An honest look at the personal finance crisis | Elizabeth White

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: Carol Wang

You know me.

你们认识我的，

I am in your friendship circle hidden in plain sight.

我就藏在你们朋友圈里 那不起眼的地方。

My clothes are still impeccable --

我衣着依然得体——

bought in the good years when I was still making money.

这还是我在赚钱的好年景里买的。

To look at me you would not know

只看的我外表，你不会知道，

that my electricity was cut off last week for nonpayment,

我家上周因付不起电费而断电，

or that I meet the eligibility requirements for food stamps.

你也不知道我已贫困到满足 领取救济食品券的标准。

But if you paid attention,

但如果你留意一下，

you would see that sadness in my eyes --

就会发觉我眼里的悲伤，

hear that hint of fear in my otherwise self-assured voice.

在我原本自信的声音中， 你会听到一丝丝的恐惧。

These days I'm buying the $1.99 trial-size jug of Tide

这些天，我只能买得起 1.99 美元 1 罐的试销装洗衣液

to make ends meet.

来维持生计。

I bet you didn't know laundry detergent came in that size.

我确信你不知道还会有 那个尺寸装的洗衣液。

You invite me to the same expensive restaurants

你邀我去那些我俩以前

the two of us have always enjoyed,

经常喜欢去的高档餐厅，

but I order mineral water now with a twist of lemon,

但我点了矿泉水，挤了几滴柠檬，

not the 12-dollar glass of chardonnay.

而不再喝 12 美元一杯的白葡萄酒；

I am frugal in my menu choices.

我点菜时斟酌再三，

Meticulous, I count every penny in my head.

仔细地默数着每一分钱；

I demur dividing the table bill evenly to cover desserts and designer coffees

我不同意平分账单， 因为我没吃那些甜点、

and second and third glasses of wine I did not consume.

没喝名品咖啡和 第 2 杯、第 3 杯红酒，

I am tired of trying to fake appearances.

我厌倦了打肿脸充胖子。

A friend told me that I'm broke not poor, and there is a difference.

一位朋友说我虽破产但不穷， 破产与贫穷是两码事。

I live without cable, my gym membership

我没有有线电视、没有健身卡，

and nail appointments.

也不去做美甲，

I've discovered I can do my own hair.

还发现竟然可以自己做头发。

There is no retirement savings,

我没有退休储蓄，

no nest egg.

没有（养老或应急用的）储备金，

I exhausted that long ago.

这些很久以前就被我花光了。

There is no expensive condo to draw equity

我既没有昂贵的公寓来套现，

and no husband to back me up.

也没有丈夫来支持我。

Months of slow pay and no pay have decimated my credit.

几个月的延期付款和 未支付行为毁了我的信用，

Bill collectors call constantly,

催账员电话不断，

reading verbatim from a script

他们先照本宣科地 念（催款）文字，

before expressing polite sympathy for my plight

然后表达对我困境的同情，

and then demanding payment arrangements I can't possibly meet.

接下来又要求我做 无法兑现的付款计划。

Friends wonder privately how someone so well educated

朋友们私下里很好奇， 我一个受过良好教育的人，

could be in economic free fall.

怎会在经济上如此捉襟见肘。

I'm still as talented as ever and smart as a whip,

我一如过去才华横溢，聪明睿智，

but work is sketchy now,

但现在工作也是断断续续的，

mostly on and off consulting gigs.

主要是时有时无的临时咨询工作。

At 55 I've learned how to fake cheeriness,

55 岁时，我学会了如何假装快乐，

but there are not many opportunities for work anymore.

但对我来说，现在已没有 多少工作机会了。

I don't remember exactly when it stopped,

我不记得是什么时候开始的，

but I cannot deny now having entered

但无法否认，我已进入了

the uncertain world of formerly and used to be.

过去和曾经的那种不确定的境况。

I'm not sure anymore where I belong.

我不确定自己属于哪里，

What I do know is that dozens of online job applications

只知道在线申请的几十个工作

seem to just disappear into a black hole.

就好比石沉大海、杳无音讯。

I'm wondering what is to become of me.

