Its hard to pick up a newspaper or turn on the television today without hearing someone talking about planning for retirement. Its the holy grail of earning money, isnt it? The ability to be able to stop working and sit down and rest for awhile. Refreshing, isnt it?
Wrong.
Its a flawed concept from the start. Its an outdated concept from the early Industrial Revolution when employers told laborers, Hey, if youll work for me for 40 hours a week for 40 years...then you can quit and get a gold watch and a pension.
The Million Dollar Mindset: How To Attract The Life You Deserve ::
Why the concept of "retirement" doesn't work. There's a lot of talk in our country about the ability to "retire". That's the Holy Grail for a lot of people,
http://milliondollarmindset.blogspot.com/2007/05/why-concept-of-retirement-doesnt-work.htmlHOME |
That plan hasnt worked since the 1950s. It probably didnt work for your mom and dad and its definitely not going to work for you, either.
Heres the good news: it doesnt have to. Im not saying that you have to work til you die. Im saying that the concept of deferring your lifes pleasures until youre 60+ years old is STUPID.
Consider Timothy Ferriss perspective from his wonderful book, The Four Hour Workweek:
There are at least three good reasons why the concept of retirement is flawed:
1. It is predicated on the assumption that you dislike what youre doing during the most physically capable years of your life. [Tonys comments: This is already an impossible situation. There is no logical reason in the world why anyone would choose to do something they dislike for 50+ years.)
Moving from work to retirement::
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTMLfrom work. to retirement. Information about changes. to help you ease into retirement. If your fund doesn’t offer an income stream which lets
http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/n14967-05-2006.pdfHOME |
2. Most people will never be able to retire and maintain even a hotdogs-for-dinner standad of living. Even one million dollars is chump change in a world where traditional retirement could span 30 years and inflation lowers your purchasing power 2-4% per year. The math doesnt work. The golden years become a replay of lower-middle-class. Thats a pretty bittersweet ending, isnt it?
3. And if the math DOES work, it means you are one ambitious, hardworking machine. If thats the case, guess what? One week into retirement, youll be so damned bored that youll want to stick bicycle spokes into your eyes. Youll probably wind up starting a new company. Or taking another job. Kinda defeats the purpose of waiting, doesnt it?
So, what am I (and Ferriss) saying? That you shouldnt aspire to have a life where you can relax and do as you please? Not at all!
On the contrary, my point is that you should begin living that life NOW. How much sense does it make to work hard for 40+ years so that -- when youre 60+ years old -- you can finally start doing the things you want to do?
Life is not a dress rehearsal. Start living yours today
Pre-Article:Infant Mayhem: 3 Tips for Parenting an Infant
Next-Article:Christmas Mobile Phones Offers: All Round Joy and Prosperity
|
Retirement -- Why it Doesnt Work