It was assumed. It was the profession with the promise of the greatest financial reward. Today, doctors are facing financial challenges I would not wish on my worst enemy: insurance companies taking control of the business, managed health care, government intervention, and malpractice suits, to name a few. Today, kids want to be basketball stars, golfers like Tiger Woods, computer nerds, movie stars, rock stars, beauty queens, or traders on Wall Street. Simply because that is where the fame, money and prestige is. That is the reason it is so hard to motivate kids in school today. They know that profes- sional success is no longer solely linked to academic suc- cess, as it once was! Because students leave school without financial skills, millions of educated people pursue their profession suc- cessfully, but later find themselves struggling financially. They work harder, but don't get ahead. What is missing from their education is not how to make money, but how to spend money;-what to do after you make it. It's called financial aptitude-what you do with the money once you nTakeTtj Tiow to keep people from taking it from you, how long you keep it, and how hard that money works for you. Most people cannot tell why they struggle financially be- cause they don't understand cashflow A person can be highly educated, professionally successful and financially illiterate. These people often work harder than they need to because they learned how to work hard, but not how to have their money work for them. The story of how the quest for a Financial Dream turns into a financial nightmare The moving-picture show of hard-working people has a set pattern. Recently married, the happy, highly educated young couple move in together, in one of their cramped rented apartments. Immediately, they realize that they are saving money because two can live as cheaply as one. The problem is, the apartment is cramped. They decide to save money to buy their dream home so they can have kids. They now have two incomes, and they begin to focus on their careers. Their incomes begin to increase. As their incomes go up... The No. 1 expense for most people is taxes. Many peo- ple think it's income tax, but for most Americans their high- est tax is Social Security. As an employee, it appears as if the Social Security tax combined with the Medicare tax rate is roughly 7.5 percent, but it's really 15 percent since the employer must match the Social Security amount. In essence, it is money the employer cannot pay you. On top of that, you still have to pay income tax on the amount de- ducted from your wages for Social Security tax, income you never receive because it went directly to Social Secu- rity through withholding. Then, their liabilities go up. This is best demonstrated by going back to the young couple. As a result of their incomes going up, they decide to go out and buy the house of their dreams.