#surf #waves #financialplanning
If Jeff Hall could do one thing every day for the rest of his life, he would surf.
Hall, partner and senior financial adviser with Rather and Kittrell in Knoxville, Tenn., wrote a column about surfing and financial advice in the July 12, 2015, edition of the News Sentinel newspaper of Knoxville.
His main point: the ocean can be tricky. You have control over some things, but not others. But, you can control to whom you listen. Despite the financial crisis in Greece and other places, there is no substitute for setting realistic goals, making a plan and following it and, as he writes, learning from every wave.
Financial planning requires good advice from someone you trust, to be sure. But it also requires discipline. It requires watching where your money goes and resisting the temptation to put it in the wrong places, i.e. spending frivolously when you should be saving vigorously.
A good financial plan involves putting off some purchases until you’ve paid yourself through saving.
Simple? Of course. Easy? Not so, for some. Success comes from doing what isn’t so easy.
You might respond this way: But my job, or my income, doesn’t allow me to save.
There are many ways to overcome that problem. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
Here’s another caution: emotion. Hall says that emotion sells. If you know what you are doing is right for you, don’t let others’ emotion get you off track. Don’t stray from a good plan for emotional reasons. Sometimes, news reports can enhance some bad emotions.
Know, too, that there will be ups and downs. Nothing goes up in a straight line. But good advice and careful planning can make the path a little less rough.
If you have children, it’s important to teach them about money. It’s also important to show them a good example of financial prudence in your behavior. Certainly, kids can be more focused on having fun at the moment, as opposed to postponing getting something they want now.
Still, if you can teach them that every decision has a consequence, ultimately they can set better priorities as they get older.
It’s OK to inject fun into your life. But be realistic in what you spend for “fun.” It could cost you later.
It takes a little effort and a lot of discipline to gain financial independence. It also can take time.
There is no greater satisfaction than retiring comfortably because of decisions you had made when you were younger.
Hall points out that oceans, as well as the financial world, contain sharks. You have to watch for them, for they won’t go away.
Some waves are worth riding. Others, not so much. If you choose your waves carefully, the ride will be less perilous and destination will be sweet.
Peter
Tag Archives: retirement
DIFFER WITH YOUR SPOUSE ABOUT HOW TO RETIRE?
#retirement #retirementconflicts #retirementlifestyle
Most of the talk today is about whether a person, or couple, has enough money to retire.
That determination for a couple may ride on what they would like to do in retirement.
USA Today writer Nanci Hellmich discusses why couples should talk about each’s visions of retirement prior to retiring. She took on the subject in a June 26, 2015, article in The Tennessean newspaper of Nashville.
“Couples don’t always have the same dreams for retirement,” Hellmich writes. “It usually takes some negotiating to come to terms with what they’re going to do.”
Hellmich’s article illustrates the point: He imagines summers fly-fishing in a cold mountain lake and winters by the fire reading his favorite books. She envisions summers playing with the grandchildren in their back yard and winters volunteering for her favorite charities.
If we take it further, let’s presume they don’t have a place near a cold mountain lake. They would have to buy or rent one. Let’s also presume that their grandchildren already live near them. To satisfy her, they merely need to stay home – probably a less expensive alternative.
“For lack of a better word, couples need to do some horse trading… You really have to negotiate in good faith,” Hellmich quotes Pepper Schwartz, AARP’s love and relationship expert.
Hellmich’s article gives some talking points for couples: create a list of characteristics for retirement that each spouse wants; talk to family and friends who would have an interest in your decision. If your kids want to have you around, presumably not as just a free baby sitter, you have to talk about it with them. If you don’t live near your children, and they want you to move closer, you have to think about that, too.
Other talking points the article cites include prudently pruning your retirement dream list. Figure out areas in which you can compromise. If the man is a golfer, for example, and wants to play a lot, and the woman is not, make sure, before you move to that golf resort that you vacation there first. Perhaps the non-golfer will be miserable in a golfer’s paradise. The article points out that couples should carve time to listen to each other, and tell each other, after some discussion and compromise, how much one appreciates the other’s give and take.
Of course, it would be best all around if money were no object. He could fish or golf, she could volunteer for charities and hang with the grandkids. There are many ways out there to secure a good retirement income, one in which compromise may not be necessary. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
If you are young, it’s never too early to talk about these things. If you are able, take some types of vacations you might not otherwise take to see how you like them. Your doctors will probably tell you that staying active will be very important as you get older. Just lying on the beach with a book or tablet may not be as nice at 60 as it is at, say, 25. Besides, it may not be the best thing to do for your skin.
