There are times you just want something to work, but it doesn’t. This last weekend, my wife and I were at our cabin in northern Wisconsin. We had built and furnished it about a decade ago. At one point during our weekend stay, it was time to do the laundry, and the dryer that we had purchased 10 years ago, stopped working. It still spun around. It blew air, but it was no longer getting hot. The heating element had gone out.
Unfortunately, the way machines are made now, it’s virtually impossible to get a new heating element installed, especially when you are up north because there is no one to do the service work. I’m sorry, I’m all thumbs when it comes to mechanical devices. So, I wasn’t fixing it. So, we went into town and purchased a new dryer.
The salesperson at the store reminded us of what we already knew. I’m sure that you’ve experienced the same thing with washers, dryers, refrigerators, and ranges. You’re lucky if you get 10 years out of it, even if there is a blazing emblem on the unit that says “Limited 10-year Warranty”. As it was explained to us, the 10-year warranty is on things that will probably never break. It’s all the other stuff you have to worry about. Hence the “limited”.
As you near retirement, do you have a warranty? Do you have some sort of assurance that your retirement is going to be comfortable for 10, 20, 30, or 40 years? Purchasing your retirement is different than purchasing an appliance. If an appliance breaks, you just go out and upgrade to the next 10-year model. Getting to retirement may be relatively easy. Getting through retirement is something completely different.
When I took a look at the emblem on top of our new appliance, it directed us to the company website for further information on the warranty. On their website, I searched for the warranty information and eventually became frustrated. I never found the warranty information, but what I did get was 106 pages of available extended service/warranty plans. They just wanted to sell me something on top of the price for the dryer.
This is the key takeaway that I want you to think about today: don't wait until your retirement to figure out what your options are if your plans go wrong. Don’t wait until you are in the thick of retirement to do an analysis. You need to make certain that you’re good to go, not just for a year or 10 years, but through the remainder of your life.
You want to live as comfortably as possible with the resources you have, right? Have you explored all the options, or are you just winging it? When it comes to mechanics, I’m all thumbs. Are you all thumbs when it comes to your financial decisions? Will you be able to make it “through” retirement? You don’t want to have to contact the ‘retirement store’ and have to ask someone how to fix it once it’s already broken.
It’s important to know what your options are while things are still going smoothly, before it breaks (like our dryer last weekend). If you would like our team to review where you are and if you can make it from point A to point B without giving you a “106-page extended service plans” pitch, then perhaps it’s time for you to schedule your Financialoscopy®.
