Giving Thanks

The stock market is down, oil is nearing $100, the US dollar is plunging and the world’s retailers are on edge as they calculate their take from “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday”. I guess that we can all understand how the general anxiety about the economy can creep in and prevent us from doing what we should be at this time of year: giving thanks. Before you lose that thought, put down your leftover turkey sandwich so I can recount a story.

I was supposed to take off Friday, but after checking my voice mail, it was clear that I needed to make a quick call to a client who left a disturbing message. “Mike” was fearful that he would be let go from his high paying job at a large company in Boston and called me to develop a game plan if the worst were to occur. By the time I called back, he had found out that his job was secure and that the firm had even given him a retention bonus to stay through the end of the year.

“I can’t believe that they only think that I am worth an extra $250,000!” he said with equal parts of sarcasm and anger. I know that Mike knows that he is paid well compared to the vast majority of people in this country, but he fell prey to comparing himself to the tiny minority that earns far more than he does. Who among us has not thought, “I can’t believe that guy/gal makes so much money!” Maybe it was the realtor who caught a hot market, the doctor who went into radiology rather than primary care medicine or the lawyer who chose corporate work instead of becoming a public defender. In all walks of life, there are instances where we all know that the earning power of a particular professional has no bearing to merit or even achievement.

Sometimes people choose careers in areas of the economy that are rewarded far more lucratively than others. If you are a numbers person and you become a math professor, you are not going to make as much as the guy who sat next to you who is now an analyst for an investment bank. In my own life I have experienced this very feeling. I left the commodities exchange in the early nineties. Had I stayed, I would be making a fortune right now. But that was not how I wanted to spend my career. Is it fair that the dopes who worked along side me are now cashing in? I don’t really know, but who cares---I don’t want to be there.

To start the week after Thanksgiving and of course, the holiday bonus season, it would probably go a long way if we all remember the gifts in our lives. On balance, most of us are fortunate to have what we have. We live in the best country in the world, where we are free to dissent with those in power. Most of us have decent jobs that allow us to provide shelter, food and a pretty nice lifestyle. We may not be making a ga-zillion bucks in stock options or cashing out millions for being in the right job at the right time, but we are blessed. My advice for you as we enter the heart of the holiday season is to remember all that is good in your life, not what is lacking.