12 Things Truly Confident People Do Differently

Confidence takes many forms, from the arrogance of Floyd Mayweather to the quiet self-assurance of Jane Goodall. True confidence--as opposed to the false confidence people project to mask their insecurities--has a look all its own.



When it comes to confidence, one thing is certain: truly confident people always have the upper hand over the doubtful and the skittish because they inspire others and they make things happen.

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right." - Henry Ford

Ford's notion that your mentality has a powerful effect on your ability to succeed is manifest in the results of a recent study at the University of Melbourne that showed that confident people went on to earn higher wages and get promoted more quickly than anyone else.

Learning to be confident is clearly important, but what is it that truly confident people do that sets them apart from everyone else?

I did some digging to uncover the 12 cardinal habits of truly confident people so that you can incorporate these behaviors into your repertoire.

1. They Get Their Happiness from Within

Happiness is a critical element of confidence, because in order to be confident in what you do, you have to be happy with who you are.

People who brim with confidence derive their sense of pleasure and satisfaction from their own accomplishments, as opposed to what other people think of their accomplishments. They know that no matter what anyone says, you're never as good or as bad as people say you are.

2. They Don't Pass Judgment

Confident people don't pass judgment on others because they know that everyone has something to offer, and they don't need to take other people down a notch in order to feel good about themselves. Comparing yourself to other people is limiting. Confident people don't waste time sizing people up and worrying about whether or not they measure up to everyone they meet.

3. They Don't Say Yes Unless They Really Want To

Research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression. Confident people know that saying no is healthy, and they have the self-esteem to make their nos clear. When it's time to say no, confident people avoid phrases such as "I don't think I can" or "I'm not certain." They say no with confidence because they know that saying no to a new commitment honors their existing commitments and gives them the opportunity to successfully fulfill them.

4. They Listen More than They Speak

People with confidence listen more than they speak because they don't feel as though they have anything to prove. Confident people know that by actively listening and paying attention to others, they are much more likely to learn and grow. Instead of seeing interactions as opportunities to prove themselves to others, they focus on the interaction itself, because they know that this is a far more enjoyable and productive approach to people.

5. They Speak with Certainty

It's rare to hear the truly confident utter phrases such as "Um," "I'm not sure," and "I think." Confident people speak assertively because they know that it's difficult to get people to listen to you if you can't deliver your ideas with conviction.

6. They Seek Out Small Victories

Confident people like to challenge themselves and compete, even when their efforts yield small victories. Small victories build new androgen receptors in the areas of the brain responsible for reward and motivation. The increase in androgen receptors increases the influence of testosterone, which further increases their confidence and eagerness to tackle future challenges. When you have a series of small victories, the boost in your confidence can last for months.

7. They Exercise

A study conducted at the Eastern Ontario Research Institute found that people who exercised twice a week for 10 weeks felt more competent socially, academically, and athletically. They also rated their body image and self-esteem higher. Best of all, rather than the physical changes in their bodies being responsible for the uptick in confidence, it was the immediate, endorphin-fueled positivity from exercise that made all the difference.

8. They Don't Seek Attention

People are turned off by those who are desperate for attention. Confident people know that being yourself is much more effective than trying to prove that you're important. People catch on to your attitude quickly and are more attracted to the right attitude than what, or how many, people you know. Confident people always seem to bring the right attitude.

Confident people are masters of attention diffusion. When they're receiving attention for an accomplishment, they quickly shift the focus to all the people who worked hard to help get them there. They don't crave approval or praise because they draw their self-worth from within.

9. They Aren't Afraid to Be Wrong

Confident people aren't afraid to be proven wrong. They like putting their opinions out there to see if they hold up because they learn a lot from the times they are wrong and other people learn from them when they're right. Self-assured people know what they are capable of and don't treat being wrong as a personal slight.

10. They Stick Their Necks Out

When confident people see an opportunity, they take it. Instead of worrying about what could go wrong, they ask themselves, "What's stopping me? Why can't I do that?" and they go for it. Fear doesn't hold them back because they know that if they never try, they will never succeed.

