How many eggs do I have?

 A slightly different Halloween post.

I sometimes play games on Facebook even though I realize that they are used by Trolls to gather information. My cousin Becky put a puzzle on and I read it and responded with my answer, but I was wrong.  Here is her puzzle, I suspect none of you will get it wrong.

Read carefully and slowly: it's a brain exercise!!

If I had 4 eggs🥚🥚🥚🥚

A thief gives me 3🥚🥚🥚

My farm rooster lays 5 eggs🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚

How many eggs do I have? 🤔

 I went back and re-read the puzzle and realized the mistake I had made.  When I posted the correct answer, she said to me, I was surprised when you got it wrong”. I replied, “You taught me a good lesson.”

No matter how smart we think we are there is always far more going on that we are yet to see, Even now. S when I am feeling bored or lonely again, I look a little closer.

When my grandson came over, we sometimes played the game “Where's Waldo?” I find that this game is an exceptionally good game in stretching one’s mind.  I find it easy sometimes but other times I find it awfully hard. As we get older playing games is a good way to keep our mind focused. When I got my new phone, I started to play solitaire and have about a 75%-win rate, but I started with the easy games and have moved to the medium-hard games. One day I will move to the more difficult games. What do you do to keep your mind active and young? Besides playing games and writing, I listen to many different types of music and I also physically keep active by playing golf and walking.  By the way, you may have noticed I have not given the answer to the puzzle. If you comment with an answer, I will tell you if you are right or wrong. Have fun.

Generosity

In the summer I applied for a grant to help two groups of people Farmers who participate in our Farmers Market and seniors who had food security problems. I was able to get the grant and as a result, 77 people were helped with a food security issue and several farmers were able to sell more products. It was a win-win situation.

What surprised me is the response from others to the act, they thought it was an especially important thing to do and I received accolades from many sources. I was surprised because generosity or the act of being kind and giving is important to me and I thought it was an important part of what people did in our society.

I wondered why this act was viewed as generous by others and why that act of applying for a grant deserved accolades. I have a friend who loves the etymology of words. So, I asked him for some background. He told me that the modern English word generosity derives from the Latin word generōsus, which means “of noble birth,” which itself was passed down to English through the Old French word Genereux. The same root gives us the words genesis, gentry, gender, genital, gentile, genealogy, and genius, among others. Most recorded English uses of the word generous” up to and during the Sixteenth Century reflects an aristocratic sense of being of noble lineage or high birth. To be generous was literally a way of saying “to belong to the nobility.

During the 17th Century, however, the meaning and use of the word began to change. Generosity came increasingly to identify not literal family heritage but nobility of spirit thought to be associated with high birth that is, with various admirable qualities such as the ideals of actual nobility: gallantry, courage, strength, richness, gentleness, and fairness.

The thinking about the nature of generosity has changed over time and it is now in danger. Most thinking of “generosity” often involve fundamental religious questions concerning the nature of humanity, God, and the human-divine relationship.

The Arab/Islamic tradition emphasizes that the faithful have a duty to God to show generous hospitality towards the stranger, offering them shelter and the best food and drink available. This virtue has deep historical roots, as is witnessed by the Hebrew Bible. It is exemplified in Abraham’s eagerness to host the three strangers who approach his tent in the wilderness, strangers whom the text identifies as Yahweh appearing to Abraham.

Aliens, together with widows, orphans, and the poor, are pointed out for special moral attention, and the Israelites are repeatedly reminded that “you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Thus, care for those marginal to the community and thus in danger of being excluded from basic resources is mandated both as a response to the needs of those persons and as a response to God’s salvific care for the people of Israel.

For Christians, to be generous is to be confirmed not just to Christ but also to the loving divine parent, whose sacrificial self-gift into the world makes possible human fellowship in the divine life. For Paul, this love is exemplified by Christ who, “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor” (2 Corinth. 8.9). Generosity involves giving beyond one's means, though Paul also notes that those now giving out of their abundance may at some point be in need and be the recipients of the generosity of others.

