A conversation with a telemarketer....................

Earlier today I received a phone call from a woman selling ad space on place mats for a local restaurant. For $150.00 I could have an ad on 15, 000 place mats that will last from six to nine months. As reasonable as this sounds I explained to the nice woman that in my line of business I had found that paid advertisements never paid off. I went on to explain to her exactly what I did and how people don't tend to pick a place to take care of mom/dad/grandma/grandpa from the yellow pages. Sure, lots of the big places use advertising, but mostly these are big corporations. I have had virtually all of my placements come word of mouth and if my resident's are not related, then they are related to friends that recommended me. One big happy family.

Anyway, the first point of my post is to say how nice the person on the phone was to me. Even after I made it clear I wasn't going to buy an ad we continued to talk about the best ways to get my name out into the community and my dream of having a system in place that will list premier places that have passed certain standard of care items above and beyond getting a license. As I told her, this is important to me in the event that I will one day need to access the service from the other side. (second point of this post) If we don't work to create a system of quality care for the elderly when we are able to work for changes, those much needed changes are not going to be there for us when we need them. Think about it, and start putting money away TODAY to pay for your care tomorrow so you have choices and don't end up at the mercy of some poorly funded government program.

Sure, you might be in your twenties now, and old age seems ages away. Having just turned fifty I have to tell you that it seems like just yesterday that I was in my twenties. Time goes much faster than we think it will. The younger you begin to save, the less you will have to save to end up with more because the money will have time to sit and grow. Even if you can only save the cost of one large pizza a week it can add up to be a significant amount by the time you are in your eighties if you are consistent with your deposits and keep an eye on your investment.

No matter what your age, delay a bit of the instant gratification we all love, and invest in your future. The geriatric in you will be extremely thankful one day.