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by | Dec 24, 2011

There should some idea of ownership within the community and of recompense and savings for work done while a being a part of it. this would mean that while you start with nothing you can buy more, save money and have an improvement of situation during your stay/lifetime. This to an extent is merely a reflection on […]

There should some idea of ownership within the community and of recompense and savings for work done while a being a part of it. this would mean that while you start with nothing you can buy more, save money and have an improvement of situation during your stay/lifetime.

This to an extent is merely a reflection on society at large [1] but there must a very different system implemented for payments and savings to avoid merely creating a mini-capitalist community not much different from the external one.

The community will pay a dividend twice yearly into a high interest savings account for each member. let’s say for example €4,000, this money is then only accessible to the member at the point of retirement from working life, leaving the community or for a request of purchase to the administration such as a luxury, required materials, a house, a sabbatical journey, a computer course e.t.c.

On top of the twice yearly payments there should be a petty payments into a current account allowing member the possibility of minor luxury purchases in life like a night out drinking, buying a favourite food, presents for friends or family and such like. This could be an additional €2,000 making a sum of around €41 per week in petty cash.

With these example figures we would be paying out €10,000 per year, per full-time member. While this seems a trivial amount for each individual it is important to note how incredibly fast these savings will grow year on year. Very few people save excessive amounts of money, a large proportion of what we spend goes on food, rent, electricity and is frittered away on impulse buys.

To illustrate this example let us take a 21 year old graduate member becoming a full-time member of the community. Each year the community is placing €8,000 into a savings account with an interest of 3.12% for that graduate. Let us for simplicities sake assume he spends all his petty cash and doesn’t touch his savings during his time in the community. At 30 decides he will leave the community as he doesn’t want the lifestyle any more he will leave with €84,219. Someone working 30 years and leaving would finish with €400,197.

1. Modern industrialised society to some extent is based working for capital, building savings, procuring property and economic growth to gain prestige or comfort within a community.