My Two Cents

Unintended consequences

Chris Farrell Apr 11, 2009

I am a fan of Henry “Bud” Hebeler, the former president of Boeing Aerospace and now financial advisor to future retirees. Check out his website at Analyzenow.com if you haven’t already. It has some of the better financial planning calculators on the web, especially on the issue of when to tap into Social Security.

Anyway, this story he relayed the other day is a nice reminder to all parents that despite your best planning you never really know what your kids will take away from growing up with you.

My grandfather was a union organizer and lived in a Newark tenement. My father and his brother heard so many things about the high wages earned by capitalists that they decided being a capitalist must be better than being in a union employee. They left home to start their own business with very little money. They slept in the same bed in a boarding house for a couple of years to save the necessary funds. And they succeeded wonderfully.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.