Retirement Worries Are For Old People, Right?

Contributed by Elaine Landau

I remember I was driving to work one morning and the DJ was talking about his recent high school reunion. When he arrived and entered his high school gym, he was convinced he was in the wrong place. It was filled with old people.

You’re too young to worry about this stuff, right? When dealing with the stresses of your first job, you don’t want to hear about 401K plans. You want to know how you are going to make your rent, pay your bills, and still manage to have some money for fun. You may marry and sometimes that leads to children. When children arrive, money seems to disappear. As they grow older, the money disappears faster. Before you know it, some financial advisor is asking you about where you keep your retirement funds, and you are drawing a complete blank.

How much is enough?
Ever wonder what you’ll be able to live on when you retire. My grandparents did. They were actually being rather generous with themselves because they anticipated some world travel. After working most of their lives, they thought they could live on $25,000. Not per year. $25,000 period. That was the nest egg that would take them through their twilight years until they entered that gentle good night.

Good night is right. $25,000? That won’t even pay for many cars. But how could they anticipate inflation? My grandfather met Jessie James in person when he was rolling his own in the old west. My grandmother used to carry water in buckets into her house because indoor plumbing was for rich people. Cell phones took the place of party lines. Automation took the place of factory jobs. Wars began. Wars ended. Anyone who could save $25,000 was considered affluent. Not anymore. Even if you anticipate that you will have paid off that 30-year-mortgage, you may have had to refinance along the line for college expenses, unexpected medical expenses, or any number of life emergencies. The stock market can fluctuate wildly. Can you count on those investments to be there when you finally accept the gold watch? Is anyone out there with the answers?

Consult your local credit union.
By developing a savings plan to fit your savings needs, goals, and objectives, you have a road map to follow as retirement approaches. Financial specialists can make you aware of many investment plans and a variety of products and services that can be flexible enough to help you start saving, whether you are 28 or 48.

How does your future look?
A financial planner has access to many computer software programs that can show you your financial status at a glance and can aid in visualizing projected outcomes. Once a plan is established, you need to check in periodically to make sure you are following the path everyone decided was the wisest course. You may have to revise your goals depending on your employment situation and other factors.

Plans are good, until life gets in the way.
Don’t be disappointed if you have a fabulous retirement plan at age 28 and because of circumstances out of your control, you need to start over at 38. It happens. It happened to people who lost their homes in the 1997 Northridge earthquake and floods in 2005. Natural disasters are not always covered by insurance plans. IRAs are sometimes liquidated. It’s not the end of the world, just the end of that particular retirement plan.

If you remain flexible, any obstacles can be overcome and you can get back on the retirement-planning track.

The world awaits…
Retirement can’t come fast enough for some of us. Some of us dread waking up in the morning with no place to go. Perhaps you might enjoy semi-retirement. That is a nice option, especially if your retirement fund is a little short every month.

If you have never worked on a computer, take some basic computer education. There are some wonderful free tutorials that will make you computer savvy in no time. Tutorials for Word, Excel®, Photoshop®, PowerPoint®, and QuickBooks® are just a few that will broaden your mind and increase your expertise. Perhaps a part-time position is appealing. With this kind of training, you could enter the job market on your own terms and still remain semi-retired. With basic Internet training, you will have access to invaluable resources that can make your retirement even more enjoyable.

Planning for retirement does not have to be traumatic. Using common sense, consulting experts, understanding risks and benefits of investing, and keeping an open mind will make the process much less painful, and maybe even a little exciting.

Excel and PowerPoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. PhotoShop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the U.S. and other countries. QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc. or one of its subsidiaries in the U.S. and or other countries.

About the Author:
Elaine Landau is a freelance writer, publicist, web site editor, and television writer with more than 15 years of experience in marketing, advertising, and publicity.