#retirement #RetireTomorrow #UseYourTimeWisely #EnjoyYourRetirement
If you retired tomorrow, regardless of your age, what would you do then?
Many, if not most, see retirement as a type of utopia – no work, sleep in, no worries etc.
In reality, many never give much thought to what they will do when they retire. They see the end of their W-2 life as just that: an end to be achieved.
They’ll worry about what’s next, well, next.
Even if money was not going to be a problem, at least in your mind, how you spend your time may be the key to a fulfilling retirement.
Some financial advisers sell themselves as a guide to their clients’ longest vacation.
But vacation and retirement are not the same. A vacation is a temporary R&R period. Retirement, when it comes, is usually forever.
Some people are retired by their employers, often before they want to be. That adds an extra burden and importance on what a person will do next. Sometimes, that does not mean R&R.
The pandemic has prompted others to retire, perhaps prematurely, for a lot of reasons: workplace safety, job insecurity etc.
So, where do these questions lead? It’s not just finances that make a good retirement, though being financially OK, even comfortable, is vitally important. But, to make a retirement successful, enjoyable and fulfilling, a person should give thought to how he or she will use his or her time, now that his or her personal rat race has ended.
In short, retirement is a state of mind, a state of health and a state of relative wealth.
It begs the age-old question: if you had all the time in the world, how would you spend it? As a corollary: if you had all the money you could want, how would you spend it?
Both are possible, at virtually any age, by making the right decisions, sticking with a plan and pursuing it with vigor and tenacity.
The adage: “do today what others won’t, so you can do tomorrow what others can’t,” applies here.
But as you do today to get to tomorrow, think about what tomorrow can bring. Think about the freedom to do as you wish. Use that time to do good for others. Use that time to pursue the things you had little time to pursue before, but always wanted to do. Use that time to make the world a better place for you, and all.
Before you get the time, take the time to know how you will spend it. Work to gain the resources that will give you the options you want. Work to clear your head of negative energy, and infuse positive energy.
Make a plan, starting as soon as possible after you start your career; follow the plan to a great degree. Certainly, you may deviate a bit to, say, buy a house, but such a decision will ultimately fit into your plan. If you make a plan and follow it, then decide how you will spend your time.
You’ve made and followed your plan. Now, make the time and make a difference.
Your world can be what you make it. So, make it with care.
Peter
Tag Archives: financial advisers
MILLENNIALS: MORE SAVERS AND SPENDERS THAN INVESTORS
#millennials #investors #savers #spenders
Millennials don’t see themselves as investors.
According to the 2016 Fidelity Investments Millennial Money Study, 46 percent of the millennials surveyed considered themselves as savers, 44 percent considered themselves spenders and only 9 percent considered themselves investors.
This study was quoted in an Adam Shell article for USA Today, which was published April 27, 2017, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Despite Wall Street’s attempts to woo the nation’s largest generation into the stock market, millennials have yet to embrace investing, Shell’s article says. Only one in three say they invest in stocks, the article quotes a Bankrate.com survey.
A Black Rock study says nearly half of the millennials surveys found the market “too risky,” the article says.
And, four in 10 say they don’t have enough spare income to put away for the future, the article quotes a financial literacy survey from Stash, a financial app.
Let’s break down the facts. If you are a saver, and are putting money away, where are you stashing it? In a bank? Under your mattress?
In this market, the rates of return on that money between those alternatives are not far apart.
Secondly, there is wild and crazy – “risky” – investing, and there is careful investing. Each requires consultation with someone you trust , but here’s a good rule of thumb: as you start investing, look for more conservative vehicles, i.e. relatively safe mutual funds. As your wealth grows, you can diversify and take a few, well-thought-out risks. If you really do well, and want to play, take a very small amount of money and invest aggressively.
Here’s another rule: it’s difficult to have a nice nest egg for retirement just keeping your money in a bank. There are very few, if any, traditional, regulated banking products that are paying decent returns. Banks are wonderful institutions for your checking account, and perhaps a small savings account to cover unexpected expenses.
