A couple of years ago John was laid off from his job working in the assembly plant for Ford Motor company. He’d been there 15 years and came to work on a Tuesday to find out he was being laid off.

John had worked at some sort of job since he was nine. He had a paper route, then three. When he was eleven he started mowing lawns for neighbors. That quickly grew to raking leaves and shoveling snow.

John never much liked school and so as many of his friends went off to college after graduation, John landed a job with Ford assembling dashboard parts on the assembly line. Good work - and great pay - for a eighteen year-old.

Now, at thirty-four John found himself out of work. John hadn’t married yet - though he was dating the woman who would become his wife. And living a simple life in a modest house he managed to sock away a nice little nest egg.

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