我在想，该何去何从呢？

So far my health has held up,

到目前为止，我健康状况良好，

but my body aches -- or is it my spirit?

但身体会痛疼——或许是 我的精神已经变得脆弱不堪？

Homeless women used to be invisible to me

过去我曾漠视那些 无家可归的妇女，

but I appraise them now with curious eyes,

但现在我会用好奇的眼光审视她们，

wondering if their stories started like mine.

思索着我是否在重蹈她们的覆辙。

I wrote this piece a year ago.

这是我一年前写下的一段文字，

It's a composite of my story and other women I know.

它综合了我自己及其他 我所认识的女性的故事。

I wrote it because I was tired of pretending

我写下这段文字， 是因为我厌倦了

I was all right when I wasn't.

自己明明过得不好， 却还要装模作样，

I was tired of faking normal.

厌倦了假装一切正常。

I wasn't seeing myself in the popular press.

我已从主流媒体上消失，

Nobody I knew was traveling the world or buying a condo in Costa Rica.

我认识的人里，没人周游世界 或在哥斯达黎加买公寓。

Very few of my friends had set aside the 15 to 20 percent

我的朋友中，没几个人能存上 专家建议的 15-20% 的收入，

experts tell us we need to maintain our standard of living in retirement.

以维持我们退休后的正常生活。

My friends, many in their 50s and 60s,

我的很多朋友已经五六十岁，

were looking at a downward mobility,

除了破产，还有失业、 医疗或离婚的原因，

a work-for-life proposition,

正面临生活开始走下坡路，

just a job loss, medical diagnosis or divorce away from insolvency.

需要考虑终身工作。

We may not have hit rock bottom,

我们的经济状况可能还没跌入低谷，

but many of us saw a sequence of events

但很多人都目睹了这一系列事情，

where rock bottom was possible for the first time.

它们可能会导致个人 财务状况首次触底。

And the truth is, it really doesn't take much.

事实上，跌入谷底很容易，

The median household in the US

美国中等家庭的储蓄

only has enough savings to replace one month of income.

只够维持一个月的生活，

Forty-seven percent of us

我们当中 47% 的人

cannot pull together 400 dollars to deal with an emergency.

一次性拿不出 400 美元救急，

That's almost half of us.

这几乎相当于一半的人口。

A major car repair and we're standing on the abyss.

（遇到）一次车辆大修， 就会让我们处于地狱的边缘。

You wouldn't know it to look around you --

看看自己周围，你不会发现——

I'm not the only one in this situation.

处于这种境地的人并非我一人。

There are people in this room who are in the same predicament,

这个房间里就有人 处于同样的困境，

and if it's not you,

如果不是你，

it is your parents or your sister or maybe your best friend.

也可能是你的父母或姐妹， 或者是你最好的朋友。

We get good at faking normal.

我们擅长假装一切正常,

Shame keeps us silent and siloed.

羞耻心让我们变得沉默和孤立。

When I first decided I was going to come out with my story,

当我第一次决定要勇敢 站出来、讲出我的故事时，

I did a website

我建了个网站，

and a friend noticed that there were no photos of me --

一个朋友注意到 那上面没有我的照片，

it was all kind of cartoons like this.

全是像这样的漫画。

Even as I was coming out,

即便我站出来、说出实情时，

I was still hiding.

我仍在隐藏。

We live in a world where success is defined by income.

在我们生活的世界里， 成功是用收入来界定的。

When you say that you have money problems,

当你说自己有财务问题时，

you're announcing pretty much that you're a loser.

你就好像在说 自己是个失败者。

When you're a graduate of Harvard Business School as I am,

若你像我一样， 是哈佛商学院毕业生的话，

you're some kind of double loser.

那你就是双重的失败者。

We boomers hear a lot about how we have underfunded our retirement;

我们婴儿潮这一批人，听了 很多退休金如何不足的事情，

how it's all our fault.