Don’t make retirement life a reason to fight. If you love your spouse, this is an issue that likely can be worked out with good, heartfelt conversation. Then again, if you are single, you have the ability to do whatever you want, wherever you want, in retirement. Make sure you have sufficient pennies put away, or coming in, to make whatever you want to happen, happen.
Peter
RETIREMENT PROSPECTS DON’T HAVE TO BE GLOOMY
#retirement #SocialSecurity #employment
It’s been said many times, in many ways: many of us don’t see how we can retire.
Perhaps we haven’t been able to save enough. Perhaps we won’t be getting the pension we were promised. Perhaps we believe Social Security will be tapped out before we can tap in. Or, perhaps we’ve been put to the curb by our employers at middle age, can’t find a comparable job and have to “retire” before we want to.
Robert Powell, editor of Retirement Weekly, discussed some of these issues in a USA Today column, published June 1, 2015.
Powell talks about postponing retirement until age 70. That’s fine, if you like your job and are able to do it. Bob Schieffer, the longtime newsman with CBS, had recently retired at age 78. But, most employers won’t exercise that much patience. Once an employee hits middle age, he or she usually begins to get messages about “early retirement.” For many employers, a middle-age worker, particularly one who has been with the company a good number of years, is taking a lot out of the company in salary and benefits. If that position is vital to the company, then it can be more economically filled with a younger, less senior person, who may bring some new energy to the company.
Now, if you are able to extend your employment, there are great benefits to waiting until age 70 to collect Social Security. Powell says your benefits could go up by 76 percent by waiting. Basically, delaying Social Security should be a no-brainer for anyone who doesn’t need the money in retirement. It’s a whole different matter if you NEED the Social Security money to survive.
Powell also talks about the longevity risk. Will you outlive your money? One way to avoid the longevity risk, assuming you’ve been able to save some money, is to only tap the dividends, interest and other earnings your money generates, without dipping into your principal. Certainly, people are living longer and the longevity risk is real. If you are already middle age, your parents and grandparents would envy the longer average lifespan you now have. If you are young, presume your average lifespan will increase further. Start saving whatever you can TODAY, and don’t touch it until you retire.
Again, this is easier said than done when you don’t earn enough at your job, your employer doesn’t offer retirement benefits of any sort etc. Take this hint: live within or below your means. If you aren’t making much, look at what you spend your money on. Buy what you can afford, when you can afford it.
If you are married, postpone having children until you are financially ready to care for them. If you are single, look to share a household with friends to lighten individual expenses.
Powell also talks about home equity. There are some famous people out there touting reverse mortgages, which are a fine solution for the property-rich, cash-poor retiree. Perhaps it’s best to consider this option a last resort. Some of the ads say you retain “complete ownership” of your home as you draw cash from the equity. Your name is on the deed still, you are responsible for all the maintenance of the home, but the lender owns whatever chunk of equity it has turned into cash for you. If that doesn’t matter to you, then check out the reverse mortgage option as a last resort.
One thing Powell doesn’t mention is the idea of re-inventing oneself. If necessity is the mother of invention, then retirement, for some, is the mother of re-invention. There are multiple ways out there to make an income, perhaps even a great income, without having a job, pension or other source of funds. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You have to be willing, perhaps, to re-invent yourself. Or, you have to be looking for a way to cut spending and earn more money. But a retirement solution could be waiting for you, if you are willing to look at it.
The retirement picture doesn’t have to be gloomy, particularly if you are young. But it does take some thought, perhaps some habit changes or courage to re-invent. It’s OK to be afraid, but sometimes we have take action while afraid. That action, gradually or quickly, can ally our fear.
Peter
BE AN INVESTOR MORE THAN A CONSUMER
#retirement #investments #saving
Investing for retirement need not be scary.
It also need not be impossible, no matter your income, age or situation.
Also, a secure retirement happens because of actions YOU take, not what someone else promises to give you.
Nanci Hellmich discussed investing for retirement, based on Tony Robbins book “Money: Master the Game; 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom,” in an article published Dec. 10, 2014, in USA Today.
Before getting to Robbins’ seven steps, let’s examine your plans for retirement. Do you believe you have to work until you die? Are you saving regularly out of each paycheck? Did you get so financially hammered during the Great Recession that your retirement is doomed? Did you lose your job in the Great Recession, forcing a premature retirement?
