America’s non-achievers and under-achievers. As long as you have a functioning brain and body, you’re not some hothouse flower that needs perfect environmental conditions to grow and flourish. All you need is critical opportunity—which America has in abundance—and the will to get off your arse and exert yourself.

Final Thoughts

Okay, groovy freedomist, that’s all I got. What say you? Is the notion of hospitable conditions valid? And does critical opportunity exist in this country for all Americans? Let me know what you think when you get a chance. Peace.