Choices and Trade-offs

With all of the noise surrounding the Affordable Care Act’s botched Health Insurance Marketplace launch and the problem of individual policy cancellations this year, little other significant legislation is getting worked on in Congress. The federal budget debate keeps getting pushed into the future, and any chance of tackling tax reform seems a distant promise.

That’s because life — and politics, apparently — is about setting priorities and making choices. Even legislation as critical as the Farm Bill, which is scheduled to be renewed every five years (extended an additional year in 2013 because no agreement could be reached last year), looks like it will come down to the last-minute wire this year. This “cliffhanger” tactic in legislation is something we’ve become accustomed to in recent years. 

Another way of looking at it is that the folks in Congress are choosing to have these issues linger rather than compromise and resolve them before heading home for the holiday break. At the end of the day, that is a choice they make, because it’s not as if these difficult issues go away or are any less contentious when they return to work.

[CLICK HERE to read the report, “The Economic Importance of Passing a Comprehensive Food, Farm, and Jobs Bill,” at WhiteHouse.gov, November 2013.]

[CLICK HERE to read the report, “Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit, November 2013,” at CBO.gov, Nov. 20, 2013.]

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “Republicans Need to Understand That It Is Possible to Negotiate Without Taking Hostages,” at Justia.com, Nov. 21, 2013.]

As much as it can be human nature to procrastinate, we all know that issues don’t go away — not the big ones, anyway. We have to face them head on and not be afraid of confrontation, controversy and, typically, a whole lot of compromise. 

The Wharton School of Business surveyed its 2012 graduate students with the same questionnaire they asked of students in 1992 to compare the results. They found that while women used to consider it selfish to want a career; women coming of age during the new millennium now feel it’s selfish to want children. There also is a general trend that men are somewhat more focused on career and a little bit less on family, while men who do want families tend to want to be more engaged with their children than ever — even if that means sacrificing their careers. Overall, there is a greater sense of not being able to “have it all” without sacrificing something — either career or family. In other words, they must choose.

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “‘Baby Bust’: Why Fewer Young People Expect to Become Parents” from Knowledge@Wharton, Oct. 31, 2013.]

We see how hard it can be to make difficult choices and trade-offs every day. And yet we make them, consciously or subconsciously, in our health care plan choices, healthy lifestyle choices and retirement income choices (spend now or save now?). We know these types of decisions and trade-offs can be tough, so if you can use some help deciding where to place your hard-earned assets, please contact us.

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “Limited Patient Choice Next Health Overhaul Issue,” at HealthLeadersMedia.com, Nov. 21, 2013.]

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “How Many Nuts Should You Eat for Your Health?” from The Denver Post, Nov. 20, 2013.]

[CLICK HERE to read the article, “What Will You Spend in Retirement?” from Fidelity, Nov. 13, 2013.]

By contacting us, you may be offered information regarding the purchase of insurance products.

These articles are being provided to for informational purposes only. While we believe this information to be correct, we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information included.

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