Have you thought about what you will need in retirement? Will your needs in retirement be the same as they are now? It is rather difficult to predict the future. Research, has shown however, that the average retiree will live some 30 years after retirement. Will longevity create another layer of poverty in America? Poverty may be too strong of a word. If Americans are not prepared financially to live an additional 30 years or more in retirement, they may find themselves without enough resources to take care of themselves. If that is in fact a possibility, who will take care of that increasing population? The burden must fall somewhere generally – state and national government.
It does not appear that organizations, companies or even the country as a whole are putting the kind of serious thought into retirement as they should. There is not adequate timely training and counseling of employees. The rush to usher employees out of the door and into retirement is not enough. The same manner in which we recruit to retain a diverse and high-performing workforce, by equal investment, we must strive to prepare a financially well-prepared retirement population that will not lend to the economic strain of the nation.
I am certain none of the citizens of this great country want to see the portrait of many of our military service personnel displayed over and over again. Brave men and women serve in the military, losing their climbs and often times their lives to return home to face homelessness, joblessness and poor or inadequate health care provisions. If we do not peddle fast to reposition and restructure the way Americans are prepared for retirement, we will realize a similar state of despair.
Every individual’s retirement needs will be different. One thing we do know is that every individual will need enough money and resources to outlast their lives. They will need a plan and the commitment and dedication to implement the plan and stick to it. Individuals will need to understand that they may have to give up something now in order to live a secure retirement. Besides shelter, clothing, food and a depiction of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, every individual will need to be emotionally and psychologically ready to live in retirement. It is different living in retirement than it is living in an active work status. When individuals come out of the workplace in retirement, they are not the same as they were when they went into the workplace. Many things have changed. Youth has been replaced with maturity some call old-age. Small earnings have been replaced with larger earnings. No debt has been replaced with perhaps large debts and mortgages. But the most important change of all is the growth of a pension plan and other savings and investments that must now outlive the many years of the life that have left to live.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Dianna Tafazoli
