Work Now To Keep The Retirement Years Golden

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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.

That’s why planning for a good retirement income NOW — rather than trying to cobble one together the year before one retires — is one of the single smartest things that can be done to ensure one won’t be relying ‘on the kindness of strangers, ‘ to quote the immortal Blanche DuBois of Tennessee Williams ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ fame. Making little changes to savings and investing activities in the present can pay off big time in the future.

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.

As an example, take a look at a typical small business owner. He may have founded something like a fine costume jewelry wholesale distributor company, for instance. He has several employees but he’s still looking out for his own finances however he can. Does he have an IRA or two or has he set himself up with a thrift savings plan or a health savings account (good pre-tax advantages to that)? If not, all he’s got to rely on is Social Security, which isn’t good.

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.

So, then: What to do? Well, above everything else it’s necessary to develop a plan NOW rather than try to come up with one during the last five years of our working lives (though if that’s all the time we have, it’s better than nothing). Don’t sit back and assume that Social Security is going to be much more than a very small chunk of the money you’ll need to survive, in other words. Look to your financial health as you would your personal health.

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