I like most people have a set of beliefs that guide me day to day. These beliefs help me get through the day, into the future, and especially my future! I come from a family of long-lived people and always believed I would live to be a centenarian like my father, his mother, and her mother before her. Much to my surprise at age 73 I was diagnosed with an illness that if not arrested and cured would be terminal. Obviously, that’s not how it played out – I am now 83 – thank you Lord! When I was first given the bad news, I thought my worst scenario would be my demise in about five years. Well, I was wrong – thank God. Now let me tell you my beliefs that made me make some choices vis-vis the Mathmatecum. I took as a given that 75 was the life expectancy for a newborn and that in all probability the Mathmatecum would cease to exist after a final distribution some 85 years out. We are just now starting our seventh year with six distributions completed.
I have learned a few things since I started the Mathmatecum. First is that that life expectancy went down as a result of the pandemic but is now once again going back up. Second most experts believe there is a maximum age our bodies can attain, and the consensus is about 120 years. Ironically the oldest person to have lived was a French woman named Jeanne Louise Calment who lived to the age of 122. Currently the oldest person living is Tomoko Itooka, age 116 years and 182 days. So much for my beliefs.
I also thought it would take about five years to fill out the membership in the Mathmatecum. Knowing that there was no certainty in that, I allowed for a cutoff date well beyond what I thought I might need. This has turned out to be both good and bad. It gives me a lot more time to achieve full membership but forestalls the income increases that will occur as members pass. The income increases (though more than planned for) are not yet such that people see the Mathmatecum as a place to put their money. Fortunately, the Mathmatecum has developed a Mathmatecum Directive available to all members. Currently 7% of members have M.D, and the highest return for one of the Directives is 8.5%.
Because of these unforeseen circumstances it has now become apparent that joining the Mathmatecum on an individual basis is a good idea. Creating a MD is a fabulous idea! Creating a lifetime of guaranteed passive income is wonderful but now seeing how generational wealth is accumulating is sort of mind boggling.
Don’t fear the future – just plan for it.
JAI BABA
TTFN
JU
