If you're already in your sixties and you have never done any previous financial planning, you might not have the luxury of implementing appropriate financial strategies at a slow, deliberate pace. But if you are younger, you have much more time before you reach retirement age. This means you can go at a more reasonable and realistic pace.
This does not imply that it's okay to procrastinate. After all, how many successful marathon runners show up late to the start of the race or take a snooze at mile 12?
Of course, many people claim they only procrastinate about doing the things that they don't like to do. To them I must say that's the only time procrastinating matters! Leaving work on time to get to happy hour doesn't mean you've solved a procrastination problem. Only when you're early to the dentist's office have you begun to solve your procrastination problem.
In financial planning terms, this means that moving slowly and steadily will get you all the way to the finish line. It's not critical that you figure out a way to do absolutely everything right in the next 30 days. Rather, you just need to be moving in the right direction all the time.
So get going now, at your speed. You can choose to go faster when you are ready to. But get going today, because procrastination is very expensive. On the other hand, starting early provides huge advantages, which include developing appropriate spending habits while you are still impressionable.
You've undoubtedly heard the expression "It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks." It's hard to move down from a McMansion. But when your housing comparison is living in a small space with a roommate who doesn't smell quite as well as he should, living alone in a decent apartment in an okay neighborhood will make you happy.
So that's the positive spin. I hoped it gets you going. If not, here's the brutal reality approach: Waiting costs you big time-it's nearly impossible to catch up. If you wouldn't like your coach subbing you in at the top of the ninth inning down ten runs and shouting "Go get 'em-we need this game!" then don't wait until you're a few years old to start saving for retirement. It's the same thing.
Retirement Planning - Why You Need to Turbo Charge Your Pogo Stick
Your retirement isn't a three-legged stool - it's a pogo stick.
Sorry, but it is what it is. Formerly, the three legs of the retirement funding stool for most Americans were:
1. An employer pension
2. Social Security
3. Personal savings
No longer.
Preferably in private, go ahead and curse the members of society whom you blame. Pick a Congressperson or two - even a President; the current one or any of his predecessors. Why limit yourself to politicians? Pick a corporation that dissatisfies you because of its irresponsible behavior, its failure to follow through on its promises to its employees.
When you are done with your ranting, you need to go on to the next phase: to start dealing with it. This is your reality. Your personal savings are going to be the primary source of your financial independence; your money to live on during retirement.
Your screaming may feel good, but your best bet is to begin treating those other two legs (the employer-paid pension and Social Security) as though they are not going to be major factors in your retirement. Treat them, at best, as "gravy."
With only leg of the three-legged stool remaining, you don't need to be a physics teacher to understand that such a stool is not going to be a comfortable place to sit down.
Taken together, this means you need to turbo-charge your pogo stick. And that means choosing to live a life Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck.
By accepting the fact that you're on your own, you're forced to act more responsibly. After all, denial isn't much of a way to go through life. Take advantage of your youth and build your savings to a turbo-charged pogo-stick level. A pogo stick is much more fun than a boring old stool anyway.
Sorry, but it is what it is. Formerly, the three legs of the retirement funding stool for most Americans were:
1. An employer pension
2. Social Security
3. Personal savings
No longer.
Preferably in private, go ahead and curse the members of society whom you blame. Pick a Congressperson or two - even a President; the current one or any of his predecessors. Why limit yourself to politicians? Pick a corporation that dissatisfies you because of its irresponsible behavior, its failure to follow through on its promises to its employees.
When you are done with your ranting, you need to go on to the next phase: to start dealing with it. This is your reality. Your personal savings are going to be the primary source of your financial independence; your money to live on during retirement.
Your screaming may feel good, but your best bet is to begin treating those other two legs (the employer-paid pension and Social Security) as though they are not going to be major factors in your retirement. Treat them, at best, as "gravy."
With only leg of the three-legged stool remaining, you don't need to be a physics teacher to understand that such a stool is not going to be a comfortable place to sit down.
Taken together, this means you need to turbo-charge your pogo stick. And that means choosing to live a life Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck.
By accepting the fact that you're on your own, you're forced to act more responsibly. After all, denial isn't much of a way to go through life. Take advantage of your youth and build your savings to a turbo-charged pogo-stick level. A pogo stick is much more fun than a boring old stool anyway.
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