But to really be a saver for retirement, you have to take SOME risk. And, make no mistake, EVERYONE has to save for retirement. As stock-market-loving baby boomers can attest, you never know when your job is going to go away.
For those of you in the category of not having enough spare money to save for the future, there are ways to solve that problem. First and foremost, you have to make saving for the future a priority in your life. Even if you see yourself as a spender rather than a saver, you have make SOME saving a priority, or the fun you are having today will turn into poverty when you retire, or when that good job goes away.
A suggestion might be to look at the many ways out there to use your spare time to earn a secondary income. To check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
In short, saving is not just prudent, but necessary. The more you save when you are young, the more you will have, and the better your life will be, when you are older. If you are a millennial, talk to your parents about what to do. However their lives have turned out, there are lessons in their lives that will apply to you. Don’t underestimate their story, or their advice.
As you save, some risk will become necessary. Though the stock market looks scary, over time it has proved to provide the best returns. Find a trustworthy, knowledgeable adviser to help you get started, and who will continue to work with you. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions about fees, returns etc., so that you will have a clear picture of how to proceed.
Finally, watch what you spend. Don’t deprive yourself, necessarily, but look for things you can eliminate to allow you to save more money. Remember that a dollar in your pocket generally is better for you than a dollar you put into someone else’s pocket.
Your future could well depend on decisions you make in your youth. You don’t have to depend on things “going right,” if you make good choices now.
Peter
NEW RULES FOR RETIREMENT INVESTMENTS
#retirement #investments #NewRulesForRetirementInvestments
Like eating and sleeping, choosing how to invest for retirement is a necessity of life.
The number of options makes the choice more difficult.
What may be good news is that new federal rules encourage brokers and other investment sales folks to make the client’s interest a priority, regardless of how much the broker may lose in fees.
Russell Grantham, a business reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, discussed these new rules in an April 24, 2016, article.
Baby boomers are starting to retire in large numbers, and these new rules are designed to ease the burden of choosing the correct investments for them.
As Grantham’s article points out, though, the new rules may discourage some brokers from dealing with clients that have small nest eggs. It could increase brokers’ costs, he writes.
The rules are among the biggest changes in the financial industry in generations, Grantham writes.
The financial industry sometimes gets a bad reputation. Not everyone in the industry looks out for his or her own interests over his or her clients’ interests.
The bottom line for investors, regardless of how much money they have, is to find someone trustworthy to manage their hard-earned money.
Someone trustworthy will always have your best interests at heart. Someone trustworthy will manage risk according to his client’s tolerance.
Someone trustworthy won’t be calling his clients daily, attempting to generate trades that may or may not be in the client’s best interest. Someone trustworthy won’t steer clients into investments that pay brokers the highest commissions/fees, if they are not in the clients’ best interest.
Also, the financial industry is extremely competitive. Those who work in it must not just make a living, but also must make money. A great way to judge an investment adviser is by how much he or she is making for YOU. Generally, advisers don’t last in the business if their clients are making puny returns, or are sustaining heavy losses.
Know, too, that the financial markets don’t go up in a straight line. There will be some down times throughout any investment market.
But good advisers will get clients’ through the tough times with minimal, if any, losses.
Though the markets don’t generally go up in a straight line, they generally go up over time. Beware the financial adviser who predicts doom, and encourages clients to pull everything out and turn everything to cash. Although it’s nice to have some cash available, cash by itself generates little or no return.
All this discussion about rules for advisers begs another question: how much money do you have for your retirement, and are you investing it properly? If you don’t believe you have enough for your retirement, and don’t know how you are going to get what you need as you age, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. There are many ways to generate extra income, and this is one of the best.
So choose your investment adviser carefully, if you haven’t done so already. Talk to several before you decide. Make sure the person you choose understands how much risk you can stand. Make sure, too, that he or she creates a balanced portfolio for you, and isn’t so conservative that your returns will be puny.
You’ll know by talking to different advisers whether you can trust them. Regardless of the rules they have to live by, trust is the main thing to look for in an adviser. The adviser’s job is not just to make you money, but also give you peace of mind.
Peter