Let’s presume you are still working, even if you are working in a job that underpays you – that’s a growing trend these days. Find an amount, it doesn’t have to be much, that you can take out of each paycheck and put away. You have to look at it occasionally to monitor how your investment is doing, but don’t withdraw it until you retire.
If you are forced to retire before you want to, or are financially able to, try not to eat into that fund too quickly. It’s OK to use the dividends, interest etc., for income, but try to hold onto your principal as long as you can.
Robbins’ first two steps, Hellmich’s article says, is to become an investor rather than a consumer and to know what you are invested in. The former is a mindset. When money gets into your hands, you have to first think about paying yourself, before you think about what you will buy. The latter may require some good advice from someone you trust who will look out for your interests before his own.
Robbins third and fourth steps involve taking action. Don’t be afraid to start a retirement fund because you believe you’ll never have enough money in it to retire. If you are young, calculate what you think you’ll need to retire comfortably, and save accordingly. Then, evaluate your asset allocation, which is a big term for knowing how your money is invested. You may take more risk as a young investor, and perhaps change that allocation to more income-producing vehicles later in life, Hellmich quotes Robbins.
Again, the latter may require some help, but you can help yourself by figuring out ways you can save your money.
The last three Robbins tips again involve your thought process. You have to create a lifetime income plan, and believe you can be among the wealthy. Once you get there, enjoy the sacrifices you have made. “Start where you are, and you’ll begin to find out that there’s more than enough wealth for you,” Hellmich quotes Robbins.
If you are still a child, develop that savings and investment mindset early. If you have change in your pocket at the end of the day, put it in a jar. When the jar is full, take the coins to your local bank and put them in your own savings account. Don’t touch the money until at least when you go to college, or go to work after high school.
As an adult, you will already have the right mindset, and can get more sophisticated about saving and investing for retirement.
Lastly, you may be older, approaching retirement, fearful you don’t have enough money. There are many ways out there to solve this problem. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. Check it out with friends in the same situation.
Then, all of you can watch your retirement accounts blossom.
Peter
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WORK?
#work #careers #retirement4
Chances are, if you ask someone on his death bed what he wished he had done more of, he wouldn’t say “work.”
But Rory Vaden, cofounder of Southwestern Consulting and best-selling author of “Take the Stairs,” says, “work is integral, work is freedom, work is joy.”
If one asks his elders about work, he would hear things like, “I worked hard all my life.” Or, “you don’t get anywhere in this world without hard work.”
For many of us, if we look today at what we do for work, we can’t wait to be financially able to quit working, relax and do other things that we don’t consider work.
But Vaden, who discussed this in a Nov. 16, 2014, column in The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, says the idea of “retirement,” and “leisure,” are changing.
We can see that in today’s world, without looking very far.
The idea of working at a job for 30 or 40 years, then suddenly “retiring” to do “nothing,” are pretty much gone. Today, many people are being “retired” before they want to be.
Staying at one job, or one company, for even 10 years is difficult because companies reorganize often, and bad managers are career killers.
We all would love to have jobs we enjoy, but we all know someone has to do the job no one wants to do.
If you happen to find a job you love, you are blessed. If that job lasts you most, or all, of your career, you are unusual.
Retirement planners tend to look not only at financial issues, but also whether a person is ready to retire. If you had all the money in the world, what would YOU do in retirement? As tempting as relaxation is, it will get old. When it does, boredom is not a pleasant condition.
Vaden quotes Timothy Keller, author of “Every Good Endeavor,” who quotes the Bible: “The book of Genesis leaves us with a striking truth – work is paradise.”
For many, work is paradise only if you don’t have work, and you need work. But, on the other hand, to paraphrase Vaden, whom do you know who hasn’t worked, or doesn’t work, who is worth looking up to?
Our work is part of who we are. It can also consume us. Yet, for most, work has a purpose in life, but it is NOT our whole life. Those who see work for what it is, and use it to make a good life, are perhaps the happiest of us.
The lesson here is to use your work to make you better person. If you are young, prepare for the day when your job disappears. You will probably never know when that day will be.
One way to prepare for a job to go away is to have a Plan B. There are many such Plan Bs out there. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You can work at Plan B when you are not working at your job. If you work at it correctly, you can eventually fire your awful boss.
Vaden asks, “why do we subscribe to this myth that our lives would be much better if we had less work?”
The answer to that is different for everyone. But, when you arrive on your death bed, try to have as few regrets as possible. We should all work at minimizing our regrets.
