The Baby Boom and the Future of the Economy

The Baby Boom and the Future of the Economy Whats going to happen to the economy as all the baby boomers get older and retire? Its a great question that would need an entire book to properly answer. Fortunately, many books have been written on the relationship between the baby boom and the economy. Two good ones from the Canadian perspective are Boom, Bust Echo by Foot and Stoffman, and 2020: Rules for the New Age by Garth Turner. The Ratio Between Working People and Retired People Turner explains that the big changes will be due to the fact that the ratio between the number of working people to the number of retired people will change dramatically over the next few decades: When most boomers were in their teens, there were six Canadians like them, under the age of 20, for every person over 65. Today there are about three young people for every senior. By 2020, the ratio will be even more frightening. This will have profound consequences on our entire society. (80) Demographic changes will have a major impact on the ratio of retirees to workers; the ratio of the number of people ages 65 and over to the number ages 20 to 64 is expected to grow from about 20% in 1997 to 41% in 2050. (83) Examples of Expected Economic Impact These demographic changes will have both macroeconomic as well as microeconomic impacts. With so few people of working age, we can expect that wages will rise as employers fight to retain the small pool of labor available. This also implies that unemployment should be fairly low. But simultaneously taxes will also have to be quite high to pay for all the services that seniors require such as government pensions and Medicare. Older citizens tend to invest differently than younger ones, as older investors tend to buy less risky assets like bonds and sell riskier ones such as stocks. Do not be surprised to find that the price of bonds rises (causing their yields to fall) and the price of stocks to fall. There will be millions of smaller changes as well. The demand for soccer fields should fall as there are relatively fewer people will the demand for golf courses should rise. The demand for large suburban homes should fall as seniors move into one story condos and later to old-age homes. If youre investing in real estate, it will be important to consider the change in demographics when youre considering what to buy.

The Amount of Hours Required to Pass the Bar Exam

The Amount of Hours Required to Pass the Bar Exam When you sit down to study for the bar exam, it is likely you will get a bunch of feedback from other law students and friends as to how much you are supposed to study for the exam.  I have heard it all! When I was studying for the bar exam, I remember people proudly claiming they were studying twelve hours a day, leaving the library only because it closed. I remember folks being shocked when I told them I was taking Sundays off. How was that possible? There was no way I was going to pass! Shocking news: I passed- only studying until about 6:30 p.m. in the evenings and taking Sundays off. How much you need to study for the bar exam is a critical question. I have seen people understudy and fail, for sure. But I have also seen people over-study for the exam. I know, hard to believe, right? Over-Studying and Burnout Can Cause You as Many Problems as Under-Studying When you over-study for the bar exam, you are likely going to burn out quickly. You need adequate time to rest and recover when you are studying for the bar. Studying every waking hour of every day is going to lead you down the road of not being able to focus, being overly exhausted, and just not being a productive studier. For most of us, we cannot productively study that many hours a day. We need breaks to rest and rejuvenate ourselves. We need to get away from the desk and the computer and move our bodies. We need to eat healthy food. These things all help us do better on the bar exam, but they can’t be done if you are studying twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week (okay, I know that is an exaggeration, but you get what I mean). So How Do You Know How Much to Study? Perhaps it is easy to tell if you might be over-studying, but how can you tell if you are studying enough? This is a very personal decision, one that takes a lot of reflection on the process. I think a good first parameter is that you need to study about 40 to 50 hours a week. Treat the bar exam like a full-time job. Now that means you need to actually study 40 to 50 hours a week. That doesn’t count hours that you are chatting with friends in the library or driving to and from campus. If you aren’t sure what 40 to 50 hours a week of work really feels like, try tracking your time (since you will have to do that at your future law job anyway!). What you may find when you do this exercise is that you aren’t actually studying as many hours as you thought you were. That doesn’t mean you add more study hours; that means that you need to be more efficient with your study time. How can you maximize the number of hours you are on campus working? And how can you maintain focus during those hours? These are all critical questions to get the most out of your days. What If I Can Only Study Part Time? How Many Hours Do I Need to Study Then? Studying part time is a challenge, but it can be done. I encourage anyone studying part time to study at least 20 hours a week and study for a longer preparation period than the typical bar prep cycle. If you are studying for the bar for the first time, you may need to think carefully about making enough time to review the substantive law and also to practice. You may find yourself eating up all of your limited study time by just listening to lectures. But unless you are an auditory learner, listening to lectures isn’t going to get you very far, unfortunately. So be smart about which lectures you listen to (just the ones you think will be most helpful). If you are a repeat taker, best to leave those video lectures alone when you have only limited time to study. Instead, focus on active learning of the law and practice. It is possible that not knowing enough law was the reason you failed, but it is also likely that you failed because you didn’t practice enough or didn’t know how to execute the bar questions in the best possible way. Figure out what went wrong and then develop a study plan that will allow you to get the most out of your study time. Remember that it isn’t really about how much you study, but the quality of the study time you put in.