Welcome back, thanks for tuning back in to see what Part 2 of this semi-depressing topic might hold for you! I said yesterday that I spend a lot of time pondering this subject and I do. However, as the reader you are probably thinking that I’m just going to talk about the downside and continue to be defeated. There is a little more downside stuff but I do think that there are some obvious ways that we can strategizes a successful retirement. As with just about everything we as “preppers” do, it will have to include a lot of out-of-the-box thinking. Keep your mind open to what you might be able to apply to your personal situation. We are all at different points in our life and working careers but at some point we all are going to want to stop the wheel and make a graceful exit… Let’s see what we can come up with?

 

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Part 2 -

 

 

  I digress, the point I’m trying to make here is that the “Retirement” game is stacked in favor of the system! They, government and/or large corporations, count on us being to broke or stupid to invest our money and then they can also opt out or we have to stay in the game so long that we are in poor health or possibly even dead before we become eligible for benefits. Those benefits being to low to actually live on if they indeed do come through at all!

 

   What is there left for us to do? We can wait for the lottery Gods to shower favor on us? Bank on social security and a substandard government old age home. Wait, we can count on our children to come through for us! I forgot, many of us do have children that won’t want to see us struggle in old age. The problem with this scenario is that to many of us weren’t there for our kids when they were young because we had to work constantly to keep the bills paid, that included Mom in many families too! I’m not knocking this, it’s what has to be done but it does comes at a cost!

 

   Did our kids see us taking care of our parents in their old age? Maybe, but probably not, many of the old ways of multigenerational co-operation have gone by the wayside. So, why would our children feel obligated to help us pay for our retirement years, even if they were in a position to do so? I don’t hold out alot of hope that our children will be making the same wages that we have enjoyed and currently the job market doesn’t even look real optimistic that there will even be retail jobs for our children to look forward to after their socially expected “College Experience”. The bottom line on the children helping us out issue is that it would be a bad bet to expect much from them in the way of financial assistance. Not because they hate us and want to see us in a bad way, they just won’t be in a position to help if their own expenses aren’t covered!

 

   Folks, with just a few exceptions, most of us will be on our own. We need to make choices now that will pay actual dividends in the future, that’s coming whether we’re ready for it or not. Investments that not only will reduce our tax burden but also reduce our dependence on the systems that keep us all working sun up to sun down!

 

  What am I talking about? Investments like ”LAND” that can be put to use for us now and continue working for us far into the future. Dependancy “SYSTEMS” that are under our control – food, water and even power systems. These are the things that will reduce our need for cash-money today and later in life.

 

  Whenever we have the extra money to put aside in a government blessed retirement fund, of any flavor, we need to remember that we are giving up it’s use for a very long time and making a bet that it will grow in value over that course of time. I advocate taking at least a part of our retirement  investment dollars and putting them to use in a way that is beneficial today and will make our retirement years financially easier. It will require both money and cost cutting measures to achieve a sustainable lifestyle.

 

  I challenge each of you to look around your circle of friends and family. Who do you know that’s retired? How did they pull it off? Are they happily spending those pension checks and walking hand in hand with their spouse down some tropical beach. It is possible that many people will live that dream and if that’s a realistic goal for you, go for it! I mean that, who wouldn’t want to have all of the things the financial advisors have promised? Without a doubt, more of us have earned them than will ever get to enjoy them! 

 

   I suspect that you will find the same thing that I have. Elderly relatives that are making due and pulling together with their children to make life possible. Secretly praying that they die in their sleep before they become a burden on their loved ones… Think I’m being a little over the top? I wish I were but we all know I’m not! I also am not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic! We need to face a hard reality, even if our country pulls out of this economic funk that it’s currently mired in, we will only have what we have when retirement age comes… Taking steps now to ensure a quality of life is very important.

 

   Having an inquisitive personality, I ask those around me what they are doing and not doing for all types of things… I have yet to find a person that has a realistic plan for their retirement. Many people do have the 401K answer down real good and a few are even putting a percentage of their pay in their account. Good for them, they will be money ahead one day! Most though have hopes of the company or government pension. When I ask how much of a pay cut they could take right now and still keep their bills paid, they stumble a bit and most say they really couldn’t take a cut? They always ask me why I asked that question but everyone of them already knew what I was driving at.

 

   The reality is folks that we all will need as much money as possible both now and in the future. If we continue to lie to ourselves about that magic time in life we call retirement, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. Some will achieve this storybook goal but most of us will need to make other arrangements. The sooner we come to grips with this, the more years we will have to put the systems in place that will take care of us when the time comes. It is usually an emergency scenario that we feel compelled to prep for but I offer you all the idea, it is really LIFE we need to prepare for!

 

   Tomorrow I’ll wrap this up with some examples of non-traditional investments that we can all make today. Investments that will pay us back a higher return than any financial instrument being offered by any of the “safe” financial institutions. Maybe some of you have your money with some guru like Bernie Madoff and your hopes are higher than mine for your returns but then again, you roll the dice and you take your chances… I say we take the reasonable steps to assure our success! See you tomorrow!

 

Prepper