You are a very normal, average American.
You know financial trouble is down the road – just taking look at the what you’ve got in the bank and what’s in your 401K proves it. But, the thought of what it would take to fix things is just too much to fathom.
So, instead of dealing with it, you put it off…again.
You put off thinking about it in your twenties because, hey, you had your whole life ahead of you.
You put it off in your thirties because you were having kids and other stuff.
And you put it off in your forties because now putting stuff off had just become a habit.
And now that you can smell retirement (chosen or forced) breathing down your neck, the only thing that’s changed is “later” has gotten a lot closer.
But don’t worry. I’ve got good news for you. You don’t have to make this hard decision now. Or ever.
One day, sooner than you think, that decision is going to be made for you, by someone else.
You’ll get to retirement age, having done little or nothing to prepare for it. Social Security will likely be around to pay you something. Perhaps it won’t be the sum they are promising today; after all, the Social Security figures provided for you online comes with the footnote that, at the current funding levels, the government may only be collecting enough money in fifteen years for eighty percent of the benefits they’re promising today.
So, let’s just say, for example, you’re expected to get two thousand dollars per month in Social Security benefits when you retire. And just for jollies, let’s further assume your spouse gets the same two thousand dollars per month. Can you both live on four thousand dollars per month?
Oh, but did I tell you that you’re going to have to pay for whatever Medicare coverage costs at that time and whatever taxes are due then? So, a bit less than four thousand dollars per month. Maybe thirty-five hundred dollars?
So, what’s the difference between what you make and spend now and that three thousand, five-hundred-dollar figure? A little? A lot?
If it’s a lot, you’ve got the opportunity to make a decision. But you don’t have the opportunity to choose reality – it’s coming.
If you want the opportunity to shape your future, to make that gap between your working lifestyle and your retirement lifestyle as small as possible, you’ll have to make some significant and likely somewhat painful changes now.
Or you can live with whatever comes down the road.
Either make hard choices now, or have harder choices made for you, down the road.
Your choice.
