I experienced something very strange last week. A college classmate and I were finishing a thought outside the hotel where I was staying. Our conversation began at dinner and continued as we walked down Lexington Avenue. We stopped to wrap things up outside the Gramercy Park Hotel. It was early evening and the smart set was just getting started.

If you're not familiar with this part of Manhattan, the hotel offers a hip bar that attracts a young, progressive, crowd. Out of the door came a young woman, no more than recent college age. Apparently the noise in the bar was too much as she was rapt in conversation on her cell phone. She was a respectable distance from us, so we didn't think anything of her… until she suddenly broke away from her phone, stepped toward us, and plaintively asked if either of us had a cigarette.

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Christopher Carosa

Chris Carosa has been writing a weekly article and monthly column for BenefitsPRO online and BenefitsPRO Magazine since 2011 and is a nationally recognized award-winning writer, researcher and speaker. He’s written seven books, including From Cradle to Retire: The Child IRA; Hey! What’s My Number? – How to Increase the Odds You Will Retire in Comfort; A Pizza The Action: Everything I Ever Learned About Business I Learned By Working in a Pizza Stand at the Erie County Fair; and the widely acclaimed 401(k) Fiduciary Solutions. Carosa is also Chief Contributing Editor of the authoritative trade journal FiduciaryNews.com and publisher of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, a weekly community newspaper he founded in 1989. Currently serving as President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and with more than 1,000 articles published in various publications, he appears regularly in the national media. A “parallel” entrepreneur, he actively runs a handful of businesses, including a small boutique investment adviser, providing hands-on experience for his writing. A trained astrophysicist, he also holds an MBA and has been designated a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. Share your thoughts and story ideas with him through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christophercarosa/)and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisCarosa).