You Only Work for $1 Hour

My last letter cited the example of an average family having only $2,000 in savings. For a specific age range. If we really understood what this meant in context of full-time work we would be revolted with ourselves for accepting it as normal.

Applying some calculations we know that full-time work counts as at least 40 hours a week, not including drive time, time preparing to leave the home, and then returning home. Then if our job allows us 2 weeks vacation, maybe more maybe less depending on your industry. We can assume that 50 weeks of the year are spent working.

That means effectively you worked 2,000 hours of your life (50 weeks * 40 hours) for $2,000 dollars after bills and taxes were paid, and that’s only if you were able to save $2,000. This means you worked for $1.00/hour to make ends meet and to “succeed” in this world. Or in other words we traded our most precious resource, our time, for $1.00 per hour and thought we were getting a good deal.

It has been on my heart for some time to help direct the church and its body in a better way of life and only until recently did I acquire the knowledge that can be shared, spread, and duplicated to save us from the crushing world of debt so many of us have come to accept as ‘normal’

As stated before we should find it revolting people only value their lives at the rate of $1.00/hour, and in our modern world we see valuations of companies now approaching a trillion dollars, and even more shockingly billions of dollars willed to children and heirs.

We need to understand as a church body that wealth and prosperity is not a zero-sum-game. One person doesn’t have to lose for another to gain. Rather it is cooperation and not competition that will take us to new heights, but many people do not even know they are playing a losing game.

My last letter also cited the burgeoning student loan debt, $1.5 trillion, and in your congregation there is at least 800 attendees (for simple math) that have accrued some form of this. That means if, and let’s use simple math, if each of them was to get just an Associate’s degree from a local community college: mine was $11,000, and I’m pretty sure some of that was paid in cash.

If even half your auditorium went to school and acquired debt. That is a total $4.4 million worth of debt. That’s just in principal amount. If even half that debt is in repayment at 1% interest (if only it could be that low). That means your student body has a student loan payment each month of $185166.50 per month without fees, or compounding, or even having their other bills paid on time.

That translate in the Colorado market, to one home every other month either being created and destroyed. Let’s not kid ourselves, we are free in Christ, but we aren’t living like it. Hopefully my letter touches your heart and we can talk how we educate the body of Christ in finance, money, and building prosperous lives.

Best regards,

Kyle Castor

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *