Yesterday I had a chat with a friend who helps people with retirement planning strategies. We chatted about where I was in 
live, when I planned on retiring and how I was doing with my retirement planning. I have to say it was an eye opening conversation. I knew that I had taken some serious losses during the real estate market crash, and sadly had to tap into my retirement funds. No, this wasn’t even the first time I had done this. I told myself “I am young, I am an entrepreneur, I can earn it back.” Perhaps you’ve told yourself the same thing in the past.
So here I am today with a plan, but not with the plan I believe is optimal. The good news is that I have a plan of some sorts, and one that will continue to grow, and that I can add to. What about you? Do you have a solid retirement plan yet? If you do, then great. If not, then I encourage you to do it ASAP. And you are NEVER to young to start. In fact, the earlier you start your retirement planning, the better off you will be, and the earlier you can retire.
Do you know how many people wish they had started sooner? Do you know how many in their retirement years have been forced to stay working? In some cases, people have to work until they die in order to sustain themselves. It’s no fun to not have enough money to live on after working for so many years. It’s also no fun to feel blessed that you are healthy in your 80’s or 90’s but have stress about outliving your retirement. These are very real scenarios today. Perhaps you have a family member in this situation?
So what can you do? Here are some options.
1. Don’t plan on living on social security. It’s debatable how long it will be around, but it’s not a good plan because you are not in control of it. Furthermore, many people who collect social security still have to supplement it with work.
2. Take advantage of what’s in front of you. If your company offers a 401k where they match the funds, by all means take advantage of this. It’s free money! If they don’t match, you might do better with a self directed plan, but that’s another conversation.
3. Leverage the power of whole life insurance. If you know me, you know I am a big fan of whole life insurance, and for good reasons. A whole life insurance policy can not only give you a death benefit, but more importantly it can give you the ability to pull money out in your retirement years tax free. Don’t let people convince you that you just need a term life insurance because term life insurance does not offer this feature. In fact, I would say that having a while life insurance is less about death protection, and more about retiring well.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I work with a team of trusted advisors that can help answer questions no matter where you live in the US and they have helped countless folks get on track and have peace of mind about their future.