Work Now To Keep The Retirement Years Golden
It’s a fact that you have to work now to keep the retirement years golden. Or at least as ‘golden’ as we can make them, given the current remaking our economic system is undergoing. With both Social Security and Medicare staggering around like great wounded beasts, continuing to rely on the assumption that we’re going to have much of substance from either of those two programs is hardly the way to go about living well in our senior years.
Ponder on the reality of your economic situation whenever possible. Maybe you’re sitting there massaging your legs (that leg arthritis you’ve begun to develop from all those wild things you did in your misspent youth is beginning to grow more evident, right?) and you have an opportunity to read on how we’re not saving anywhere close the amount of money we’re going to need to fund a nice retirement when we’re too old to work hard. That’s bad news.
And what’s got to give is the obstinacy many of us show when it comes to refusing to consider how we’re going to gain a meaningful retirement income. What’s clear is we need to begin thinking and planning for it NOW and not the year before we’re ready to pull the rip cord and bail out of the working man’s airplane. Relying on government social programs for our needs isn’t the smartest thing to do, so investing and saving now becomes doubly important.
There are a couple of key concepts to keep in mind in the midst of all this: Saving and investing. How many out there are doing even the minimum amount of it? And if we’re not doing much of it, when are we going to start? The world’s full of quality advice on how to do so (the Internet and cable TV’s full of business websites and shows), even in the face of current market turmoil. For a fact, quality saving and quality investing is the way to go.
Consider an owner of a fine costume jewelry wholesale distributor company, to use an example of someone in business who may have a few employees but who’s mainly got to see to his financial health. He might not even have set himself up with a 401(k) or some sort of thrift savings plan. Additionally, he might not be taking advantage of a health savings account (which uses pre-tax money, which is a big bonus). What’s he going to do when he retires?
Not having anywhere near the amount of money in savings, or a nicely-funded IRA (Roth or traditional) and a 401(k) will generally doom one to a life of lessened financial abilities. This is especially so if one wants to really get out there and enjoy the golden years. So, refusing to save or invest NOW can really lead to serious financial problems down the road and when it can be least afforded.
The bottom line to all this is that we’ve got to begin now (even if ‘now’ is only a couple years before retirement) in order to avoid problems later, especially when we’re looking to enjoy a nice retirement. No matter how old you are, it’s never too late to start saving and investing and it’s wise to consider your financial health right alongside your physical health in terms of absolute importance.