Peter
HOW WILL YOU RETIRE WITHOUT AN IRA, 401(K)?
#ira #401(k), #retirement #savings
The share of American families that have IRAs or 401(k) retirement plans has spiraled down in the past decade, while the amount of assets in the accounts of people who have them has been climbing during that time.
So reported Tim Grant of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, quoting the Washington, D.C., based Employee Benefit Research Institute. It reported that the percentage of all families with an individual retirement plan, such as an IRA or 401(k), decreased from 52.8 percent in 2001 to 48.2 percent in 2013.
“For many families, individual account retirement plan savings constitute most of whatever financial assets they have,” Grant quotes Craig Copeland, senior research associate at EBRI.
The bevy of concerns these numbers produce is staggering. What will happen to fewer than 50 percent of the 76 million Baby Boomers, who for the next 18 years will be turning 65 at a rate of 8,000 a day? Grant quotes Thomas Mackell, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, Va., who believes many people are unable to save for long-term financial needs because U.S. wages have gone down, not up.
Yet, Grant quotes Mackell, those who have had the ability to save for retirement have benefited from a rising stock market.
Certainly, during the recent Great Recession, many have tapped into their retirement plans early, just to survive. But, they will pay a potentially huge price for that decision down the road.
When one is in middle age and loses a job, and can’t readily find another – or at least one that pays as well as the one he lost – he can feel very desperate. Not only has he lost current income, he potentially has lost the pension he was counting on. Social Security alone isn’t going to provide anyone with a good retirement.
If you are feeling desperate and are tempted to liquidate your retirement savings, stop! Get some financial counseling. Find a way to get through your rough times without sacrificing your future.
Remember, people are living longer. Retirement periods are lasting longer. Don’t let your money run out before you die.
Fortunately, for as many concerns about retirement savings that the ERBI numbers raise, there are many solutions as well. There are many ways to make a potentially great income that have nothing to do with traditional employment. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau.
Not every income solution is for everyone, so examine them with care. But don’t shy away from looking if you believe you have to dip into your retirement savings early.
If you are young, start an IRA or 401(k) immediately. If you can, contribute the maximum amount you are allowed to. It wouldn’t hurt to check out other income streams, too, because even if you have a great job now, don’t expect it to be there for your lifetime.
Most of all, as we plunge headlong into the holiday season, first and foremost, be grateful for the good things you have in your life. If you are having financial issues, don’t hesitate to ask for – and look for — help. Don’t do anything rash with your money. Think not only about today, but the many years you potentially have left to live.
It’s not good to solving a financial problem today by messing up your financial future. The “help” you thought you were going to get in your elder years may not be there when you need it. YOU have to act, and the sooner, the better.
Live as well as you can for as long as you can. Remember, everything in life is about your choices. Choose wisely.
Peter
THE FOUNTAIN OF AGE
Many who are old may wish they were young again.
Then again, others would rather not either relive their past, or be young in this day and age.
Reporter Kerry Hannon wrote an article on aging in the June 29, 2014, edition of USA Today.
Paul Irving, president of the Milken Institute, has a collection of essays on aging from experts across America, titled “The Upside of Aging: Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy and Purpose.” Hannon used these essays to source the article.
“The common spine of their discussions is finding creative solutions to a range of issues from age-friendly housing alternatives and transportation systems to lifelong learning and socially focused encore careers,” Hannon writes.
Let’s start our discussion by paraphrasing baseball great Satchel Paige: “how old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”
Would you want to be 30 again? How about 20? If you are in those age groups, you’ll think about this later in life. Prepare now to live a good, long life and be healthy, wealthy and wise.
If you are somewhat older, closer to retirement, how do you feel about your job? Does it give you any pleasure? Are you counting the days when you could retire?
“Every person will have the opportunity to be ‘right’ for his or her personalized aging,” writes Pinchas Cohen, dean of the USC-Davis School of Gerontology. In other words, we won’t all age the same way. Some of us will have different health challenges. Some of us will work until we die – here’s hoping that you love your work that much. Still, others will struggle financially and others will struggle to find enough to do when they stop working.
Many will feel forced into a situation that they had no control over, i.e. their employer “retires” them before they wanted to go. Though we can’t control those situations, we can control how we proceed after something happens.
The one advantage to being young today is having the time to plan to get older. We can’t anticipate every curve ball someone will throw, but we can have the ability to either catch it, or hit it out of the park when it comes our way. Everyone should presume to be thrown curve balls at inconvenient times.
