#SuzeOrman #WorkUntilAge70 #retirement
Suze Orman has made a fine career of giving retirement and other financial advice.
But when she advises people to work until age 70, Wes Moss, who writes the Money Matters column in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and also has a radio show of the same name on WSB AM, begs to differ.
Moss discussed the matter in a Nov. 7, 2017, column.
Certainly, medical advances and the like have made living longer possible. Some folks may even enjoy their work to the point of never thinking about giving it up. Others may believe that the longer they are able to keep working, the better off they will be financially.
Moss points out that the latter is pretty much Orman’s philosophy. He quotes an old joke in financial circles: “How do you never run out of money for retirement? Work until you die,” Moss writes.
In Moss’ mind, perhaps the most important reason for not setting 70 as a retirement age is that “you may lose the sweet spot of your retirement – the years when you are healthy and active enough to live out your post-career dreams to the fullest,” he writes.
Certainly, the Social Security Administration has inched up the “full retirement” age to 67 from 65, where it was for decades. But Moss points to a Bloomberg News article that says Americans are retiring later, dying sooner and are sicker in between.
Here’s something else Moss points out: companies largely do not want older workers around. Younger workers are generally cheaper. So, even as workers approach middle age, they become vulnerable to being forced out of their jobs for one reason or another.
If you are among those who are nearing retirement, and don’t have lots of money saved, take heart. There are many ways out there you can make money in your spare time, say, a couple hours a week, without taking a second W-2 job, or working overtime (if available) in your first job. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
In short, unless you really love your job, think about retiring as soon as you are able. If you can foresee your job going away before you want it to, take measures to soften the blow when it comes. If you do the right things – spend less without depriving yourself, save more money, invest well etc. – you might even be able to walk out of your job with a smile.
As Moss says, you shouldn’t make it a goal to sacrifice the best years of your retirement by working those extra years. And, once you do retire, you shouldn’t waste time sitting at home, and not venturing out of your comfort zone. Have dreams. Fulfill them. Retire with no prejudices, no pretenses and no burdensome obligations.
That isn’t to say that there are some jobs that are so great, you don’t want to give them up unless you have to. But, chances are, no matter how good you are at what you do, eventually your employer is going to want you gone.
If you’re lucky, when your employer wants you gone, he or she will offer you a package to leave. If you get an offer like that, remember that few people who take them ultimately regret that decision. If you are being paid to leave, the message you should hear is that the employer want you out.
So, if you are a Suze Orman devotee, remember that not everyone agrees that one should work until he or she is 70. A better philosophy might be this: when is the SOONEST I can retire? Once you’ve determined that, think about not only how you are going to pull it off financially, but also what you will do with your new-found time.
Work, dream, save and retire.
Peter
Tag Archives: dream
BOOK THE UNREALISTIC
#dream #TheUnrealistic #ReturnTheRealYou
Book the unrealistic, and return as the real you.
This statement’s meaning may not be obvious on its face, so let’s break it down.
Book the unrealistic means to prepare for your dream as if you were booking a trip.
The unrealistic part comes from all those dreams your parents, teachers and other influences on you as a child told you were out of reach for you. After all, you had to think practically, aim for the secure and go for the known, tried and true, quantity.
You may have been told you were silly to think you could be, say, an actor, musician, star athlete etc., or even be wealthy. You had to think in terms of getting a good job, with good benefits and stay there until you retire. You were expected to eventually have a spouse, children and other obligations that such security will help take care of.
Today, much of that secure reality is gone. So, why not book the unrealistic? What have you got to lose?
It may take a while to get to your unrealistic goal, so take pleasure in the journey. You’ve booked it, but you may not know exactly when you’ll get on the dream vehicle. You can reserve a date, but you may have to cancel and rebook if your date arrives, but your dream has not yet.
The great motivator Jim Rohn defines success as “a progressive realization of a worthy goal.” Progressive may be the key word here. The journey may take you steps toward your goal, and may even force you to step backward away from your goal for a time. Those may be the failures you will encounter on your journey.
The second part of the statement calls for a return as the real you. That means you’ve taken the journey, after booking your unrealistic goal, reached your goal and now must return.
The variable here is that you may not return to the home, security etc. that you left. You may return to a different home. To borrow from a John Denver lyric, you might be coming home, to a place you’ve never been before.