以及如何责任在我们的说辞。

Why on earth would we draw down our 401(k) plan to cover the shortfall

我们为何要削减自己的退休金计划，

on our mother-in-law's nursing home care,

去补齐岳母（婆婆）的 养老院的费用？

or to pay for our kid's tuition, or just to survive?

或者去支付孩子的学费， 或者只是为了生存？

We're accused of being poor planners and deadbeats --

大家指责我们不但没有 规划好生活，还不懂节约——

all that money we spent on lattes and bottled water.

比如会把钱花在拿铁咖啡和瓶装水上。

To shame and blame is so deliciously tempting.

羞辱和指责他人非常容易，

Many of us don't even wait for others to do it

但我们很多人还没等别人这么做，

we're so busy doing it to ourselves.

就已经自责不已。

I say let's own our part:

那就各自反省一下吧：

we all could have saved more.

我们本来可以多存些钱，

I know I could have saved more,

我知道我是可以多存一些的；

and if you were to rifle through my life over the last 30 years,

如果你审视我过去 30 年的生活，

you would see more than one dumb thing I have done financially.

会发现我在财务上 做的傻事可不止一桩。

I can't change that now

我无力改变过去，

and neither can you,

你也一样；

but let's not mix up individual, isolated behavior

但我们不要把个人、孤立的行为

with the systemic factors

和造成 7.7 万亿美元退休金缺口的

that have caused a 7.7-trillion-dollar retirement income gap.

系统因素混为一谈。

Millions of boomer-age Americans did not land here

数百万婴儿潮出生的美国人 落到了今天这个地步，

because of too many trips to Starbucks.

不是因为去星巴克的次数太多，

We spent the last three decades dealing with flat and falling wages

而是因为过去 30 年中，我们 面对的是工资涨幅的停滞或下降、

and disappearing pensions

消失的退休金，

and through-the-roof cost

还有上涨过快的

on housing and health care and education.

住房、医疗和教育成本。

It used to not be like this.

以前可不是这样的，

We all remember the three-legged retirement income stool

我们都记得退休收入的“三脚凳”，

which had the savings and pension and social security.

它由储蓄、养老金和社保组成。

Well, that stool has gone wobbly.

那个凳子现在已经摇摇晃晃了。

Take savings -- what savings?

拿储蓄来说，哪有什么储蓄？

For many families,

很多家庭，

there's just nothing left to save after the bills have been paid.

在支付完各种账单后， 所剩已寥寥无几了。

The pension leg of the stool has also gone wobbly.

养老金的凳腿也摇晃不稳，

We can remember when many people had pensions.

我们还记得，以前 很多人都有养老金，

Today only 13 percent of American workers are employed by companies that offer them.

但今天，只有 13% 的美国工人 受雇于提供养老金的公司。

So what did we get instead?

那我们有什么呢？

We got 401(k)-type plans

我们有了 401(K) 之类的退休计划，

and suddenly responsibility for retirement planning got shifted

突然间，退休保障计划的责任

from our companies to us.

从公司转移到了我们个人身上。

We got the reigns but we also got the risk,

我们获得了主动权， 但也承担了风险，

and it turns out that millions of us just aren't that good

而结果就是， 我们数百万人在过去 40 年里

at voluntarily investing over 40 years.

一直不擅长主动投资、

Millions of us just aren't that good at managing market risk.

不擅长管理市场风险。

And really the numbers tell the story.

数字已经说明了一切。

Half of all American households have no retirement savings at all.

半数的美国家庭 压根儿就没有退休储蓄，

That would be zero.

也就是说，退休储蓄为“零”，

No 401(k), no IRA, not a dime.

压根儿没有 401(K)、没有 个人退休账户、没有一分钱储蓄。

Among 55-to-64-year-olds who do have a retirement account,

在 55-64 岁有退休金账户的人中，

the median value of that account is 104,000 dollars.

他们账户的平均余额是 10.4 万美元。

Now, 104,000 dollars does sound better than zero,

10.4 万美元听起来确实比没有好，

but as an annuity, it generates about 300 dollars.

但作为退休年金， 每月收益约 300 美元，

I don't have to tell you that you can't live on that.