Generosity was also a virtue in the classical context. It is the third of the virtues of character discussed by Aristotle, following on the heels of courage and temperance. The generous person, for Aristotle is one who gives of his or her wealth in a way that achieves a mean between wastefulness and greed. The generous person does not give indiscriminately but seeks to give in a way that is good and fine. This, in turn, requires giving to the right people, in the right amounts, at the right time, with pleasure, and without looking out for oneself.

Thomas Aquinas, treatment focuses on the way that freedom from attachment to money and possessions makes possible the good use of these external goods. Like Aristotle, Aquinas suggests that there are more and less fitting ways in which to give one’s wealth. The heart of Aquinas’ account of giving, though, is found in his discussion of the outward acts of charity, notably beneficence and the giving of alms to the poor. 

To give simply to receive a return is not charity but greed, a form of selfishness. Aquinas insists that these acts of charity should in principle extend to all, in the sense that we should be ready to do good to anyone at all, including strangers and enemies.

Today, we associate the word “charity” primarily with charitable giving to the poor. Care for the poor, together with widow and orphan and prisoner, have always been central activities of Christian churches. An influential strand of contemporary philosophy has argued that the dominant conceptions of generosity in the West are insufficiently unconditional and betray expectations of reciprocity.

In our society as soon as something is recognized as a gift, the receiver becomes indebted and obliged to offer a return; gift thus collapses into an economic exchange. A gift can only exist so long as it remains unrecognized by both the giver and receiver.

The intense interest and response that my act aroused is an indication of the fact that generosity is endangered in today’s world, a world dominated by contract or economic exchange, which is indeed strictly conditional which I find sad.

Budgeting while retired

We go on a yearly golf holiday for a week every summer and a friend of mine budgets well for it and I don’t do as well. One of the secrets of his success is he thinks of expenses as yearly expenses. So, for example, if he buys a cup of coffee at the local Starbucks for $5.00 a week, he does not see that as an expense of $5.00 but as an expense of ($5.00*52= $260.00). I have been trying to get into that mindset for a few years and still have a problem thinking like he and his wife do, but they have done this for 30 years and so it is part of their way of looking at their family budget.

For those on a fixed income, which is most of us who are retired, budgeting is an important part of how we can enjoy our retirement and not run out of money. To budget, we must get a handle on these expenses and our revenue.

The expenses we must think about are: 

·                   Fixed Expenses: These are expenses where you know the cost and it doesn’t change. Rent, Mortgage, Insurance, Loans

·                  Variable Expenses: These are expenses that will go up and down in cost. Hydro, Water, Grocery, etc.

·                   Irregular Expenses or Projected Expenses: Expenses that come at a certain point in the year. They may be one-time expenses or more frequent but not monthly.

With many variable expenses, you can move them into fixed expenses, by averaging out your payments. In my area I can opt to make equal monthly payments on my Hydro, Gas, Property tax, and Electric bills. This allows me to budget and know how much we are spending every month. The issue that many of us find a problem is our Irregular expenses. As stated above these may be one-time expenses or expenses that are more frequent. My house insurance is a one-time expense that comes every year at the same time, while my prescription costs come every four months. To budget for these expenses, I have set up a savings account and put equal amounts in every month to make sure that when the payment is due I have the ability to pay, without going into debt.

As you look at your expenses it may be already clear that you know what your irregular expenses are, and you can plan for them by: 

1.  Your first task is to make a list of all your expenses including your irregular expenses and categorize them.

2.  Recognize that you may not be able to gather all of your future expenses at one time because some pop up out of nowhere.

3.  Document which expenses you will have to pay for throughout the year including any irregular expenses you are aware of when you do your budget.

4.  Write in the projected expense cost when it comes due

5.  Divide that number by the number of months until the bill is due and adjust the numbers if you find out the bill will be higher.

6.  Do this for the entire year of irregular expenses (guestimate if you don’t know the exact number)

7.  Save the dollar amount of irregular expenses in a separate savings account only for irregular expenses. Some banks and credit unions may allow you to automate the transfer of money, which is an easy way to put it out of mind while setting aside the money you need.

