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How will you feel in retirement? Good question. I don’t know. And you don’t either. It’s one of those mysteries in life you don’t get to understand until you’re in it. You can do the mental math, make detailed spreadsheets, meet with CPAs, CFAs, or any other acronym out there, review glossy reports, and still be left without a clue if it will all work out. Will the sun come out tomorrow?
When you’re working, at least you have some control. You get up every day for what seems like a lifetime, raise the kids, send ‘em off to college, and then it hits you. You think: “Self, do we have enough to retire on? Will we outlive our savings? We need help. Now.” Because this isn’t only about you. The person you share a bed with wants to know too.
The pressure is a lot. You can’t afford—literally—to make mistakes. You like sleeping in your bed.
Your Retirement Life
In my conversations with you, you tell me what it feels like to be retired. But even Your Survival Guy doesn’t know how I’ll feel when I retire (if ever). I’m Your Survival Guy, not Mr. Easy Breezy. It’s hard out there. I’m not that guy who’s going to promise you the world just to get your business and then suddenly disappear when you-know-what hits the fan. I care about you. I want you to succeed. I want you to have the retirement you deserve.
The other day I was talking with my father-in-law Dick Young. If you know him, you know he’s pretty frugal. Who else do you know who’s been saving his pennies for over an entire lifetime? He said to me, “Survival Guy, you will not know how it feels to draw down your savings until you actually do it. I’ve been writing about investing for-EVER, and even I wasn’t expecting how it would feel. It’s not for the faint of heart.” Click.
In my regular conversations with hundreds of investors just like you, my greatest gift to you, dear investor, is the ability to take a non-emotional approach with your money. I know that sounds cold. But it’s tough love. And it’s exactly what you need. If you can’t take a clear-eyed, non-emotional approach to your savings, then someone you trust has to do the heavy lifting for you.
Action Line 1: Retirement investing? Forget about growth. Put your phone away. Stop checking your stocks all day long. That’s no way to live.
Action Line 2: Instead, construct a portfolio focused on dividends and dividend increases, and invest in a bond ladder that you control. One where you’re not invested the same as every other investor out there in some mutual fund or ETF. I want you to be in the ownership society, not just another mutual shareholder.
Action Line 3: Times are tough. The weather is here, is your portfolio beautiful? When you’re ready to talk, let me know.
Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.