显而易见， 你根本无法靠这点钱生活。

With savings down,

随着储蓄能力的下降、

pensions becoming a relic of the past

养老金变得有名无实、

and 401(k) plans failing millions of Americans,

401(K) 计划让几百万 美国人大失所望，

many near-retirees are dependent on social security

很多快退休的人只能仰仗社会保险

as their retirement plan.

来作为他们的退休保障计划。

But here's the problem.

但这里有个问题，

Social security was never supposed to be the retirement plan.

社会保险从来就不能 等同于退休保障计划，

It's not nearly enough.

它远远不够，

At best it replaces something like 40 percent

最多只可以保障

of your pre-retirement income.

你退休前 40% 的收入。

Things have changed a lot

自 1935 年引入社会保险制度以来，

from when social security was introduced back in 1935.

很多事情都发生了变化。

Then, a 21-year-old male had a 50 percent chance

那时，一个 21 岁的男性

of living until he was 65.

活到 65 岁的概率是 50%，

So he retired at 60,

所以他在 60 岁退休时，

did a little fishing, kissed his grandkids,

还可以钓钓鱼，陪儿孙玩耍，

got his gold watch --

有金手表可以戴——

he'd be dead within five years of receiving benefits.

但领取不到 5 年的退休金就会死去。

That's not the pattern today.

今天的格局已全然不同，

If you're in your late 50s and in good health,

如果你快 60 岁了， 身体状况仍然很棒，

you're going to live easily another 20 or 25 years.

再活 20 或 25 年都是很轻松的事。

That's a really long time to make ends meet

假若你已经穷困潦倒， 你还有很长的时间

if you are broke.

So what's the play if you've landed here

若在你 50，55 或 60 岁时 落到了这般田地，

and you're 50 or 55 or 60?

你该怎么做？

What's the play if you don't want to land here

假如你现在 20 或 30 岁出头， 不想将来狼狈到这般地步，

and you're 22 or 32?

打算怎样做呢？

Here's what I've learned from my own experience.

下面是我自己的一些经验教训。

The cavalry's not coming.

不会有英雄拔刀相助，

There is no big rescue,

也没有救世主，

no prince charming,

没有白马王子，

no big bailout in the works.

也没有大的救助计划。

To have a shot at something other than being old and poor in America,

如果不想让自己在美国贫穷的老去， 可以试着去做些事情，

we're going to have to save ourselves and each other.

我们必须自我拯救 并相互帮助。

I've had to come out of the shadows,

我已经从财务危机的阴影中走出来了，

stand here openly,

公开站在这里，

and I'm inviting you to do so as well.

我邀请你们也跟随我的脚步。

I'm not going to tell you that it's not easy.

我想说的并不是这有多难，

I ventured though to tell my story

我大胆讲出我的故事,

because I thought it would make it a little easier for people to tell theirs.

是因为我觉得这会让别人 更容易讲述他们的遭遇。

I think it's only through our strength in numbers

我认为，只有团结起来，

that we can begin to change the national "la-la" conversation

我们才会开始改变国家

that we are having on this retirement crisis.

关于目前退休危机的牵强说辞。

With so many of us shell-shocked and adrift about what has happened to us,

发生在我们身上的事情 已经让我们精疲力尽，却无能为力，

we're going to have to build up from the grassroots,

我们必须从最基本的做起，

forming what I think are resilience circles.

形成我所谓的“应变圈”。

These are small groups of people coming together

已经有一些小组的人聚在一起，

to talk about what has happened to them,

他们讲述彼此的遭遇、

to share resources and information

分享资源和信息，

and to begin to figure out a way forward.

并开始找到前进的出路。

I believe from this base that we can find our voices again

我相信以此为基础， 我们可以为自己发声，

and sound the alarm --

去提醒当局——

start pushing our institutions and policymakers

开始对我们的机构 和政策制定者施加压力，

to go hard on this retirement crisis with the urgency it deserves.

让他们重视并认真处理退休危机。

In the meantime --

与此同时——

and there is an "in the meantime" --

注意这个词，“与此同时”——

we're going to have to adopt a live-low-to-the-ground mindset,

我们要有勒紧腰带过日子的心态，

drastically cutting back on our expenses.

