Why Am I Me? Numbers and Measurments
By David Edge
What makes us individuals is how we were taught to learn while growing up. Some us found we liked reading, some liked spelling, some of us geography, and some liked math and science.
Now math, that’s the universal language that cuts across all people, countries and customs. Those X’s and O’s can talk via computer in any language. And how we process those numbers is what makes you, ….well, you!
Who taught you math, or calculations, or arithmetic? No matter who, what, or where, math is a skill that every single one of us needs in order to perform tasks of daily living at any age. I can remember sitting at the kitchen table at 3-4 years old and just repeatedly writing the numbers 1-100 over and over as our Mom wanted to make sure we could write our numbers, alphabet and colors before we started school. At first, math was so easy, with 2+2=4, 2 x 2=4, simple right? We memorized our times tables so we could calculate stuff in our heads without paper! Our first grade teacher always made practical examples out of math so that our young heads full of grey matter could grasp what she was teaching. Four quarters make a dollar, ten dimes make a dollar, and twenty nickels make a dollar. You don’t think this was important? Just watch cashiers today when their power goes out at the store registers, and see if they can make change (NOT!). And then there were the endless examples of using cut up fruit for fractions. This was fun because after the math and fractions were done, you got to eat your work!
I was great with math until I hit the eighth grade and started those darn classes on Algebra I & II, calculus, geometry, trigonometry, and the rest of that stuff. I constantly had a headache! Remember this was before calculators. My brother loved that stuff and could practically do the problems in his head! I guess he was pretty smart as he later went to Georgia Tech then worked for the Military and IBM.
More importantly, who taught you math, and was there a moment that you have an epiphany or a ah-ha moment where you got it? Yeah there probably was and you probably remember it because it was a pivotal moment in your learning years.
At this point in your life math is even more critical than ever as you are faced with budgeting your retirement years. Decisions like when to take Social Security so that you max out the amount you can have, to simply figuring out if you have enough to retire and still be able to pay your bills.
Just like my teacher in the first grade, let’s make it easy by providing a teacher so that we “cut up the fruit” in practical illustrations to help everyone understand exactly how their retirement budgets will work. This factual exercise reveals exactly what will happen, when it will happen, and the real important answer to how much will happen?
Education and understanding your options is our goal in order to assist you with a successful retirement plan! Doing the math and coming up with a fact based decision is our classroom! Our retirement team here at American Retirement Advisors is here to help! Call us!
(Previous published in the April 2016 Edition of the American Retirement Advisor Newsletter)