The Painful Origins of Cash Cuddler
“Adapt or Get Paved Over” is my favorite saying. This site is about adapting to an employment market overrun by AI technology, while economizing, investing and keeping your head above water.
Like it or not, AI is here to stay. You will likely need to incorporate AI into your employment, or switch to a totally new field.
Hunker down and get used to it. AI is here to stay.
Tragedy Taught Me Tough Lessons
This is a difficult post to write, but writing it is necessary if the site is to have any veracity.
My path to starting this website is filled with tragedy and heartbreak. I have witnessed loved ones in deep financial debt and career obsolescence that led to ruination.
Who They Were
They were middle class people from New York Metro. He made a decent but unspectacular living working freelance in the commercial art field as a photo retouching specialist. His wife held local part-time jobs that paid low part-time wages.
As a little kid in school, the teacher asked us what our daddies did for a living (not mommies, daddies only in that era). I was stumped. I didn’t know what he did.
Before the digital revolution, commercial art retouchers “painted” graphical changes directly onto photographs on paper and transparencies. Photo editing using paint brushes, spit and inks and airbrushes was a high paying specialty.
Until it wasn’t.
This disaster occurred more than two decades ago, but the experience left a lifelong impact on me. I will talk about how it occurred, and show others how to prevent it. If your life is heading in this direction, CashCuddler.com could give insight into becoming relevant again by remaking your life and career.
It’s a story about the dangers of lifestyle inflation or creep, and the reality that the state of your employment and finances could turn on a dime.
A Big Break Happened
This pre-digital era commercial artist was very talented, and his natural talents landed him some deep-pocketed clients.
Consequently, his income quadrupled. You could say he got lucky landing rich clients. One could also argue that his higher income was ultimately unlucky.
As the money flowed freely, he overspent with abandon.
Before The New Technology Changed Everything, This Couple Was Living Above Their Means
Lifestyle inflation is a term that describes what happens when a modest lifestyle is suddenly upgraded to an expensive one, too fast, when lots of new money is being made.
A Tough Beginning Set The Tone
He grew up poor, to a single mother during the Great Depression. The pain of childhood poverty likely compromised his judgment and spending habits.
He, or more accurately, this couple bought not one but two luxury new cars in just two years, and two luxury sailboats, costing over $200,000 in today’s money.
There were also multiple plane trips each year to The Magic Kingdom, and over $7,000 in telescopes (seriously).
That’s hardly the end of it, but you get the point.
His Wife Though it Was Okay… But it Wasn’t
“I didn’t want to be the kind of wife that says ‘no'” she insisted. He was able to make so many reckless big money decisions without interference.
She herself was frugal, but she wanted to be a good sport and wanted him to feel soothed. It was understandable, but old-fashioned in my view. I don’t believe that a wife should be passive and take a hands-off approach in the face of extreme financial recklessness.
I believe it’s the obligation of a spouse or partner to intervene to prevent the big spender from doing a fiscal Thelma and Louise (which means to drive their finances over a cliff, in case you’re unfamiliar with the cultural reference).
If you’re faced with a situation like this, save your spouse or partner from themselves. That’s your job.
If Spending Like a Mofo Wasn’t Enough, A Black Swan Came Calling
In this case, digital technology from the recent past wiped out several employment categories in the commercial art field. It came from graphics-focused desktop computers like Macintosh and others, and software such as Adobe Photoshop.
These days, people take the speed, ease and convenience of digital editing as something we take for granted. I use it, you use it.
Destructive Innovation is the economists’ term for trashing of the old in favor of the new.
Noted author and sociologist Nassim Talib calls profound, often sudden change to a lifestyle, economy or marketplace a black swan. Talib wrote several books on the topic of disruptive changes and how they remake society and employment marketplaces.
AI is today’s black swan.
A ‘New’ Technology of a Different Era Wrecked Them
This story has been told over and over again. We could argue that one’s work becoming obsolete is just capitalism, and a regular part of the normal business cycle.
But something new wiping out the old always had people caught in the middle. They got cut off, and were facing ruination. That’s what happened here.
Why Didn’t He Just Learn The Computer?
He was old-school, and had never used a computer before. If he could catch up, the studios were paying computer technicians far less than he was making before.
After the Shoe Dropped, They Expected to Pay What They Owed
Back to our couple. “Bankruptcy” wasn’t a familiar word to them. They were old school, believing that what they spent had to be paid for, plus interest. There was no wiggling out of their obligations.
No lawyers got involved. If you saw it, their credit card bill would make you gag.
Introducing The AI Revolution
Work redundancy practically destroyed a family back then. Now AI has advanced enough to begin placing human workers, It’s poised to destroy the livelihoods of millions more people.
It’s said that AI won’t replace you, but someone using it will. If you’re not on the replacement list today, you probably will be tomorrow.
Here we go again.
About CashCuddler.com
It’s a silly name for a site dealing with serious topics.
There are so many ways to wreck yourself financially. This website will explore the two above, in depth, and discuss the others. If you’re already drowning financially, you could find a few helpful tips here on getting back on track financially.
And As For Me…
For the past 10+ I have worked as a professional copywriter/marketer/content creator. AI is coming for me, too! Clients are using AI to replace me and my work, with variable results.
Many of my contemporaries in the field are too shell shocked to even discuss this, with many leaving the field altogether. With less work to go around, I don’t blame them.
My solution: if I can’t beat AI, start a blog about it and dive right in. Here we are.
Remember: Don’t Think Small
It’s been said by the legendary marketer Dan Kennedy that money is like the ocean – vast and endless. You can pull up to the ocean to extract your share with a spoon or a dump truck. Make big money or small money. Your choice.
Get info here on how to invest wisely for sustained, growing wealth. The sky’s the limit.
But First, Save Yourself
CashCuddler.com is about survival while enduring a financial loss and finding new ways to make a living. Millions of people like you are worried that AI technology will make their employment obsolete, if it hasn’t done so already.
Welcome. You’re in good company.