大幅削减开支，

And I don't mean just living within our means.

我指的不是量入为出地生活，

A lot of people are already doing that.

很多人已经在这样做了。

What is called for now is to,

现在，我指的是，

in a much deeper way,

以一种更深层次的方式，

ask ourselves what it really means

问问我们自己，

to live a life that is not defined by things.

不由物质定义的生活 真正意味着什么，

I call it "smalling up."

我称之为“简约生活”。

Smalling up is figuring out what you really need

简约生活，是指弄清楚究竟什么

to feel contented and grounded.

才能让自己感到满足和踏实。

I have a friend who drives really beat-up, raggedy cars,

我有个朋友，他开的是 一辆超级破旧的车，

but he will scrimp and save 15,000 dollars at one point

但是他会在一段时间里 精打细算并攒下 15000 美元,

to buy a flute

去买一只笛子，

because music is what really matters to him.

因为音乐对他真的很重要。

He smalled up.

他过的就是“简约生活”。

I've had to also let go of magical thinking --

我也不得不放弃了 一些奇妙的想法——

this idea that if I just was patient enough

认为只要我有足够的耐心，

and tightened my belt

并省吃俭用的话，

that things would go back to normal.

生活就会回到正常水平；

If I just sent in one more CV

如果我多发一封简历，

or applied to one more job online

或者在线多申请一个职位，

or attended one more networking event

或者多参加一场交流活动，

that surely I'd get the kind of job I was used to having.

那么我一定能够找到 自己过去所从事的工作，

Surely things would return to normal.

事情也就会自然而然地回归正常。

The truth is I'm not going back and neither are you.

但真相是：我回不去，你也一样，

The normal that we knew is over.

我们所说的“正常”已经不复存在了。

In this new place that we are,

我们生活在一种新的形势下，

we're going to be asked to do things that we don't want to do.

会被要求去做 我们不想去做的事情。

We're going to be asked to take assignments

人们会要求我们去做一些

that we think are beneath our station and our talent

我们自认为是低于我们身份、

and our skill.

能力和技能的任务。

I have had to get off my throne.

我也不得不放低身段。

Last year, a good friend of mine asked me if I would help her

去年，一个好朋友问我，

with some organization work.

能否帮她做点组织工作。

I assumed she meant community organizing

我以为她指的是 配合做社区组织活动，

along the lines of what President Obama did in Chicago.

像奥巴马总统在芝加哥做的那样，

She meant organizing somebody's closet.

其实，她指的是 为人家整理衣橱。

I said, "I'm not doing that."

我说：我才不做这个呢。

She said, "Get off your throne. Money is green."

她说：“你别再矫情了， 挣钱才是硬道理。”

It's not easy being part of the advance team

在这个新时代，

成为一位在工作和 生活上的引路人并不容易。

that is ushering in this new era of work and living.

First is always hardest.

“第一”总是最难的。

First is before there are networks

“第一”指的是在没有网络、

and pathways and role models ...

没有道路和榜样，

before there are policies and ways to show us

也没有政策和方法来指引我们之前，

how to go forward.

探索我们该如何前进。

We're in the middle of a seismic shift,

我们正处在一场剧变之中，

and we're going to have to find bridgework to get us through.

必须要找到过渡性的工作， 来帮助我们走出眼前的困境。

Bridgework is what we do in the meantime;

过渡性工作就是我们 同时在做的事情。

bridgework is what we do

当我们试图搞清 下一步该怎么走时，

while we're trying to figure out what is next.

同时要去做的事情就是 过渡性的工作。

Bridgework is also letting go of this notion

过渡性工作，也是让 我们放弃下面的观念：

that our worth and our value depend on our income

我们的意义和价值取决于收入，

取决于我们的头衔和工作。

and our titles and our jobs.

Bridgework can look crazy or cool depending on how you were rolling

过渡性工作可能看起来 很疯狂，也可能很酷，

when your personal financial crisis hit.