11. They Celebrate Other People

Insecure people constantly doubt their relevance, and because of this, they try to steal the spotlight and criticize others in order to prove their worth. Confident people, on the other hand, aren't worried about their relevance because they draw their self-worth from within. Instead of insecurely focusing inward, confident people focus outward, which allows them to see all the wonderful things that other people bring to the table. Praising people for their contributions is a natural result of this.

12. They Aren't Afraid to Ask for Help

Confident people know that asking other people for help won't make them seem weak or unintelligent. They know their strengths and weaknesses, and they look to others to fill the gaps. They also know that learning from someone with more expertise is a great way to improve.

Bringing It All Together

Building confidence is a journey, not a destination. Please share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

15 Critical Habits of Mentally Tough People

We all reach critical points in our lives where our mental toughness is tested. It might be a toxic friend or colleague, a dead-end job, or a struggling relationship.



Whatever the challenge, you have to be strong, see things through a new lens, and take decisive action if you want to move through it successfully.

It sounds easy. We all want good friends, good jobs, and good relationships.

But it isn't.

It's hard to be mentally tough, especially when you feel stuck. The ability to break the mold and take a bold new direction requires that extra grit, daring, and spunk that only the mentally toughest people have.

It's fascinating how mentally tough people set themselves apart from the crowd. Where others see impenetrable barriers, they see challenges to overcome.

When Thomas Edison's factory burned to the ground in 1914, destroying one-of-a-kind prototypes and causing $23 million in damage, Edison's response was simple, "Thank goodness all our mistakes were burned up. Now we can start fresh again."

Edison's reaction is the epitome of mental toughness--seeing opportunity and taking action when things look bleak.

There are habits you can develop to improve your mental toughness. In fact, the hallmarks of mentally tough people are actually strategies that you can begin using today.

They're Emotionally Intelligent

Emotional intelligence is the cornerstone of mental toughness. You cannot be mentally tough without the ability to fully understand and tolerate strong negative emotions and do something productive with them. Moments that test your mental toughness are ultimately testing your emotional intelligence (EQ).

Unlike your IQ, which is fixed, your EQ is a flexible skill that you can improve with understanding and effort. It's no wonder that 90% of top performers have high EQs and people with high EQs earn $28,000 more annually (on average) than their low-EQ counterparts.

Unfortunately EQ skills are in short supply. TalentSmart has tested more than a million people, and we've found that just 36% of these are able to accurately identify their emotions as they happen.

They're Confident

"Whether you think you can, or think you can't--you're right." - Henry Ford

Mentally tough people subscribe to Ford's notion that your mentality has a powerful effect on your ability to succeed. This notion isn't just a motivational tool--it's a fact. A recent study at the University of Melbourne showed that confident people went on to earn higher wages and get promoted more quickly than others did.

True confidence--as opposed to the false confidence people project to mask their insecurities--has a look all its own. Mentally tough people have an upper hand over the doubtful and the skittish because their confidence inspires others and helps them to make things happen.

They Neutralize Toxic People

Dealing with difficult people is frustrating and exhausting for most. Mentally tough people control their interactions with toxic people by keeping their feelings in check. When they need to confront a toxic person, they approach the situation rationally. They identify their emotions and don't allow anger or frustration to fuel the chaos. They also consider the difficult person's standpoint and are able to find common ground and solutions to problems. Even when things completely derail, mentally tough people are able to take the toxic person with a grain of salt to avoid letting him or her bring them down.

They Embrace Change

Mentally tough people are flexible and are constantly adapting. They know that fear of change is paralyzing and a major threat to their success and happiness. They look for change that is lurking just around the corner, and they form a plan of action should these changes occur.

Only when you embrace change can you find the good in it. You need to have an open mind and open arms if you're going to recognize, and capitalize on, the opportunities that change creates.

You're bound to fail when you keep doing the same things you always have in the hope that ignoring change will make it go away. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

They Say No

Research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco showed that the more difficulty you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression. Mentally tough people know that saying no is healthy, and they have the self-esteem and foresight to make their nos clear.

When it's time to say no, mentally tough people avoid phrases such as "I don't think I can" or "I'm not certain." They say no with confidence because they know that saying no to a new commitment honors their existing commitments and gives them the opportunity to successfully fulfill them.

