It has become painfully obvious that we can't count on pensions or the government to take care of us when we retire, we must do it ourselves. That is why you need to Learn to plan for your retirement and the sooner you start, the better.
It is no longer practical to hand off the responsibility of making your money grow to someone else. Truthfully, it probably never was practical.
It's time that each of us stand up and take control of our money. I know, it's scary and daunting. Let's face it, we never received any type of financial education in school.
The best we could hope for was to learn how to balance a checkbook. But, you can and should do it and you should start right now.
You don't need to go back to school and you don't need to become an expert, you just need some basic knowledge so you can work hand in hand with a financial planner or adviser.
In order for this arrangement between you and your financial planner to work out, you need to keep these things in mind:
1. Most financial "experts" actually know only the prevailing theories and get paid when they earn a commission by buying or selling stocks for their clients.
There is nothing wrong with that, but before you turn your money over to someone why don't you ask them how they make most of their money?
If they say through commissions, then you need to ask yourself this question: "Why am I allowing someone to manage my money, who can't even earn a full time living on their own investments"?
"If they are really that good at investing, why do they need to be a commissioned sales person?"
2. You need to be willing to gain some financial education. This doesn't have to be too involved or take a lot of time.
There are myriad ways you can gain that financial eduction. There are courses you can study at home, seminars you can attend and, most conveniently, books you can read.
With so many resources available, why wouldn't you take a little time to learn more about investing so you can work hand in hand with your adviser instead of letting them make all the decisions about your money?
After all, no matter how honest or competent your adviser is, they will never care about your money as much as you do, will they?
3. You may not realize it, but many truly expert investors, those who are wealthy solely from the income of their own investments, learn when not to put their money in the stock market.
When most people are buying into the stock market, and driving up prices, others in the know are quietly moving most of their money to a safer location.
Sure, they might be limiting some of the income they earn on that money, but wealth preservation is their number one priority.
They move their money to a safer place and allow it to continue to work for them and make them even more money until the market cools down.
You and your adviser should implement this type of strategy. That way you won't have to "recoup" any of your investment when the market tanks, you will still be earning money the whole time!
The time you spend gaining some financial education, may make the difference between living comfortably in your retirement or going out and having to get another job.
Which would you prefer? Learn to plan for your retirement today.