40 years ago my friend and I started working for the same company. We both retire next year. But.... he gets $200 a month more than I will.

The difference I took two years off for a mission. I am only getting credit for 38 years.

I had the payroll person project how much I've lost based on life expectancy and a modest 2.5 percent annual increase.

The answer an earth shattering $108,000.00

For the rest of my life I'll be paying the cost of that miserable waste of my time.

Sorry to hear but remember women who take time for babies or kids who take a year to see Europe or anyone who cares for a sick relative will also have paid a price. You are doing well to have had that long without a lay-off.

Where I worked in aerospace as soon as any engineer got even close to retirement age they would lay them off. Well known in the company.

Ah! Lock-Mart the rocket shop!

Heidi GWOTR Wrote:
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> Ah! Lock-Mart the rocket shop!

Yep! You got it. Disposable engineers with an expiration date.

COMMON LDS MESSAGE:

"Two years on a mission at this time in your life only amounts to two years of earnings at minimum wage."

... WRONG! ...

Those two years push everything that follows BACKWARDS in your life! The time that you are actually losing are the LAST TWO YEARS!

Those are probably the BEST earning years of your life! And those are also the years that determine your pension and Social Security payments!


Unfortunately, 18-year-olds often don't understand or care.

Then add in the cost of your mission, travel, housing, food, etc. Then add in missing two years salary.

Don’t ya just hate math ?

That seems like a reasonable figure. I served a mission and sold my possessions along with savings to pay for it myself. I retired 2 years later than my colleagues who had similar career paths as myself. That 2 years is quite expensive.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2019 12:35PM by Eric K.

You did not PAY $108K for that mission. You LOST $108K of potential income because of it. Its a travesty either way, but get your facts straight.

Yes, it is the loss of 108K of potential income. That was clearly implied, in my opinion, in all the posts.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2019 01:22PM by Eric K.

Look at the title of your post...…..

Opportunity cost.

The money pales in comparison to the loss of sex. My numbers are much lower than my peers.

chipace Wrote:
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> The money pales in comparison to the loss of sex. My numbers are much lower than my peers.

Ha! This is so funny!

There is a 60-year-old guy where I work that still regrets passing up an opportunity to cheat on his wife some 20 years ago. I think that regret eats at men forever.....

and stayed true to their spouse for the long haul, and then later found out that their spouse had been cheating on them throughout the long haul. Regrets + feeling like the world's biggest sucker ever.

A very good, but morbid thought on the truthfulness about serving missions and who pays for them, back then and now, in the long run
at retirement age , where those 2 years are a negatively.
It’s sickening when you think about it. This post should stay at the top. Young people only think in the “ now”, or rather have the thinking done for them

...buncha' haters!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-01-130-i-hope-they-call-me-on-a-mission?lang=eng

Work two years longer than you otherwise would have, and then live four years longer than you otherwise would have to receive more SS, and you'll be about even. Easy-peasy. :)

in a foreign country learning a foreign language. But I regret that I did it as a missionary and wasted so much time irritating people with my "special message" from Joseph Smith.

If I could do it again as a 19-year-old, I might still choose to go live and study in a foreign country for a year or two. I just would much more enjoy focusing on studying and getting to know the people and culture, without wasting 90% of my time trying to convince people that the idiotic Book of Mormon is something they need in their lives.

If, instead of having been sent to a foreign country, I had been sent to a mission in Salt Lake City or Omaha or something like that, my regret at having wasted two years would be close to 100%.

Some people get very sick on their missions. Some even die. The church says those are the best 2 years of their lives. For some yes for some probably not. Living with a companion 24/7 is probably a good training to get along with people. Having a day so structured is probably good too. The main goal of a mission is in my opinion to put the claws into the missionary to devote everything for the next 2 years to the church to absolute brain wash them. Learning a different language is probably great and could help find a job later on in life. Money management by living on barely nothing on their mission. Living out of 1-2 suitcases for 2 years is probably a great skill to have too. have never went on a mission.