The mentally tough also know how to exert self-control by saying no to themselves. They delay gratification and avoid impulsive action that causes harm.

They Know That Fear Is the #1 Source of Regret

Mentally tough people know that, when all is said and done, they will lament the chances they didn't take far more than they will their failures. Don't be afraid to take risks.

I often hear people say, "What's the worst thing that can happen to you? Will it kill you?" Yet, death isn't the worst thing that can happen to you. The worst thing that can happen to you is allowing yourself to die inside while you're still alive.

It takes refined self-awareness to walk this tightrope between dwelling and remembering. Dwelling too long on your mistakes makes you anxious and gun shy, while forgetting about them completely makes you bound to repeat them. The key to balance lies in your ability to transform failures into nuggets of improvement. This creates the tendency to get right back up every time you fall down.

They Embrace Failure . . .

Mentally tough people embrace failure because they know that the road to success is paved with it. No one ever experienced true success without first embracing failure.

By revealing when you're on the wrong path, your mistakes pave the way for you to succeed. The biggest breakthroughs typically come when you're feeling the most frustrated and the most stuck. It's this frustration that forces you to think differently, to look outside the box, and to see the solution that you've been missing.

. . . Yet, They Don't Dwell on Mistakes

Mentally tough people know that where you focus your attention determines your emotional state. When you fixate on the problems that you're facing, you create and prolong negative emotions and stress, which hinders performance. When you focus on actions to better yourself and your circumstances, you create a sense of personal efficacy, which produces positive emotions and improves performance.

Mentally tough people distance themselves from their mistakes, but they do so without forgetting them. By keeping their mistakes at a safe distance, yet still handy enough to refer to, they are able to adapt and adjust for future success.

They Won't Let Anyone Limit Their Joy . . .

When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from comparing yourself to others, you are no longer the master of your own happiness. When mentally tough people feel good about something they do, they won't let anyone's opinions or accomplishments take that away from them.

While it's impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don't have to compare yourself to others, and you can always take people's opinions with a grain of salt. Mentally tough people know that regardless of what people think of them at any particular moment, one thing is certain--they're never as good or bad as people say they are.

. . . And They Don't Limit the Joy of Others

Mentally tough people don't pass judgment on others because they know that everyone has something to offer, and they don't need to take other people down a notch in order to feel good about themselves.

Comparing yourself to other people is limiting. Jealousy and resentment suck the life right out of you; they're massive energy-stealers. Mentally tough people don't waste time or energy sizing people up and worrying about whether or not they measure up.

Instead of wasting your energy on jealousy, funnel that energy into appreciation. When you celebrate the success of other people, you both benefit.

They Exercise

A study conducted at the Eastern Ontario Research Institute found that people who exercised twice a week for 10 weeks felt more socially, intellectually, and athletically competent. They also rated their body image and self-esteem higher. Best of all, rather than the physical changes in their bodies being responsible for the uptick in confidence, which is key to mental toughness, it was the immediate, endorphin-fueled positivity from exercise that made all the difference.

They Get Enough Sleep

It's difficult to overstate the importance of sleep to increasing your mental toughness. When you sleep, your brain removes toxic proteins, which are by-products of neural activity when you're awake. Unfortunately, your brain can remove them adequately only while you're asleep, so when you don't get enough sleep, the toxic proteins remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc by impairing your ability to think--something no amount of caffeine can fix.

Mentally tough people know that their self-control, focus, and memory are all reduced when they don't get enough--or the right kind--of sleep, so they make quality sleep a top priority.

They Limit Their Caffeine Intake

Drinking excessive amounts of caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline, the source of the fight-or-flight response. The fight-or-flight mechanism sidesteps rational thinking in favor of a faster response to ensure survival. This is great when a bear is chasing you but not so great when life throws you a curve.

When caffeine puts your brain and body into this hyper-aroused state of stress, your emotions overrun your behavior. Caffeine's long half-life ensures you stay this way as it takes its sweet time working its way out of your body. Mentally tough people know that too much caffeine is trouble, and they don't let it get the better of them.

