Jack was born in 1943, the only child of a doting mother and a father home from the rigors of war in the Pacific. He grew up during the fabulous 50’s and the experimental 60’s; got married and divorced in the free love 70’s. He became a typical consumer in the buy everything 80’s and the Internet 90’s, then bought Florida real estate in the 2000’s, eventually losing everything in 2008. All along the way, he never really saved a dime.

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Everything he made was either consumed, eaten, smoked, or sold for cash to take trips to Vegas, Tibet, or wherever The Travel ^[3] Channel recommended that month. He did contribute a little to his 401k ^[4] but took loans against it and eventually cashed it out to buy a new Audi for his trophy wife that was 22 years younger. She left him 6 months later.

He never took very good care of himself and eventually passed away in early 2010, broke, penniless and indebted to the nursing home to the tune of $450,000. He never got around to buying long term care insurance.

Janet on the other hand was born in 1962 and learned early on that she wouldn’t get anything unless she worked hard for it. And work she did. She was valedictorian of her high school class of 1,600 and scored a major scholarship ^[5] for college. It essentially paid for everything, but Janet still worked a part-time job and saved her pennies. She graduated with a double major in math and psychology … and had $26,000 in her portfolio and savings account.