| With the events of the past few years, many people will worry about what Todays Economy and Retirement will mean for them when it is time for them to retire.
Many who have saved for retirement now find that their savings have been decimated by job loss or by the falling stock market.
For them, the old saw about "waiting until the market rebounds and you'll get your money back" may not be a viable option.
That sounds like ok advice if you are young and retirement is a long way off, but what if your retirement is supposed to start in just a few years, or less? Will you really be able to find yourself back where you started from?
So, while you can't go back and change anything that has happened to this point, you can take the reigns of your financial future and make sure that todays economy and retirement don't interfere with one another.
What do I mean by that? Well, mostly I mean that while you certainly can't control everything, you need to make sure you are taking control of those that you can control.
You can't control whether or not you will lose your job. There simply isn't much you can do for that eventuality except save for it. And if you do end up losing your job you will likely lose all your savings and find yourself back to square one anyway.
But, you can have a lot more control over how your money is invested. This is something way too many people overlook... and that mistake has cost them.
Let me tell you a little story; about ten years ago a dear friend of mine came into a lot of money. She did what most people did - she found a financial adviser to invest her money for her and keep it safe.
The financial adviser was a nice, honest and fairly competent person, but she was basically just a commissioned sales person. Now, there is nothing wrong with that but she had no real deep investment knowledge.
She just basically followed along with what the 'experts" recommended. She made most of her money as commissions when she bought or sold stocks from the portfolios of her investors.
That is what many people do, they hand their money over to someone and hope for the best. Unfortunately most of these people don't really know a whole lot. Also, no one you hire will ever care about your money as much as you do.
So what are you supposed to do? You don't have to become a broker and make a full time career out of investing just to protect your money, do you?
Of course not. You don't have to be an expert but you should take a little time to learn more about investing and decide what you really want to accomplish with your investing. Is your main goal to preserve your wealth or to grow it?
One thing that is kind of laughable, when you think about it, is one of the first questions an investment adviser will ask you: what is your risk tolerance? If you say "none" they will put your money away somewhere and you won't earn another cent from that money.
But, if you learn what you are doing, you will find that you can actually lower your risk to virtually zero while still growing that money at above average rates. It's true, and that's what the real experts do with their own money every single day.
So, Todays Economy and Retirement don't have to be working against each other. Just become an educated and proactive partner in your investments and you will most likely see that you are earning more than ever! |