Hence, we use the word “return” to mean to come back from the journey to the unrealistic that you’d booked a while ago. Some journeys are so good, you may never come back from them.
Bottom line is that it’s OK to dream. It’s OK to have goals that others did not wish for you. As long as your goals are worthwhile, as Rohn says, don’t let anyone stand in your way.
Perhaps you are looking for a method, or a vehicle, to get you to your goal. That might mean being open for something to come into your life that may be totally different from the kind of good things that your influencers may have wanted for you. If you are looking for such a vehicle, message me.
Life journeys are not always smooth, and not always pleasant. There can be rough roads, turbulent air, flat tires etc. If you understand that mishaps can befall you, but you can still have your eyes on the unrealistic goals you have booked, you are at least halfway there.
You can take pleasure in the journey, overcome the rough patches, and return with a sense of accomplishment. Remember, too, that such journeys are better when you take others with you. Trips are usually better when taken with friends or family.
So book the unrealistic, and return as the real you. Don’t go it alone, bring others. Return with the sense that the journey, however long, was worthy.
Peter
REPENT, FORGIVE AND REVERSE
#repent #forgive #180degreeturn
When we think of repentance, with think of the religious context of sinning and repenting.
Certainly, when we sin, it should give us pause.
But repentance has two parts, according to Rory Vaden, a self-discipline strategist and cofounder of Southwestern Consulting. He discussed repentance in an April 19, 2015, column in The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville.
The first part of repentance is apology. You’ve done something wrong and you beg forgiveness. But it’s the second part that we often forget about, Vaden says. That involves a 180-degree turn away from the actions from which you are repenting.
In other words, don’t just say you’re sorry and go back to doing the wrong you did. Addicts can apologize all day long, but unless they beat their addiction, they have truly not repented.
What could this mean for you? Perhaps you’ve done nothing “wrong,” yet your life does not seem right.
Perhaps no one but you notices. Perhaps YOU don’t even notice. Perhaps you’ve done everything you were told was right, yet something is missing.
That might make you ask yourself: if I’ve done everything the way I was told, why am I feeling this way? Why SHOULD I feel this way? What could possibly make me feel this way?
The feeling gnaws. One cannot control feelings. You believe there is something better out there for you, but you may not have a clue how to find it.
Yet, you rationalize, and tell yourself that mom, dad, your family and friends are still proud of you. In fact, you may have accomplished a great deal, yet you are still unfulfilled.
You may feel you have nothing to apologize to others for, for you have not sinned against them. They may even tell you how great you are, and that you are doing the right thing.
Still, you dream of better. Your family and friends may laugh at those dreams. They may encourage you to stop dreaming and get real.
Yet, your dreams are real. They come from deep inside. You know what you want, but not quite how to get it.
It may be the time to apologize to YOURSELF, then make that 180-degree turn in your life.
Your life may be like a big ship. It may not turn quickly. But it certainly can turn gradually.
The great news, if you have dreams you would like to fulfill, is there are many ways of doing so.
If you have big dreams, you may need to look for ways to fulfill them. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
There, you will find others like you who had good lives, yet wanted more. Then, they found the way to get what they wanted, and helped others like them do the same.
The movie “Love Story” has a famous line that says “love means never having to say you’re sorry.” But telling yourself you are sorry, and fully repenting by making that 180-degree turn, can fulfill the need you have inside.
Your dreams are real. They can be fulfilled. Never, ever be sorry for dreaming.
Peter
DREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
We all dream.
Some of us only dream in slumber. Some of us daydream to alleviate boredom. Still others dream while conscious – and consciously try to make those dreams come true.
Some of us never recall the dreams in slumber. Some of us recall them vividly, then try to decipher what they mean. These are the unimportant dreams, so it matters not whether they are recalled.
The daydreams are usually fantasy, and are treated as such. Perhaps you are longing to meet that special person that hardly, if at all, knows you exist. Perhaps you are dreaming about what you would do if you were the boss. These events may actually happen, but the percentages are really low.
The dreams of the conscious can make your life what you want it to be. As Rory Vaden, author of “Take the Stairs,” and a self-discipline strategist advises, “Chase your dreams now.”
Vaden discussed dreaming in a Jan.26, 2014, column in the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville.