They Don't Wait for an Apology to Forgive

Mentally tough people know that life goes a lot smoother once you let go of grudges and forgive even those who never said they were sorry. Grudges let negative events from your past ruin today's happiness. Hate and anger are emotional parasites that destroy your joy in life.

The negative emotions that come with holding on to a grudge create a stress response in your body, and holding on to stress can have devastating consequences (both physically and mentally). When you forgive someone, it doesn't condone their actions; it simply frees you from being their eternal victim.

They're Relentlessly Positive

Keep your eyes on the news for any length of time, and you'll see that it's just one endless cycle of war, violent attacks, fragile economies, failing companies, and environmental disasters. It's easy to think the world is headed downhill fast.

And who knows? Maybe it is. But mentally tough people don't worry about that because they don't get caught up in things they can't control. Instead of trying to start a revolution overnight, they focus their energy on directing the two things that are completely within their power--their attention and their effort.

Bringing It All Together

Mental toughness is not an innate quality bestowed upon a select few. It can be achieved and enjoyed.

What else makes people mentally tough? How many of these 15 qualities describe you? Please share your thoughts in the comments section as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

The Encouraging Poverty News That Official Data Isn't Telling Us

Poverty in the U.S. is not as bad as official stats make it out to be, according to a recent report that has optimistic conclusions about prevention programs. 

Economists Bruce Meyer of the University of Chicago and Nikolas Mittag of CEIRGE-EI in Prague released a working paper last month for the National Bureau of Economic Research that examines how people underreporting their government benefits in Census surveys skews data.

Meyer, the lead author on the paper, compiled records of payouts to recipients of four types of government assistance -- housing benefits, food stamps and two cash benefit programs (welfare) -- in New York between 2007 and 2012. Then he compared what the records said individuals received with what they said on their Census surveys.

The records are confidential, so Meyer spent a decade poring over the data in a windowless room that requires fingerprinting and passing three security checkpoints to enter. Those years resulted in findings that reveal a flawed picture of poverty and substantial errors in the way we measure it.

More than one-third of people receiving welfare didn’t report it to the Census, and underreporting rates were higher for SNAP and housing benefit recipients. 

“[U]nderreporting in the [Census Community Population Survey] causes us to severely underestimate resources available to the poor and thereby makes poverty look more severe and inequality worse,” Meyer and Mettig conclude in their paper.

Misreporting is a natural part of surveying that researchers try to account for, and Meyer was expecting to see it. It was the frequency, and the degree that it affected the data that surprised him.

According to the Census survey, people in severe poverty receive about $1,400 in benefits, but that amount doubles under Meyer’s analysis. And those dollars have real impact: Correcting for misreporting nearly doubles the poverty-reducing effect of government benefits and puts 2.5 percent more people above the poverty line.

The numbers are most striking for single mothers. Their poverty rate is reduced by 11 percent when reporting errors are corrected.

Though poverty is an ongoing problem in the U.S., Meyer worries that the standard figures don't reflect progress that has been made or the role government assistance has had in addressing it.

“The growth in the economy over the last 35 years and the success of government programs really have meant that people at the bottom are much better off,” Meyer said. “But that’s not what the official statistics say.”

There are troubling implications for how we think about poverty and fund and legislate the programs that fight it. For example, Meyer and Mettig note that people in deep poverty report food stamp benefits accurately at a much higher rate than they do welfare or housing vouchers, so in official data, food stamps appear to be a much more valuable program. Instead, housing assistance was actually the most-used program among the four they looked at.

Meyer said that if this research was duplicated in other states, the results would reflect differences in demographics and use of benefits -- housing assistance is particularly prevalent in New York -- but would have a similar trend.

While there is a push to measure poverty differently, there's no easy way to solve underreporting or to get researchers, let alone the public, to look at the poverty rate figures with a more nuanced view -- especially as the expansive Census data is essential.

“Until we make a bigger effort to do the kind of thing that Mittag and I did in this paper on a more routine basis, I think people just aren’t going to have good data to work with,” Meyer said. “So people will probably use the bad data that we have."

