Success Lessons in Retirment

I’ve been in the financial services business for close to 20 years now, I have helped people manage their money and their lives before and during retirement. I have seen the highs, the lows and every variation in between. A successful retirement, like a successful life, seldom happens by accident. It happens by design. I’ve met many smart people in my financial journey through life.  Here are some lessons they taught me:

Wealth comes from choices made, not chances taken

Smart people do not wait for luck to make them wealthy. Every day they nurture habits that others don’t – Live below your means; Pay yourself first; and save & build wealth. Not rocket science, just consistent habits. When you save and invest, you allow your money to work hard for you.

Planning increases your chances of Success

Success in anything comes from planning. Think of any successful business person or athlete – do you think it just “happened” for them?? Smart people plan for retirement – in writing. It’s not magic, somehow writing something down makes it more “real.” People who are serious enough to put their plans in writing are likely to identify where they are today, where they want to be, and what steps are needed to get there.

Happiness is not a direct function of money

This is hard for many to accept; my smart friends understand happiness depends much more on attitudes and behavior than on the numbers in somebody’s investment account.

Earlier Bird gets the Worm

Smart people learn early in life how to delay gratification. If you are in your 20s, retirement seems pretty far away, but time is your friend. A $5,000 investment at 25 will grow (at 10 percent) to $140,512 by the time you are 60. If you start later, like 45, you’ll need to invest $33,638 to get the same result.

Live Now to Enjoy Retirement Later

Smart people take care of themselves. They surround themselves with good people. They identify their passions, their dreams and their goals, and then find ways to make those dreams reality, starting today.

Invest like a Millionaire

Do smart people invest like millionaires or like poor people? No one ever gets the answer wrong, but I’m continually amazed why so many people continue to invest like poor people.

In a nutshell, here’s the difference: If you invest like a millionaire, you carefully choose an advisor who puts YOU FIRST, and has no conflict of interest with you; You invest in hundreds or even thousands of stocks (Diversify); You plan for success (Investment Policy Statement); You stick to it through time (avoiding the emotional roller coaster); you keep your costs low and your expectations realistic.

There are many ways to invest like a poor person: buying “hot” stocks / funds; buying based on advice from the media (they’re not there to make you money, but to make their network money); making decisions on emotion; and failing to plan for success.

Invest in Someone Else’s Future

This is not news to the smartest people I know. Every person who reads this article has something valuable to offer someone. It might be time, knowledge, information, or a helping hand. If you take the time and you give generously, two things will happen: Your life will be richer and more satisfying, and you will make the world a little better place.

You might be surprised by how few people intentionally and deliberately live their lives this way. Those who do are the smartest people I know.

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