One of the most important reasons that a true Church is transparent and honest is because whenever people might have concerns or questions the leaders can hold their heads up high knowing that they were completely honest with the sheep in their folds. Otherwise they ought to hold their heads in shame and be considered the worst kind of human ever.

Well of course the most obvious reason why a "true" Church is considered true is because the definition of "true" means to be so amazingly truthful, honest, and transparent.

Just think back to the wonderful time in Primary when the [long name of Church] had its beloved Curriculum program be so super honest/transparent with you about all sincere questions on things like the Kinderhook Plates, Book of Abraham, and that other book whose name starts with "M" but I will not repeat as the Holy Nelson says its a victory for Satan.

oh so you want to get "mathy" on that topic. I had about 5 grand in the bank that was used to pay for "my" mission. I worked very hard through out high school to build up that financial reserve, hard enough that it had a very detrimental effect on my grades in high school. but my MORmON parents did not give a damn because they only cared about me going on a mission to make them look like good MORmON members.


when I came home I did NOT have that 5,000 dollars. So, I had to start working again to try to build up a new financial reserve. So once again I had to concentrate on working instead of doing academics.

I could go on and on, but bottom line is that problems tend to compound, and focus that is diverted from academics is not so readily regained. That mere 2 years of serving a mission was NOT just 2 years as it postponed my college degree by at least 4 times that much. and then I was paying more on student loans, on money that I had donated to a church cause instead of having it available to use for my needs. That is called opportunity cost.

It is pure insanity for LD$ Inc to expect young people to pay tithing while they are trying to establish themselves as adults and trying to get an education. ....and then a person finds out that higher church leader's children are getting a free ride at LD$ Inc colleges that is funded by THE (MORmON) church sucking regular members dry at every turn. Then those same people on the MORmON insider gravy train end up being a boss or superior at employment places since they were able to complete their education ahead of you to get a head start on seniority and job experience, all done at your expense.

I am still in debt for my education. I am still paying money on that 5 grand that I handed over for a church related cause/concern. in the Mean time, LD$ Inc has so much MOReMONey, as provided by me that they knocked down two malls to build a more extravagant mall complete with a luxury condo tower that still does not have any legit tenants in it.

That crap makes my blood boil!!!

smirkorama Wrote:

> I worked very hard through out high school...it had a very detrimental effect on my grades in high school.

Yes, I did that too, and just did the bare minimum to get by in school because my main priority was always a job.

I see parents of neighbor kids now that won't even let their kids take part-time jobs like we all seemed to have growing up, because the parents want the kids to concentrate all on school.

But I do wonder how they will be, because I'm not sure they have a work ethic anything like those of us that scraped and scrambled by on those crappy jobs.

I think that's something that we don't talk about often enough--the opportunity cost of missions.

What might we have done instead of going on a mission?

Especially during my early years out of Mormonism, I wondered about the answer to that question a great deal.

Now after over a decade officially out, I've come to kind of accept that things worked out okay in the end.

The original post is kind of fun, because it puts a hard and fast monetary value on that question.

(anono this week)
Lets take it a step further, suppose this 19 year old saved his money religiously and lived at home for two years. If he could save $20,000 a year for two years and never contribute again to this account, by the power of compounding interest, over the course of 40 years with an annual growth rate of 10% in the sp500:

A = P(1+r/n)^(n*t)

The return would be $2,148,000.00
This makes me sad :<(

macaRomney Wrote:
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> (anono this week)
> Lets take it a step further, suppose this 19 year
> old saved his money religiously and lived at home
> for two years. If he could save $20,000 a year for
> two years and never contribute again to this
> account, by the power of compounding interest,
> over the course of 40 years with an annual growth
> rate of 10% in the sp500:
>
> A = P(1+r/n)^(n*t)
>
> The return would be $2,148,000.00
> This makes me sad :<(

Your math is wrong. It's still a substantial number, but it's not $2.148 million.