这取决于当个人财务危机 来袭时，你会如何应对。

I have friends with PhDs who are working at the Container Store

我有一些博士朋友 就在集装箱商店工作，

or driving Uber or Lyft,

或者开网约车。

and then I have other friends who are partnering with other boomers

还有一些朋友 与其他婴儿潮的人一起，

and doing really cool entrepreneurial ventures.

合伙做一些很酷的创业投资。

Bridgework doesn't mean that we don't want

过渡性工作，并不意味着

我们不想在过去的 职业基础上构建生活，

to build on our past careers,

that we don't want meaningful work.

或者我们不想做有意义的工作。

We do.

我们当然想！

Bridgework is what we do in the meantime

过渡性工作是指在我们 想出如何迈出下一步前，

while we're figuring out what is next.

同时在做的事情。

I've also learned to think strategy not failure

当我在处理这些 自己不想做的事情时，

when I'm sort of processing all these things that I don't want to do.

我学会了让自己认为 这只是一项策略而已，并不是失败。

And I say that that's an approach

我要说，这是一种方法，

that I would invite you to consider as well.

我想请你们也考虑这种方法。

So if you need to move in with your brother to make ends meet,

所以，如果你需要搬去 跟兄弟同住以节省开支，

call him.

那就给他打个电话；

If you need to take in a boarder to help you pay your mortgage

如果需要找个房客 来帮你还房贷，

or pay your rent,

或支付你的租金，

do it.

直接去做好了。

If you need to get food stamps,

如果需要领食品券，

get the darn food stamps.

就去拿那些该死的食品券。

AARP says only a third of older adults who are eligible actually get them.

美国退休协会说，只有 1/3 符合条件的老年人领取了食品券。

Do what you need to do to go another round.

为渡过这段艰难日子， 需要做什么就去做，

Know that there are millions of us.

要知道，像我们这样的人有几百万。

Come out of the shadows.

所以，要从阴影中走出来，

Cut back,

削减开支，

small up;

过简约生活，

think strategy, not failure;

把这当成策略，而非失败；

get off your throne

放低身段，

and find the bridgework to get your through the lean times.

找到过渡性工作 去熬过艰难的时光。

As a country, we have achieved longevity,

作为一个国家， 我们已经实现了长寿，

investing billions of dollars in the diagnosis, treatment

这是通过投资数十亿美元 用于疾病诊断、治疗

and management of disease.

和管理实现的。

It's not enough to just live a long time.

然而单纯活得久还远远不够，

We want to live well.

我们还想活得精彩。

We haven't invested nearly as much in the physical infrastructure

我们没有像在基础建设上那样

to ensure that that happens.

投入足够资金去确保梦想成真。

We need now a new way of thinking

现在，我们需要一种全新的思维，

about what it means to be old in America.

想想在美国成为老人 意味着什么。

And we need guidance and ideas about how to live

我们需要指引和建议，

如何在收入适当的基础上，

a richly textured life

过更丰富多彩的生活。

on a much more modest income.

So I am calling on change agents

所以，我呼吁变革推动者

and social entrepreneurs,

和社会企业家们、

artists and elders

艺术家、尊长们

and impact investors.

和有影响力的投资者们，

I'm calling on developers and disrupters of the status quo.

我呼吁发展者们 和现状争论者们，

We need you to help us imagine

所有的人帮忙设想一下，

how to invest in the services and products and infrastructure

在我们生命余下的几十年中，

如何在服务、产品 和基础设施方面投资，

that will support our dignity,

our independence and our well-being

去托起我们的尊严、

in these many, many decades that we're going to live.

独立和福祉。

My journey has taken me from a place of fear and shame

我的旅程把我从充满 恐惧和羞耻的状态，

to one of humility and understanding.

带到了谦逊和理解的状态。

I'm ready now to link shields with others,

我现在已做好准备 与其他人肩并肩，

to fight this fight,

迎接这场经济之战，

and I'm inviting you to join me.

现在，我诚邀你们 加入我们的队伍！

Thank you.

谢谢！

(Applause)

（鼓掌）