Category: Retirement

When you think about retirement, the planning stages seem to be pretty obvious and simple. You work all the years you want or need to, save some of your money, invest it wisely, and then at some point in time, you retire. Now after you do, life is easy, right? You might think so, but before you get surprised, let me give you some retirement warnings.

Retirement should mean no more waking up at dawn, fighting the morning traffic, and dealing with a boss who you almost never agree with but have to deal with every day. Now you get to call the shots and enjoy life on your terms…finally! The plan seems perfect: work until about age 65 and then enjoy the good life of golfing, travel, gardening, and/or being a grandparent.

I just finished watching some really depressing information on CNBC today, information that I know is true, but still shocks the senses out of me when I hear and see it in detail. Americans do not prepare for retirement!

How it is possible that smart people like us (well supposedly smart, that is) just don’t take as much time looking at retirement as they do deciding what to order for dinner from Grubhub? That may be a small exaggeration, but you get my point. We tend to worry about retirement tomorrow a la Scarlet O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind”. So, why are Americans so unprepared for retirement?

So you’re now a forty-something. It kind of sneaks up on you, doesn’t it? Yesterday you were more concerned with what you’ll be doing on Saturday night and who you’d be doing it with, and today there’s the spouse, the kids, the bills, and all of the other stuff that being a grown-up entails. Yes, it sneaks up on you in a hurry and suddenly you’re worried about retirement planning in your 40s. Am I kidding?

Believe it or not, the answer to that question is a resounding no, it’s no joke! That planning of your grown-up life after you stop working has to be done and focused on retirement now, if not even sooner than age forty. The sooner, the better!

Most people refer to their retirement savings as their “retirement nest egg”. In theory that’s the money that is made up from the many sources of retirement income, the many eggs you should be socking away so that when the time comes, you have those eggs to “cook up” a great retirement. I say “should” because reality is that an awful lot of people are leaving their cupboard bare and for a million reasons are not preparing for retirement at all. In fact, I am ashamed to say I have friends and relatives who are in their prime earning years and still have not saved a single penny for retirement!

So much for having a very sage financial blogger in your inner circle!

You may have ignored retirement when in your 20’s or 30’s, but when you are still saying “la, la, la, la, la” about it in your 40’s and 50’s, you are in a boat that is sinking fast. So right now is a good time to take a good hard look at your retirement nest egg and start bailing!