A little too late?
06/08/08 01:10 Filed in: retirement
I am 61 and with no prospect of retiring within 10 years.
However, being afraid of the future and the need to fund a life until 90 years old( that how lond my parents lived) and more, focusses the mind very sharply.
No one should base their calculation of growth of their money on say 12 % but on figures much higher, say above 20 % minimum.
Take control of your money and investigate how you can get a great return out of 'Do It yourself' investing in equities or property or you will be in trouble. If you start to do the above early enough you will not need to work longer than 15 years.
PH
However, being afraid of the future and the need to fund a life until 90 years old( that how lond my parents lived) and more, focusses the mind very sharply.
No one should base their calculation of growth of their money on say 12 % but on figures much higher, say above 20 % minimum.
Take control of your money and investigate how you can get a great return out of 'Do It yourself' investing in equities or property or you will be in trouble. If you start to do the above early enough you will not need to work longer than 15 years.
PH
I don't want to be a bag lady
06/08/08 01:04 Filed in: retirement
Peter
I saw the 'light' in 2002 (I am 48 years old now) when I looked at the truly dismal predicted returns after inflation on my husband and my policies and thought to myself - "this is pathetic - I can do better than this." So I cancelled every policy except RA that I am not allowed to cancel, shot all the brokers and took over my own financial future.
The ironic thing is I AM doing better with no financial background whatsoever - I'm in the medical field. All I did was substitute the YOU magazine (I'm kidding) with Fin week as my bedside reading matter. By the way my quest for financial knowledge led me to your website and newsletter and I lift my hat to you that you are the only one I still subscribe to from the early days having outgrown all the others. I love your mail. I always learn something and laugh while doing it so keep writing and keep making people aware that to survive the future they have to take over control of their own finances.
In the beginning I found it time consuming and irritating - I didn't want to study numbers - I wanted to sit back, do nothing and let policies and brokers look after my future. Problem is they won't and the fear of being a bag lady when I'm 60 was all the motivation I needed to become financially literate.
TO
I saw the 'light' in 2002 (I am 48 years old now) when I looked at the truly dismal predicted returns after inflation on my husband and my policies and thought to myself - "this is pathetic - I can do better than this." So I cancelled every policy except RA that I am not allowed to cancel, shot all the brokers and took over my own financial future.
The ironic thing is I AM doing better with no financial background whatsoever - I'm in the medical field. All I did was substitute the YOU magazine (I'm kidding) with Fin week as my bedside reading matter. By the way my quest for financial knowledge led me to your website and newsletter and I lift my hat to you that you are the only one I still subscribe to from the early days having outgrown all the others. I love your mail. I always learn something and laugh while doing it so keep writing and keep making people aware that to survive the future they have to take over control of their own finances.
In the beginning I found it time consuming and irritating - I didn't want to study numbers - I wanted to sit back, do nothing and let policies and brokers look after my future. Problem is they won't and the fear of being a bag lady when I'm 60 was all the motivation I needed to become financially literate.
TO
Retirement Reality
05/08/08 21:44 Filed in: retirement
The following is from a PetesWeekly reader in response the first article in the series. I publish it because it throws a cold dose of reality at those of us messing around with the subject.
The path to 65 is fraught with challenges, and those of us who think we can leave it until later often find that something goes badly wrong en route. (Divorce, bankruptcy and illness are the most common, although I have read emails from folk who have been shot, or been in motor car crashes.)
Whatever the reason, the challenge still remains to survive those last years with some dignity!
I agree with everything you have commented on, and I do hate the banks, the government, Zuma, the state of our country and so on, but we live on day to day in our little world of make believe, believing that everything will come right in the end.
Fortunately for my wife and I, death is not that far away, and it will come as a welcome relief.
Sorry it’s taking you so long to prepare and write your articles, and I’m not sure how you make any money from them, but frankly I can’t fathom how Google makes its money either. I just know that they make mountains of the stuff.
Please keep me on your mailing list, and keep writing your articles. They make very interesting reading.
The path to 65 is fraught with challenges, and those of us who think we can leave it until later often find that something goes badly wrong en route. (Divorce, bankruptcy and illness are the most common, although I have read emails from folk who have been shot, or been in motor car crashes.)
Whatever the reason, the challenge still remains to survive those last years with some dignity!
I agree with everything you have commented on, and I do hate the banks, the government, Zuma, the state of our country and so on, but we live on day to day in our little world of make believe, believing that everything will come right in the end.
Fortunately for my wife and I, death is not that far away, and it will come as a welcome relief.
Sorry it’s taking you so long to prepare and write your articles, and I’m not sure how you make any money from them, but frankly I can’t fathom how Google makes its money either. I just know that they make mountains of the stuff.
Please keep me on your mailing list, and keep writing your articles. They make very interesting reading.