The dreams of the conscious are not dreams of fantasy. They are, indeed, purposeful dreams. The dreamers make them purposeful by writing them down, looking at them every day and setting achievement dates. Achievement dates are not deadlines, but are set to encourage urgency. With urgency, comes commitment and diligence.
Some say to the dreamers, “get real.” No “realist” ever finds greatness. Realists exist only in the world of the narrowly possible. Dreamers, to paraphrase a famous quotation, don’t just look at what is and say, “why?” They instead look at what can be and say, “why not?”
The realist lives in a world of what they believe has to be. Their dreams are but daydreams of fantasy. They are “grounded,” lest they be in the ground.
We certainly need a few realists to do some of the things that need doing. We can’t all be looking for personal fulfillment, or the next big thing, can we?
Perhaps we can be, at least to start, part-time dreamers and full-time realists. We never lose sight of our dreams, and we look at them, and their achievement dates, daily. But we know that they will come and we will not be realists forever.
So, said the elephant in the room, how does one achieve his dream once he has recorded it?
There are many ways one can achieve a dream. Perhaps he can invent something no one has thought of. Perhaps he can work hard, save his money, invest well and eventually see, if not complete financial freedom, no financial worries.
But real dreamers don’t settle just for “no worries.” They want complete financial freedom. There are several ways to achieve that freedom. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
This dream vehicle can work for anyone, regardless of education, background or circumstance.
You see, dreamers can have “average” backgrounds – even poor ones. But they become above-average earners by having a dream, and doing what they need to do to achieve it.
Of course, you have to want your dream badly enough to go for it. But if you do, follow Vaden’s advice:
“Overthrow the desire deficit and chase down your dreams. You are the person. Today is the day. Now is the time.
Do it.”
Peter
LUCK: ANYONE CAN HAVE IT
“If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.”
That’s paraphrasing a lyric from a song, titled “Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me,” made popular on the TV show “Hee Haw.”
We’ve often thought of those who have made it in their lives as “lucky.” By extension, we’ve regarded those who are struggling as “unlucky.”
We certainly have things happen to us that we can’t control. Some are good. Some are bad. We always hope that we can cherish the good in our lives, and overcome the bad.
But as TV star and successful businesswoman Oprah Winfrey has said, “Luck is a matter or preparation meeting opportunity.”
Most successful people view themselves as lucky. Yet their luck did not come by accident. It came from the wisdom of seeing an opportunity, and the work it took to make it happen.
Some of us shy away from opportunity. We think we don’t have it in us to pursue it. Or, to put it bluntly, we don’t have the AMBITION it takes to make it happen.
Those who believe luck is an accident also believe it will never come to them. Actually, most people have enough good in their lives to consider themselves lucky, but they don’t see it. Even if an opportunity were placed in front of them, they wouldn’t see it. They don’t want it badly enough to see it.
But let’s break down Winfrey’s statement: how does one “prepare” for luck? Preparation starts with a dream. Dreams start when “realism” is suspended. We all like to consider ourselves realists, but realism gets in the way of dreams.
After one establishes a dream, one needs the desire to make it happen. Such dreamers have just enough realism to know that their dreams may not come overnight. They also know that they will need to work to make it happen.
In short, a dream, plus the desire to make it happen, is preparation for luck.
Then comes opportunity. The preparation for luck allows a person to KNOW an opportunity when he sees it. He is constantly looking for the opportunity, and the power of his dream will allow him to eventually find it.
How does he find opportunity? He looks for it. He meets people. He finds out how they became successful. He determines whether the vehicle other people have used would work for him. If so, he goes for it.
Since he knows he will have to work, he is just looking for the vehicle for his efforts. There are many such vehicles out there. To check out one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. It may or may not be the vehicle you are looking for, but if you have the dream and the desire, it just might work for you.
When you’ve prepared to meet opportunity, know that success may not come quickly, or without setbacks. You’ll meet some pitfalls on your journey to success. You might even have to see less of your friends who sing, in one form or another, “Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me.”
So if your dream is big enough, and your drive is strong enough, you have sufficiently prepared to be lucky. You will know enough, despite how little or much education you’ve had, to look for a good opportunity, and to recognize it when you find it.
Best of luck to you!
Peter