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OK. Here’s the deal. You don’t know how you’re going to feel in retirement. There I said it. Plain and simple. It’s an unknown, unknown. Sure, you think you’ll know how you’ll feel. But thinking is a whole lot different than living. Let me explain.
Your Survival Guy spends hours each day talking with investors just like you. You tell me you’re feeling the pressure. You did your job. You raised your family.
Now it’s a whole different ballgame. The truth is, once college is paid for and the kids are out of the house, the pressure cooker starts whistling. The force of the world comes crashing down on you. Questions are asked. Do I have enough savings? How am I going to save enough?
Boom. It hits you. Will I have enough? Will I outlive my money? Rest easy. I’m here to tell you: I don’t know.
A Stroll Down Memory Lane
Yesterday, in my regular conversation with my father-in-law Dick Young, he said, “Survival Guy, I’ve been preparing my portfolio for my entire adult life. I’m talking back in the 1960s, well before Apollo 13. Let me tell you. You do not know how it feels to be taking income from your savings until you are in it yourself. Let me tell you, it’s hard coming up with cash flow to meet expenses.”
“Now granted,” Your Survival Guy thought to himself, “Taking a Global Express 7500 to Paris isn’t cheap. But if you want to travel on the queen of the fleet, in the cleanest air and a low pressurized cabin in order to be fresh when greeting your friends at Le Bristol, you need your rest, and a dump truck full of cash.”
“It’s a challenge, even for me,” he said. “To scrape cash together.”
“I hear you,” I said.
Action Line #1: Who are you going to trust with your life’s savings? What’s ironic is over 50 years ago Fidelity Investments and Wellington (Vanguard) were customers of Dick’s when working in Boston. Your humble Survival Guy worked at Fidelity after graduating from Babson. Now it’s the custodian for client accounts. We’re the customer, so to speak. That’s a lot of history for you.
Action Line #2: In my conversations with you, Your Survival Guy has a front-row seat to hundreds of retirement lives: The needs, the wants, the desires, and the reality. I have a pretty good idea of how you feel.
Action Line #3: What other team are you going to trust with your life savings? When you’re ready to talk, let me know.
Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.
