Larry Jordan

I was always a worrier, which was more helpful to me when we were raising kids and working for a living than it is now that we are retired.

We have a retirement portfolio, and I hope that our savings will last longer than we will. In volatile markets like these, I sometimes joke that I am “one bad trade” away from my second career as a greeter at Wal-Mart. At least, we have a portfolio.

We have a house to sell, and I hope that we can sell it for the right price at the right time. In the worst housing market in our lifetimes, we have had three rounds of price cuts and three rounds of updating. Still, nothing. At least, we have a house.

I run or walk over 50 miles every week, and I hope that I can qualify for health insurance.  In the best shape of my life, I dropped medications, lost 40 pounds, and stopped smoking. Still, I am unable to find health insurance. At least, we have our health.

When all is said and done, we have problems of plenty, rather than plenty of problems, and I suspect that most of our readers enjoy problems of plenty, too.

In the last year, I have met a number of people who really do have plenty of problems – having lost their health or their homes or their jobs or their savings or their spouses.

When you talk with people who have plenty of problems, you realize that many of them once had problems of plenty, just like most of us. (There’s that “one bad trade” again.)

Also, you realize that many of these people (who have plenty of problems) display a lot more courage and hope and resilience than many of us (who have problems of plenty.)

So, next time you start fretting about your “stuff,” give thanks for your problems of plenty.