Retirement - Have you noticed how many persons have a cough these days?

I had not until my recent trip to West Palm Beach.

At the conference, I begin to realize that there were lots of persons coughing.

There was coughing everywhere, in the mall, in the restaurants, in the hotel's hallways and in the elevators. But what stood out to me was the plane ride back, ten of the fourteen passengers on board were coughing and before I knew it I was coughing.

The unfortunate thing is that most of us including me don't usually take a cough seriously. But this all change for me when I read a recent Newsweek article which indicated that 60,000 American men die each year from lung related diseases such as Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis.

All of which are treatable but as you know we men just don't take coughing seriously and by the time we seek medical treatment it's too late.

So if you or a love one has a cough get it checked as soon as possible!

Another mistake most persons are making is not taking their retirement planning seriously!

This is the worst mistake you can make about your retirement. Even if you are very young, your retirement planning should be a serious priority.

By starting early, you can take control of both your health and financial future and be able to retire early.

Unfortunately a lot of persons feel that they have plenty of time to worry about retirement planning once they have their home, put their children through college and buy the new Mercedes. But my answer to you is to think about the life style you might want to keep once your paycheck stops. How long can you really live without a paycheck?

The reality is that:

1.  95% of all Bahamians will retire not being able to afford their retirement after working for 40 years.
2.  66% of all RETIREES will have to KEEP WORKING because theycan't afford not to.
3.  An increasing number of retiring Bahamians will bedependent upon the government, their families or charity for support.
4.  Although most Bahamians will work an average of 80,000hours during their working years, few spend more than a day preparing for their retirement.

These reasons are why it is so important to take your retirement planning seriously. You will not be able to count on National Insurance or your company's pension plan (for the 20% of Bahamians that have). If you plan to kick back on the porch and enjoy your golden years then you cannot afford to let others dictate your future. Let others leave their future to chance and in someone else's hands, but not you.

You must take control of your destiny and the best way to do that is to start investing in your future now! If you're feeling pessimistic about your retirement, that's not a bad thing, especially if that pessimism is based on facts. Then act - do something with that information, despite how discouraging it may seem; because just hoping that everything will work out will not get you where you want to be. You must act and this pessimism may be the impetus you need to get on track.

You must start looking at your health and lifestyle and then begin to do the things that will enable you to be healthier. If you haven't saved enough, the time to act is now.

And do so with the faith that doing something now will improve your situation. What you do today really will make your golden years better.

The workbook "Strategies for Achieving a Comfortable Retirement-Yours"is a useful resource to get you started.

Relying on others to do it for you is a guaranteed way to end up sick, old and broke; and believe me, you don't want to be "S.O.B"

"How much money have you saved and invested over the last five years? If your answer is "None", then ask yourself "Who sold you on that plan?"- A Wise Man

Copyright © 2009 - Glenn S. Ferguson