Those with less time to plan may have to start from scratch at an age at which one should relax. There are many ways out there in which one can start from scratch, no matter what age he is now. To check out one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. You may see a good financial future, that can also give you time to enjoy what you love.
So don’t dread aging – embrace it. Don’t waste time and energy thinking how good life was years ago. Anticipate how good life will be years from now.
We all have different views of the past, and have different ideas for the future. Remember your past fondly, but look with great optimism to the future.
Most of us will live a good, long life. Prepare now for how you will pay for it, how you want to feel as you live it and, most importantly, how you want to enjoy it.
Peter
#retirement bust YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE ALL SET, BUT …
History may judge the years 2007 to 2012, give or take a few years on either end, as the retirement bust years.
People not only lost jobs just before they were about to retire, but also their pensions shrank.
People who thought they were all set for retirement, with a nice, promised pension, got a rude awakening. The monthly benefit on their retirement documentation shrunk considerably.
It was a combination of the economy tanking, and companies contributing less, if anything at all, to their retirement accounts. Added to that, the stock market , which supports most retirement accounts, took a big tumble. The bottom fell out of thenNet worth of everything – companies and individuals.
Even the savviest investor could not prevent what happened in those years, short of taking his money out of the financial markets ahead of time. Any investor who withdraws completely is probably not that savvy. Savvy investors take the ups and downs of the market as an expectation, though no one expected what happened in those years.
So the question becomes not whom to blame for the mess. There’s plenty of blame to be spread around among Wall Street, government and, yes, individual decisions. But blaming wastes energy that should be focused on recovery.
We all have had to rethink retirement. Some of us have told ourselves we have to work until we die. Some of those folks may have other alternatives, but they are not seeing them.
Certainly, some of us have said we have to work past the age we thought we were going to retire. That’s fine if you are in good health personally. But don’t think for a minute that your job will be there for as long as you want it. Companies reorganize drastically and often. The younger generation of workers, when they retire, may brag about how many reorgs they survived, just as the older generation is thankful for the steady work they had.
Speaking of young people, they may want to think twice about ASSUMING they will survive every reorg. It’s great to believe, or even be told, how good you are at what you do and how your employer cannot possibly live without you.
But, you can’t always see into the future. The world changes quickly. Companies are constantly looking at ways to work more efficiently. Lots of good people have lost jobs they expected to have for as long as they wanted to work.
How do we avoid the instinct to cast blame and rethink retirement? First, work on you. Make sure you have a good and optimistic attitude. Remember, those who innovate are usually optimists. It’s tough to see the future properly without believing that all, eventually, will be good.
Secondly, think about the things you DON’T like to do – things that make you “uncomfortable,” or so you believe. Give them a try. Then, try them again, and again etc. This will take you out of your comfort zone, where you may have to go, eventually, to survive.
Thirdly, don’t be afraid to look at something different. The people who lament that they thought they were all set, are many of the same people who tell themselves, “oh, I couldn’t possibly do THAT!”
There are many ways to fight this. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. If you leave your comfort zone to look at something new, you may lose the instinct to cast blame for your troubles, and find a way out.
This may not be your dad’s way to retire, but the world has changed. We need to be part of our own solutions, rather than focusing on how we got into trouble.
Think of it this way: the federal government bails out some companies because innocent people would get hurt if they didn’t. But they won’t bail you out as an individual if you get hurt. You have to bail yourself out. You might not only bail yourself out, but prosper in many ways in the process.
Peter
WEALTH CONCENTRATED IN FEWER HANDS
The goal of past generations is to have the next generation be better off than they were.
Many of us can remember a time when, if we worked hard, we advanced. If we had a job and behaved on the job, we could work as long as we wanted, retire when we got older and have a few good years of leisure as a reward for our hard work.
By most accounts, this was called the American Dream.
The recession of 2008 may have changed everything. We now have a world in which the middle class is shrinking because hard-working people are losing their jobs, and having great difficulty finding another that pays as well – if they find one at all.
Lifestyles are being cut back. Pessimistic views of the future abound. Perfectly good, hard-working people are getting discouraged. Spirits are being broken.
Thomas Picketty, a French economist, draws a picture of consolidation of wealth in fewer hands in his book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century.” New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman calls the book a phenomenon. Krugman wrote about the book in an April 24,2014, column.
Picketty sees a world in which more wealth will be concentrated in a decreasing number of hands. He sees that as a dangerous trend.
