Look Up

Too many of our financial decisions are made based on a multiple, or percentage, of income from labour. Labour Income is a fragile, isolated, building material. The most obvious dangers are death and disability. The more sneaky ones are furlough (a new word for many in 2020) and redundancy. Double Income households hide the fact that unpaid work still needs doing. They also increase the amount lenders are willing to loan, without actually building houses. So the price goes up. Even sneakier is “longevity risk”, the danger of outliving your money once you can’t earn more because of old age. Add to that Financial Emergencies that get funded with debt, so that income ends up paying off past expenses rather than gradually creating wealth. We hide our addiction to hand-to-mouth living behind the shield of “Work Ethic”. The idea that if you don’t contribute, you shouldn’t earn. Fear as an incentive. More robust roots would see people as the best placed local authorities to solve problems. It would empower decision making of communities. It would invest in foundations and buffers independent of personal income generation. Solving the hand-to-mouth problem allows us to breathe, look up, and create. Sustainably.

Rotten Building Material