Temperatures will continue to fall over the next few days

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When the Federal Reserve issued a report a month or so ago that nearly half of Americans couldn't come up with $400 if they had to, we count ourselves among the people who questioned how that could be? We're talking

 be able to put aside $10 a week  for a year.

Neal Gabler, a pretty successful writer, admitted as much in an April article in

 when he copped to being broke most of the time. Why? Because he's financially illiterate, he said.

He appeared on PBS NewsHour last evening. It's his fault, he acknowledges. But maybe things could be better, he said, if we -- especially men  -- were willing to 

A lot of people aren't going to feel sorry for Gabler, or a lot of people like him.

But here's the thing: Gabler acknowledges that

 reason  for his predicament is that he "followed his bliss." He became a writer.

It's a question that grads and their parents face every year around this time. Should we try to make a living at what we love? Or should we just concentrate on making a living?

A musician on the PBS story on Gabler offers a common perspective.

Another commenter suggests a societal culprit.

"Following passion comes at a price," another commenter said.

The discussion reminds me of one I had in Ely several years ago when I was doing the NewsCut on campus series. At Vermilion Community College I met people who wanted to be 

After my interviews, I met with the English Composition class. There, Carlie stood up and said she wanted to be an artist, but her family had convinced her there's no money in it. So she had switched to the wilderness program at Vermilion. I have no idea if there's good money in the wilderness nor whether Carlie has ever reconciled the two.  In fact, I don't know whatever happened to most of the people I met, so I choose to think that when their working days are over, they won't regret the choice they made on how to spend the only life they're going to have.

The Middle Class Is Doing Okay: No Need for Gloom and Doom 

NewsCut

Bob Collins

Author

Should we try to make a living at what we love? Or should we just concentrate on making a living?

The dirty little secret of people who are broke: They’re broke

Go Deeper.

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