Topic: savings

I grew up reading Readers Digest. From ages 9-16, I read every single word of every single issue: This is Joe’s Pancreas. How to Protect Your Retirement Savings from Liberals. Drama in Real Life.

Every month, Drama in Real Life told the true story of someone who had fallen while mountain climbing and survived for days on a ledge the size of a lunch tray; or been mauled by a bear; or had a premature baby that slowly died and then looked down on its bereaved family from heaven; or been trapped in a burning building and recovered for months in a burn unit, receiving painful ass-to-face skin grafts, all played out over twenty-plus pages.

So, I grew up just assuming that adulthood entailed catastrophic events, and that no mater how hard you work in life, your family will always become trapped in a burning car. More »