8.  For example: If you find out you have an irregular expense that is $200 and it’s due in June and it’s May you have two options.

a.  You add it to your expenses budget and save for 2 months.      

b.  You pay it and go into debt then set aside $34.00 a month so you have enough money for next year to pay it and to pay yourself back for the amount you paid this year..

COVID-19 & Personal Finance

What cost COVID? From families who lost loved ones, on people who are seriously ill, it is no secret that the pandemic has changed our way of life. From where we work to how we shop, COVID-19 has had a major impact on everything. It’s also hard to deny that the coronavirus has had an outsizes impact on employment. Our economic future is uncertain.

To understand how the pandemic is affecting the finances of U.S. workers, FlexJobs and Prudential partnered for a survey of 1,100 FlexJobs members in June 2020 to find out how their finances are faring during the pandemic. The information below was put together by Rachel Pelta and published on August 7th. It is an interesting look at how the pandemic is affecting job security and people's approach to living and earning a wage.

"The pandemic exposed the widening gap between the financially secure and insecure in this country, with people of colour, women, younger generations, gig workers, and the retail workforce disproportionately impacted," said Dawn Goldbacher, vice president of business development at Prudential, in a press release.

People who did not question their financial stability pre-pandemic are now experiencing a significant shift: 24% of respondents reported having financial struggles before the COVID-19 outbreak, and now, 44% of respondents acknowledge that they are currently struggling financially. According to the respondents, 21% considered themselves as financially secure pre-pandemic, but now that number has dropped to only 10%.

The importance of maintaining a financial safety net has increased, and 84% polled said they are taking specific steps in regard to their finances, but admit their savings took a hard hit and consider it a negative long-term impact on their financial health, notably on retirement plans.

Some respondents (20%) made changes to their retirement savings plans; this includes 12% who stopped or reduced their retirement contributions and 8% who withdrew from all retirement savings.

Armed with the knowledge of how impactful the coronavirus crisis has been on their finances, very nearly half of the survey respondents (49%) are now actively looking for alternative sources of income. Respondents told FlexJobs/Prudential that, as a response to COVID-19's devastation, in the next three to six months they plan to do the following:

· Try to pick up extra work/hours, looking for sources of additional income (49%);

· Build emergency savings (28%);

· File for unemployment (28%);

· Delay a major purchase, such as a car (25%); and

· Use emergency savings (23%).

But respondents also acknowledged that because of their now exacerbated shaky finances, it's important to examine their situation pre-crisis. The analysis found:

Only 30% agreed that they had a good plan in place in case they got sick or needed care in the short-term, and even fewer strongly agreed (12%).

That although more than two-thirds say personal financial wellness is a key priority, only 50% agreed that they felt prepared to make informed decisions about their finances.

When asked what's keeping them back from feeling well-prepared to deal with their changing financial status, respondents cited the following obstacles:

· Don't know how to evaluate the different options (27%);

· Don't know what options are even available to them (23%);

· Didn't have strong role models when it comes to finances (23%);

· Don't understand the financial terms/jargon used (21%);

Not earning enough money (44%), high cost of living expenses (35%) and too much debt (26%) were the top reported reasons for not meeting financial goals before COVID-19; and

Other factors preventing people from reaching their financial goals included not being disciplined enough about finances (23%), not having enough time to focus on financial goals (16%), and not having access to workplace benefits (e.g., health/dental/vision insurance, paid time off, disability insurance) (15%).

The analysis recommends: "Consider gig work, freelancing, or part-time work as a way to help make ends meet. Many of these jobs can be done from the safety of your home. Almost one-quarter of survey respondents (24%) are using remote work to supplement their income. Some of these jobs also offer flexible hours, letting you combine one or more jobs to make up for an income loss."

"Access to protection, savings, education, and employment opportunities through the workplace and other channels are essential to recovery," Goldbacher said in the press release