No one wants anyone to get paid for laziness. Most people want to work, and want to be paid fairly for what they do. Krugman points out that more conservative economic policies of government are leading to wealth being spread more lavishly on fewer people, at the expense of a majority of others.
Without getting into a debate about the values, or evils, of socialism or capitalism, let’s look at what we have in front of us.
Many of us have gone through a downsizing at work. Companies are learning to operate with fewer people, thanks to technology advancements and other things.
When this happened in previous decades, those who got laid off were reasonably confident they would find work before too much time passed. Today, that’s not necessarily the case. There are millions of people who have been out of work for extended periods, and employers are not hiring them because they have been out of work for so long.
Hence, the capitalistic wealth distribution formula – work=money – is turned on its head. The socialist voice is getting louder. In other words: more heavily tax those few who have benefitted from this, to cover those that they injured in the process.
But there may be a better way than wealth redistribution through government. Make more widely known the available vehicles for a person to change his life. There are many opportunities out there for people to live their dreams, despite having been hurt by the current economic trends.
For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. At the same time, some people have to change. It was comfortable having a job, going to work, work as many years as a person wanted and retire not only with the means to meet needs, but perhaps to also enjoy leisure.
You can be angry at wealth concentration in a few hands, or you can find a way to gain more wealth for yourself, and help others do the same.
That’s the ultimate in people helping people. If more people did that, proper wealth distribution would naturally occur, without government interference.
It’s always better to earn your own wealth than to take someone else’s. Look for a vehicle that allows you to do that, without impoverishing others in the process. Look for that vehicle you and your friends could ride together — and work together to enrich each other.
Think of the good you can do in the process. Best of all, think of the fun you’ll have doing it.
Peter
YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE ALL SET, BUT …
History may judge the years 2007 to 2012, give or take a few years on either end, as the retirement bust years.
People not only lost jobs just before they were about to retire, but also their pensions shrank.
People who thought they were all set for retirement, with a nice, promised pension, got a rude awakening. The monthly benefit on their retirement documentation shrunk considerably.
It was a combination of the economy tanking, and companies contributing less, if anything at all, to their retirement accounts. Added to that, the stock market , which supports most retirement accounts, took a big tumble. Net worth of everything – companies and individuals — had the bottom fall out.
Even the savviest investor could not prevent what happened in those years, short of taking his money out of the financial markets ahead of time. Any investor who withdraws completely is probably not that savvy. Savvy investors take the ups and downs of the market as an expectation, though no one expected what happened in those years.
So the question becomes not who to blame for the mess. There’s plenty of blame to be spread around among Wall Street, government and, yes, individual decisions. But blaming wastes energy that should be focused on recovery.
We have all had to rethink retirement. Some of us have told ourselves we have to work until we die. Some of those folks may have other alternatives, but they are not seeing them.
Certainly, some of us have said we have to work past the age we thought we were going to retire. That’s fine if you are in good health personally. But don’t think for a minute that your job will be there for as long as you want it. Companies reorganize drastically and often. The younger generation of workers, when they retire, may brag about how many reorgs they survived, just as the older generation is thankful for the steady work they had.
Speaking of young people, they may want to think twice about ASSUMING they will survive every reorg. It’s great to believe, or even be told, how good you are at what you do and how your employer cannot possibly live without you.
But, you can’t always see into the future, especially today. The world changes quickly. Companies are constantly looking at ways to work more efficiently. Lots of good people have lost jobs they expected to have for as long as they wanted to work.
How do we avoid the instinct to cast blame and rethink retirement? First, work on you. Make sure you have a good and optimistic attitude. Remember, those who innovate are usually optimists. It’s tough to see the future properly without believing that all, eventually, will be good.
Secondly, think about the things you DON’T like to do – things that make you “uncomfortable,” or so you believe. Give them a try. Then, try them again, and again etc. This will take you out of your comfort zone, where you may have to go, eventually, to survive.
Thirdly, don’t be afraid to look at something different. The people who lament that they thought they were all set, are many of the same people who tell themselves, “oh, I couldn’t possibly do THAT!”
There are many ways to fight this. For one of the best, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau. If you leave your comfort zone to look at something new, you may lose the instinct to cast blame for your troubles, and find a way out.
This may not be your dad’s way to retire, but the world has changed. We need to be part of our own solutions, rather than focusing on how we got into trouble.
Think of it this way: the federal government bails out some companies because innocent people would get hurt if they didn’t. But they won’t bail you out as an individual if you get hurt. You have to bail yourself out. You might not only bail yourself out, but prosper in many ways in the process.
Peter