“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Jaws, 1975

I read and/or review dozens of articles dealing with economics, saving, investing, and other money related topics every day. The article below illustrates that many financial writers are blind to the fact that the Behemoths they rely on for information create complexity where simplicity is warranted in order to sell more of their investment products.

I could write a dozen blogs just from the brief excerpt below, but I want to focus on just one clause; “…determining types of investments to make and knowing how much they will need to retire…” First, make note that the author addresses two different topics in just a few words; “investments” and “how much they will need to retire” – that could be savings, income, or just plain money.

You can’t spend investments. They will not pay your post-retirement medical bills (estimated at over $200,000), nor your probable long term care expenses (estimate to be over $350,000). Investments are based on a risk-reward algorithm not on your need for money to pay your bills. The Behemoths sell investments for money; investments are not money.

Investments may or may not deliver dividend income to pay monthly expenses. Investments in companies like Enron, Global Crossing, Qwest, MCI and other “highly recommended” stocks produced poverty instead of wealth. Mutual funds rise and fall with the tides of the markets and, if you need money at low tide, you’re just out of luck.

Investment “returns” are a function of assumed appreciation in value and dividends paid. Returns may or may not occur and may not translate into money or income when you retire. Retirement planning is a shibboleth perpetuated by the Behemoths so they can sell you more investments.

What you really need is a system for managing the money that flows through your life; a system that works all the time instead of the robotic thinking that goes into “retirement planning” and assumes that the process is complete when you reach the magic moment of retirement.

The retirement planning model doesn’t work. You need “a bigger boat.” Money for Life as a better alternative to the myth that there is such a thing as retirement planning.

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“Affluent and Non-Affluent Find Similar Roadblocks in Retirement Planning

By Stacy Schultz

April 7, 2008

A quarter of Americans have not yet started planning for retirement, according to a new survey released by Bank of America.

The study of 1,000 interviews surveyed 750 nationally representative Americans and 250 affluent Americans (with $100,000 to $3 million in investable assets). Both groups identified two key areas of confusion about retirement planning: determining types of investments to make and knowing how much they will need to retire. However, non-affluent Americans also cited when to retire and how to start planning as difficulties.”
Read the rest here –> http://www.financial-planning.com/asset/article/563421/affluent-and-non-affluent-find-similar-roadblocks.html?pg

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