Ben Stein How Not to Ruin Your Life

As I write this, I'm in the lovely Fox River Valley of Wisconsin. To be specific, I'm in Appleton, home of a beautiful school called Lawrence University.

The campus is leafy and green. The students look happy, young, and healthy. A magnificent breeze is blowing across College Ave., where the charming old hotel I'm staying in sits. In a world of mass killings, rapid climate change, and nuclear proliferation, this town is an oasis of happiness, sweetness, and light.

Lessons in Flexibility

But still I have to preach to you about prudence and good sense. Two days ago I was in Detroit, a city that remains proud and muscular, but which is bleeding economically. High-wage autoworkers and their families, and the businesses that supply the automotive industry and serve the autoworkers' families, are suffering terribly.

They never thought it would happen, but it did.

What's the lesson here? Learn skills that can't be defeated by foreign competition. The doctors in Detroit still make money. The finance people who manage the doctors' offices still make money. And the people there who have substantial savings invested all over the world are doing fine, too.

More brutal than that lesson is that capitalism requires flexibility. Autoworkers who were being paid $50 an hour are getting laid off, it's true. But in Indian Wells and Palm Desert, Calif., men and women who can lay tile or install plantation shutters or plumb toilets are getting $50 an hour and can't keep up with demand.

The realistic workers and their families sometimes have to consider moving to where the good jobs are. Possessing irreplaceable human capital and true flexibility and mobility are the orders of the day.

An Investment to Grow Old With

From Detroit I went to Palm Beach, Fla., a lush spot. On the way back, at the West Palm Beach airport, there were eight women in wheelchairs who boarded our plane early. Every single man on the plane that I could see had gray hair. There are potent lessons here, too.

The nation is getting old. This means there's a crying need for medical products for the aged. I almost never recommend individual stocks, but this time I will -- try Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). It's a mighty wonder-machine of medicines and products for health and convenience, especially for the elderly, who consume a hugely disproportionate share of health-related goods and services.

Yes, Johnson & Johnson has been plagued lately by problems with its drug-coated coronary stents. But for the very long run, it's a beautiful investment.

Save Yourself

Next, not only is the nation growing old, but as individuals we're all growing older, too. And we all want to be the kind of old folks who have homes in the sun for the winter months, even if we happen to be in wheelchairs by then. That means we have to save.

Right now, the market is very high. But it'll get even higher over the next 30 years, unless there's a catastrophic war or a dollar crisis. And even if there is a crisis in which the value of the dollar collapses, your foreign stocks will hold up and may even save your life.

Don't let avoiding saving be an option. Hook yourself up with a money wizard (like Raymond J. Lucia or my pal Phil DeMuth, for instance). Or just set up an account with Vanguard or Fidelity that automatically deposits 15 percent of your income after taxes into a few large index funds and ETFs.

The Rundown

As I've written before, I like these investments:

• The iShares Emerging Markets index (EEM), which might be 15 percent of your investments.

• The iShares EAFE index (EFA) for developed countries, which might be 25 percent.

• The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX) for domestic (Fidelity has an almost identical fund, the FSTMX), which might be 45 percent of your total.

• And maybe 10 percent in the iShares Cohen & Steers Realty Majors fund (ICF) for REITs and 5 percent in the shares of some super individual stocks, like JNJ.

Get in the Swim

Don't let your irresponsibility gene get you out of this. You have to save. You don't want to wind up old, sick, and destitute, so you have to do it -- and right now, before you're in that wheelchair.

You may even want to start your kids out right by buying them a variable annuity when they get out of high school. It'll compound tax-free until they retire, and leave them well off.

While you're at it, take a few thousand and buy one for yourself, adding a few hundred dollars every month. (Watch out for fees, though.)

Exercise Your Options

And one more thing: While you can walk and run, get some exercise. Try to stay out of that wheelchair forever. Good health is a use-it-or-lose-it proposition. If you're physically fit, every other part of your life is easier.

Plus, exercise is fun. Well, sometimes it's fun. Start yours by calling Ray or Phil or Vanguard or Fidelity. Then hit the swimming pool. Hard.