 Kate Abbey-Lambertz covers sustainable cities, as well as land use, housing and inequality. Tips? Email: kate.abbey-lambertz@huffingtonpost.com.

Also on HuffPost: 

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Portugal's Democracy Cracks Under Weight Of Austerity

ImageContent(562c0b6ce4b0ec0a3894b4d2,562c069f1900002d00b94cef,Image,HectorAssetUrl(562c069f1900002d00b94cef.jpeg,Some(crop_8_465_3992_2202),Some(jpeg)),PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/Getty Images,Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva appointed a center-right minority government on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, even though it lacks a parliamentary majority.)

Elections in Portugal this week offered the latest sign that when an individual European nation’s voters challenge eurozone austerity policies, the monetary union -- and the international creditors it represents -- takes precedence.

Portugal’s president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, fueled an ongoing debate about the future of European democracy on Thursday when he reappointed an outgoing center-right prime minister despite election results that gave three left-leaning political parties the majority of seats in parliament. 

Cavaco Silva named center-right leader Pedro Passos Coelho prime minister over the objections of Socialist leader Antonio Costa. Passos Coelho’s Forward Portugal Alliance (PAF) received the largest share of the vote of any single party in the Oct. 4 elections, the president said in a televised speech Thursday, and the party with the best showing has always formed the government since Portugal returned to democracy 40 years ago.

Cavaco Silva made clear, however, that his decision was influenced more by the desire to avoid challenging eurozone fiscal policy than by mere consideration for the country’s political traditions. 

"In 40 years of democracy, the Portuguese governments never depended on anti-European political factions," he said.

Costa, the Socialist leader, has asked to form a cabinet with the support of a parliamentary majority that includes the radical Left Bloc and Communist Party, since together, the three parties received over 50 percent of the country’s votes and have the power to control Portugal’s parliament. The Left Bloc and Communist Party are considered “euro-skeptics,” but the Socialist party, which would control the cabinet, is decidedly committed to remaining in the eurozone.

To be sure, as the president noted, Passos Coelho’s PAF won 38.6 percent of the vote in the country’s Oct. 4 elections -- the largest share of any single political faction. 

In Portugal’s political system, however, a minority cabinet is virtually guaranteed to fail without the support of a parliamentary majority.

"It is incomprehensible to name a prime minister who the president knows in advance will not be able to hold majority support in parliament," Costa told Agence France-Presse Friday.

EmbedContent(562c0b6ce4b0ec0a3894b4d4,,Embed,aolon,Some({}))

Cavaco Silva said he fears that Costa’s premiership would put Portugal on a path to confrontation with eurozone leaders and international creditors. Costa has proposed to end the country’s "obsession with austerity" by, among other things, restoring spending on education and health care.

Observing Portugal's commitments to the eurozone "is decisive, is totally crucial for the financing of our economy and, consequently, for economic growth and job creation,” Cavaco Silva said. 

He fretted that a left-leaning ruling government would jeopardize Portugal’s standing with its international creditors.

“After having completed a demanding program of financial aid, which implied heavy sacrifices for the Portuguese, it is my duty, within the scope of my constitutional remit, to do everything possible to avoid that wrong signals are transmitted to the financial institutions, investors and markets, placing in question the country’s external trust and credibility,” he said.

Portugal exited a 78 billion euro ($116 billion) international bailout program in May 2014, which required unpopular wage and pension cuts. But the country must continue to reduce spending and increase taxes if it is to meet the eurozone's requirement that it reduce its debt to 60 percent of GDP within the next 20 years.

EmbedContent(562c0b6ce4b0ec0a3894b4d6,
source: tradingeconomics.com,Embed,html,Some({}))

German chancellor Angela Merkel, who has led the continent’s push for austerity in response to the Great Recession and subsequent eurozone debt crisis, expressed her support for a center-right government. “Given the election results in Portugal, we hope Pedro [Passos Coelho] will be successful in forming a government,” she said on Thursday, in a speech to the center-right European People’s Party in Madrid.

But Passos Coelho’s government may not last long. Costa has said he would back an effort to oust the PAF from power if he can secure support from the other left-leaning parties. Passos Coelho must submit a four-year program within 10 days of taking office, and the Left Bloc and Communist Party have announced plans to reject any program that does not significantly undo austerity policies. If a majority of parliament rejects a prime minister’s four-year program, the ruling government collapses.

