Mind Your Own Business

One of the lessons I learned later on in life is that you are responsible for you. It is not your government, or your employer that controls your life style, income and retirement but it is you! Where you are in life is a result of decisions you made in the past and where you will be in the future will be affected by decisions you make today.
I worked for a steel company from the time I was 18 until I was 43. I started there as a laborer shoveling steel chips, setting up machines and moving material. I ran several different machines the first year I worked there and was promoted into management at the age of 19. I was lucky enough to hold various management positions and became a part owner in the company at age 35 because of a Employee Stock Ownership Plan. I did not like some of the decisions our upper management was making and had the opportunity to take an early retirement with 25 years service at the age of 43. I cashed in my stock with the company and invested it along with the money I had invested in my 401-k and I had my medical benefits paid as part of my retirement package plus a small pension. Three years after I retired, our company went into bankruptcy. I lost the medical benefits and my pension was taken over by Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. I was one of the few lucky ones that got out with a pension and my stock money.
The company was purchased out of bankruptcy and the 350 people that worked there lost their stock, their jobs, their pensions and their medical benefits. The new company hired back about 70 of them as new employees with no seniority or benefits from the old company even if they had 45 years of service.

Lessons learned
(1) You can spend a lifetime working for a company with a good pension plan and loose it all because of a few bad management decisions. So build your own business and learn by your own mistakes. Don't be at the mercy of someone else's bad judgement.
(2) Don't rely on your government for retirement. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation according to their balance sheet will payout 22.8 billion more than it will take in this year and more companies are going bankrupt every day. By the way if you read your latest Social Security Statement, it says the trust fund will be exhausted by 2040 if changes are not made. Congress has known about this problem for at least 10 years and done nothing to fix it.
(3) Our Tax System is set up to benefit business's not employees.
Employees get paid then the government takes the taxes out and you get what is left to spend.
Business get paid then spend money (on tax deductable business expenses) and are taxed on whats left.
(3) Potential tax deductions depending on you business: Computers, auto expense, mileage, office, office supplies, cell phones, land line phone and fax service, high speed internet service, advertising including on your clothes, business travel, education seminars and meals when doing business . See a tax advisor to see what deductions apply to you.