The Financial Illiterate

 

However, there's no need to feel sorry for us. Really. We go willingly. Both of us were born and raised there. No, Port Huron is not a household name, and no, it does not conjure up images of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." But despite that, it is also not the featureless town non-Port Huronites might imagine it to be—not at all.

In fact, Port Huron offers an unbeatable combination: growing economic prosperity, friendly people, and the beauty of life on Lake Huron. Established in the early 1700s by the British, today Port Huron is being rediscovered by everybody, including auto industry suppliers, freshwater sailors, Canadian firms expanding south of the border, and quality-of-life devotees.

If I seem defensive about Port Huron, it's because I am. In terms of national recognition, it certainly is no match for our current home, Ann Arbor. But there is something special about a hometown, especially one on the water. Port Huron comes alive in the summer. It's one continuous party, and to kids and teenagers that's pretty appealing.

Actually, that's pretty appealing to adults, too—us in-cluded. That's why this summer Sue and I are spending five weeks at a rented vacation home just north of Port Huron, in Lexington.

I've been teaching for six years now, and every summer I have either taken a course or taught one. But this year, with the baby due in early September, we elected to keep the summer open and head for the cool water.

Sue is ecstatic. There's a seasonal slowdown in her part of the travel business, cruises, so, like me, she has July and August off every year. Her friends, however, do not. So those summers that I've been studying, working, and golfing, she has often been forced to spend time alone,