In that scenario, it would be up to President Cavaco Silva to tap another leader to form a ruling government. Given his harsh rhetoric, he might still deny Costa the opportunity do so, prompting a political crisis.

Portugal’s political system effectively precludes new elections from taking place until June at the earliest, raising the prospect that the president could be forced to appoint an unelected caretaker cabinet in the interim.

ImageContent(562c0b6ce4b0ec0a3894b4d8,562c087c1900002d00b94cf0,Image,HectorAssetUrl(562c087c1900002d00b94cf0.jpeg,Some(),Some(jpeg)),Anadolu Agency via Getty Images,)

Critics say the dilemma facing Portugal shows how the eurozone’s economic mandates undermine its commitment to democracy.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, a columnist for The Telegraph, compared the situation in Portugal to the one in Greece, where the radical left Syriza party was elected in January to undo austerity policies, but ultimately was forced to agree to even harsher spending cuts and tax increases than were in place before.

“Greece’s Syriza movement, Europe’s first radical-Left government in Europe since the Second World War, was crushed into submission for daring to confront eurozone ideology,” Evans-Pritchard wrote Friday. “Now the Portuguese Left is running into a variant of the same meat-grinder.”

Antonio Costa Pinto, a political science professor at the University of Lisbon, voted for Passos Coelho’s center-right coalition earlier this month, but told The Huffington Post on Saturday that he opposes President Cavaco Silva’s attempt to exclude the radical left political parties.

“The president cannot exclude from Portuguese democracy two parties -- the Left Bloc and the Communists -- that represent 1 million voters and 20 percent of the Portuguese electorate,” Pinto said.

To do so, he added, would mean that “nowadays, especially in the periphery of Europe, parties that do not support the strict policy orientations within the eurozone do not count.”

Related on HuffPost:

CollectionContent(562c0b6ce4b0ec0a3894b4da,55b10f15e4b07af29d57a949,Collection,Slideshow)

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Create Your Own "Social Security"

Take a look at your paycheck. I'm willing to bet there's a huge deduction on every paycheck stub for FICA. And I'm also willing to bet that most people don't know what that is and can't tell you what "FICA" stands for! Yet they allow the company to take that money right out of their take-home pay!

Give it a thought. I ask that question at most of my speeches: "What does FICA" stand for?" And I almost always get an audience of blank faces and wrong guesses.

OK, FICA stands for Federal Insurance Contributions Act. And that's the official name of the legislation that established Social Security. Those huge withdrawals from every paycheck are your "contribution" to Social Security.

Not your own Social Security check -- but the money that is being paid out to today's retirees. The time has long passed when people believed there was a "shoebox in Baltimore" with money in it for their eventual retirement. (Yes, ask your grandparents, that's what they thought.) Now we know that the Social Security trust fund is a giant shoebox filled with "special purpose" Treasury bonds.

All of the money that comes into the government from your Social Security "contributions" pays for current beneficiaries, with any excess funds going into the trust funds in the form of government IOUs. But since, for "counting" purposes, the "surpluses" that are supposed to be building up in Social Security for your retirement are co-mingled with the Federal budget deficit, the concept of a trust fund is a bit of a fiction. Even so, according to the latest government projections, the Social Security trust fund is expected to be depleted around 2033.

So where will the money come from for your Social Security check -- the one you expect to start receiving in 20 years? It's a frightening thing to contemplate. And it should make you start thinking about hedging your bets on your future Social Security income. You can do that by creating your own "social security fund."

Matching FICA

In 2015, your employer will take out up to $7,347 during the year for FICA. (And the employer will make an equal contribution, and send it to the government.) That maximum amount is taken out of income up to $118,500 in 2015. If you make less than that amount, the total deduction for your contribution will be proportionately less.

You have no choice. You can't tell the HR department that you "can't afford to contribute this year" because you have other pressing needs, like paying off credit card bills or saving for your child's college. The FICA deduction is the price of employment -- and it's not optional.

