Retirement and "Grumpy Old Men"?

[Chuck D.]

SENIOR MOMENT

A few years ago I had my first true "senior" moment. I know some of you may be thinking "He forgot his pants ... He found a gray hair ... He bought his first nose-hair trimmer ... He got in the car and forgot where he was going" ... Well, you all would be wrong in your assumptions and giggles. My first "senior" moment came when I started thinking about the concept of retirement and what it means. I really began to contemplate what my retirement would look like or could look like. And to tell you the truth, it scared me to death!

I realized I hadn't even begun to calculate the cost of retirement. I think this was partly due to not having any real idea of what it means to be retired. Now truthfully, this was pretty pathetic for me. I had several Grandparent's who were and still are retired. They spend their time traveling and experiencing life in a whole different way then I currently do. However, I couldn't begin to tell you how they paid the bills, plan their days, saved up money to retire, when they quit their jobs, or if this is how they thought their retirement would look! Here I have these great people with a wealth of knowledge, and had never tapped into it. Maybe you don't have Grandparent's like mine or a family member who is retired, but there are other people. Maybe it's someone you know from your Church or a neighbor who lives close by. I have found many Men who I can speak with and their perspectives are priceless. What's really amazing; all of these Men are willing to share their stories. We all know a few older Men who are fantastic story tellers. All we need to do is ask one simple question to start the conversation ... How's retirement?

What a powerful two word question! The answers you receive may surprise you. Some answers will be positive and some will be negative, but all of them will be valuable. You'll hear Real Men speak about the things they did great and the things they wished they had done better. You'll hear Real Men talk about the adventures they took or the lost opportunities which slipped away. Listen closely to all of the answers because these Men are trying to pass along something you can't buy ... Wisdom. A wisdom which only comes from a lifetime of experience.



GRUMPY OLD MEN

A couple of my favorite comedy movies are "Grumpy Old Men" and "Grumpier Old Men." In them Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau play two Men who continue a lifelong feud which began as kids. This feud only gets worse when a couple of new female neighbors move in on their street. But what's really intriguing to me is that both movies are centered around two RETIRED Men. That's right these men are shown enjoying life through a prism which a lot of people say is no longer attainable. However, at times the movie shares the stark realities of the character's financial situations. In one scene, John (played by Jack Lemmon) let's us know what his true retirement picture looks like ~ "What the hell do I know? I'm a 68-year-old man. I got no house, no wife, no pension." What a powerful statement! Here's a man who on the outside who appears to be living a dream retirement, but in truth is barely surviving. How do you want to retire? Do you want to "survive" ... or do you want to "live"?!


I believe a Real Man with Money will want to LIVE! This means we need to plan for retirement and stop winging it. If your living on a Real Man Cash Plan, Debt Free except for your home, and have a Real Man Emergency Fund; then your ready to start investing for your family's retirement. I recommend you start by investing 15% of your gross income. This is different from saving money. Saving money implies your keeping money under your mattress and not planning for any growth. Investing means in the future you expect to have more money than you started with. Of course, putting your money under the mattress means you have very little risk and investing your money means you will have risk. Anne Margret had a quick and profound statement in Grumpy Old Men ... "I also know that the only things in life you regret are the risks that you don't take."

Why 15% of your gross income ... why not more? Simple ... we're not done yet. There are still other things to consider like paying off your home early or investing for your kids college education. (We'll get into those topics in other posts.) What do you invest in? Now that's an interesting topic. I want to expand on this in the future with specifics. For now lets just look at the financial vehicles. Most Men out there can invest their full 15% with the use of only two financial vehicles - a Roth IRA and a 401K account. What these account's are invested in is another discussion.

Here's how to divide the 15%:
1. Invest enough into your 401K account to max out your company's match.
2. Max out your Roth IRA contribution limits. (NOTE: these vary year to year)
3. Invest the remaining percentage back into your 401K.

Can I invest less than 15%? ... NO! 15% is a starting point, not the finish line. Later we can invest even more once our home is paid off and we really start to build some serious wealth. I don't care if you think its too much. As a Real Man we've made a promise to stop living like a child with Money. Investing in your family's future is just part of being a Real Man!



REAL RETIREMENT

My last point ... Retirement doesn't mean sitting on the sidelines. It means having the ability to GIVE the one thing you can't buy, sell, create, or find ... We can GIVE our TIME! Who we give our time too is up to each Man to determine ... wife, children, friends, causes, charity, church, etc ... There's no denying, we can only give TIME if we have TIME! Don't live in regret about letting this time pass ... by not being a Real Man with your Money!

[Karen.FastSeo]

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[lyonesfan]

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[Yumaoy356]

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