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For you procrastinators, this question is for you. For those who have been working hard and long to prepare for those later years. Good work. I wish I was you!
The statistics show most of us have little or no retirement savings. Most of us don't even have any savings. Most of us would be in real trouble if we even missed one paycheck.
But midlife arrives and reality sets in. It's interesting that you spend your whole life not worried about retirement then all of a sudden you hit 50 and it hits you like a ton of bricks. All along you know you should be saving but it all takes a back seat to vacations, life and lifestyle choices.
Maybe it's just me but the traditional retirement model of working to 65, then living off your retirement savings has a few flaws. Even the folks who did prepare are postponing retirement because of massive losses in retirement accounts. Also factor the historical low interest environment on investments and you will see I am not the only one in a pickle.
So where does that leave us. Two things we need to do are save more and earn more. In your 50's your still young enough to start a new business or new career. Your healthy enough to do the work and wise enough to not make too many mistakes.
Face it people this is the new retirement. For me, I'm self-employed in the construction business. We have a nice amount of rental property that generates a good income. With social security, retirement accounts and rental property I'll be OK. I have the rental property work to keep me very busy for the rest of my life. I'm lucky.
For those of you that don't have a plan let's sort things out. Your job is only going to last just for so long. Your going to have to replace it with another eventually so let's get to looking for it. Maybe you'll be able to start a business that is related to what your doing now. You need to get out there and start knocking on doors. There has to be a way to take a seed from what your doing now and plant it in another way. An interest or hobby you do now that could be notched up to make some money. This is not going to be easy, but it must be done.
To answer my own question. It's never to late to do something about your situation. But a lot of work and action is going to be needed to make it happen.
The statistics show most of us have little or no retirement savings. Most of us don't even have any savings. Most of us would be in real trouble if we even missed one paycheck.
But midlife arrives and reality sets in. It's interesting that you spend your whole life not worried about retirement then all of a sudden you hit 50 and it hits you like a ton of bricks. All along you know you should be saving but it all takes a back seat to vacations, life and lifestyle choices.
Maybe it's just me but the traditional retirement model of working to 65, then living off your retirement savings has a few flaws. Even the folks who did prepare are postponing retirement because of massive losses in retirement accounts. Also factor the historical low interest environment on investments and you will see I am not the only one in a pickle.
So where does that leave us. Two things we need to do are save more and earn more. In your 50's your still young enough to start a new business or new career. Your healthy enough to do the work and wise enough to not make too many mistakes.
Face it people this is the new retirement. For me, I'm self-employed in the construction business. We have a nice amount of rental property that generates a good income. With social security, retirement accounts and rental property I'll be OK. I have the rental property work to keep me very busy for the rest of my life. I'm lucky.
For those of you that don't have a plan let's sort things out. Your job is only going to last just for so long. Your going to have to replace it with another eventually so let's get to looking for it. Maybe you'll be able to start a business that is related to what your doing now. You need to get out there and start knocking on doors. There has to be a way to take a seed from what your doing now and plant it in another way. An interest or hobby you do now that could be notched up to make some money. This is not going to be easy, but it must be done.
To answer my own question. It's never to late to do something about your situation. But a lot of work and action is going to be needed to make it happen.
Here are a few past posts that show my personal journey :
The only time it is too late to start is when you are in retirement already. I think the new retirement reality for a lot of people will be that they will have to work part time jobs to help pay the bills.
ReplyDeleteThere always is time time to keep saving It's the investing part that's worrisome. Depending on your age you may not be able to afford any principal loss.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post. I couldn’t make it and this post has been useful.
ReplyDelete