But will it be worth much when you retire? And don't you think you owe it to yourself to hedge that bet?

Perhaps your company has a 401(k) plan that is voluntary. The easiest way to hedge your FICA bet is to contribute an equal amount, automatically, to the 401(k) plan as you do for FICA.

That's a tough decision to see that money disappear from your take-home pay. But really, it's no tougher to swallow than the original FICA deduction. And look how much better you could do with that money than the government!

Suppose you take that annual $7,347 "contribution" and invest it in your retirement plan, in an S&P 500 stock index fund. According to Ibbotson, the statistical division of Morningstar, the historic average return of the S&P 500 (or its equivalent), including reinvested dividends and dating back to 1926, is 10.1 percent.

So let's suppose you start work in your early 20s, and invest an amount equal to the current $7,347 annual deduction in that diversified stock market mutual fund. Do it every year -- the same amount -- for the next 50 years, and your retirement account would be worth approximately $10 million!

In fact, if you work for a company that matches your retirement plan contribution dollar-for-dollar, you would have to invest only half that amount out of your paycheck!

Yes, there are a lot of caveats. Inflation will eat away at that nest egg, and your FICA "contribution" is likely to rise each year. And who knows what the United States will look like in 50 years, when today's twenty-somethings retire?

But, still, young workers are letting the government take that FICA contribution out of each paycheck. They have no choice but to hope that it will provide at least a basic retirement income. There will no doubt be changes in Social Security in coming years. Benefits are likely to be "means-tested" -- with those who have done a good job of saving other assets receiving less in benefits. That's all the more reason to hedge your Social Security bet.

The only way the government can "means test" your own savings is to tax it away. And at least you'll get a vote on that! That's the Savage Truth.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Lawrence Lessig Withdraws 'Totally Stupid' Plan To Resign Presidency

Lawrence Lessig, a constitutional law professor seeking the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, has renounced a widely ridiculed campaign pledge in the hopes of reviving his struggling presidential bid.

Lessig said on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” Friday night that, if elected president, he will no longer resign after passing a law that would expand voting access, end partisan gerrymandering and reform the country's campaign finance system.

“You said that you were running on this one issue and that when you got elected and fixed it, you would quit,” Maher said.

“Yeah, that’s stupid,” Lessig replied, looking downward. “That was totally stupid.”

“I withdraw that promise,” he said. “I am not going to resign. I am running for president with the commitment to pass legislation that gets our democracy back.”

Lessig said he did not anticipate that his promise to resign would overshadow his message of restoring democracy.

“What’s weird about politics is that you know, you come in and you say, ‘I don’t want all the power,’ you’re a little bit humble about what you want. They’re like, ‘What’s wrong with you? You’re a crazy man,’” he said. 

“They don’t trust you,” when you do that, he added. “And I didn’t quite get that. That was my stupidity.”

Lessig discussed his presidential ambitions on HuffPost's "So That Happened" podcast in August.

Lessig’s decision to stay on as president notwithstanding, he reiterated his belief that campaign finance and electoral reform must come first. He argues that those measures are prerequisites for enacting other progressive priorities championed by his Democratic rivals, which Lessig also supports wholeheartedly -- since even the most enlightened president cannot overcome a corrupt and wildly non-representative Congress. 

He likened Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to family members debating different vacation options before fixing the broken-down car they need to get to their destination in the first place.

The other Democratic candidates broadly share Lessig’s commitment to campaign finance and electoral reform, but disagree with his insistence that it come before any other legislation. Sanders’ campaign refuses to accept super PAC money and supports public financing for campaigns. And both Clinton and Sanders have said that they would only nominate someone to the Supreme Court committed to overturning the Citizens United ruling that allowed people and corporations to donate unlimited sums to super PACs anonymously. 

Since officially launching his campaign in September, Lessig has failed to gain traction, rarely rising above 0 percent in the polls. Earlier this month, though, Lessig announced he has raised $1 million for his campaign.

Lessig argues that he has been unfairly sidelined by the Democratic Party, protesting their decision to exclude him from Tuesday’s debate. He has said that if the Democratic Party is not more accommodating, he will consider running as an independent.

Also on HuffPost:

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.