Tell Me Sweet Little Lies
And that is how the Retirement lie was conceived; continue reading to find out the details:
The world is going to end, the US dollar is going to crash, Gold will soar to the Moon, and Pigs will fly over it. Well, we added the last bit to throw in some humour. Are you not sick of the stories talking about how things are only set to worsen? If you add all the proclamations made by these so-called wise men for the past 100 years, the world as we know should have ended several times over.
The fact that it has not points out that all those wise pundits were wise only when compared to the reliable donkey. Life is very short, and most people spend a vast amount of their time focussing on what was, what should be and what could be. How about trying a new approach; enjoy the moment, for that, is all you have. If you have a decent roof over your head, money in the bank and food, you are infinitely better off than over 50% of the world. Let that sink in for a moment. Anything more than that pushes you, even further up the rung of wellbeing.
Seeking Wealth Is not Bad, But
At least seek it with a smile and not a frown. Enjoy the day as a child would. Have you seen how children can have so much fun with so little and how when they grow up they can’t even have half the fun despite having 10 times more? We seek things that we are not even sure we need; the seeds were incepted starting from your first trip to the brainwashing centre (otherwise known as school), and if allowed to grow, these fears turn into gigantic monsters.
For example, each year, the experts keep stating a person needs more and more money to retire; here is the sad fact, by the time the average person retires, he/she will be a living zombie. Free thought will be a thing of the past; worse yet, you work until you are 65, but the average life expectancy in the USA is 78.6 years.
So let’s get this straight, give up the best years of your life, worry throughout that time if you will have enough to retire, and you only have 13 years to enjoy it. Well, it sounds perfectly sane, doesn’t it? Waste the best years of your life, worrying about the worst years of your life. What could possibly go wrong with such a scenario? Keep in mind that the average life expectancy has been dropping in the USA for the third year in a row.
One needs significantly less than the experts claim
The sad fact is you don’t even need half of the ridiculous figures experts are pushing because even at ¼ of the stated figures which are surpassing one million, most of the world’s population stands no chance of achieving the stated goal. The stated goal like everything mass media and the experts push is to get the masses to buy into the lie they are selling and sow the seeds of doubt. Doubt then gives way to fear and paranoia and the rest, as they say, is history.
How do people get their info? Don’t they see the world through a prism? What is this prism for most individuals; TV, and Mass Media? What if the intention were to provide the masses with the wrong image or ideas, therefore no matter how hard they tried to solve the problem, they would fail, as they would be analyzing the wrong data. Think of Pluto’s allegory of the caves.
What is worse fear or the frightened? To be continued subtly in future updates
Courtesy of Tactical Investor
Random Views on Retirement Lies
Retirement is a big fat lie
Today, most people in the world can expect to live 60-70 years; in highly developed countries about 70 to 80 years, and in a few rich countries, more than 80 years. But, for most of human history, human beings have had a life expectancy from birth of only 30 to 40 years. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that human life expectancy moved to 50 to 60 years.
So, the concept of Retirement is a relatively new phenomenon. In my work, I talk to a lot of people over age 50. Some people say “Yes, retirement is a lie because I haven’t saved enough for retirement, so I guess I’ll work forever”. Others tell me “No. I’ve saved money for many years for my retirement – of course I’m going to retire”.
If we’re going to live until our 70s, 80s or more, what are we living for? What are we saving all this money for anyway? What are we working towards?
Three Retirement Stories
Jane worked in retail for a number of years after the kids were grown. She liked to get out of the house, make a little money and socialize with co-workers. When her husband retired after 40 years with “the phone company”, he started to nag her to quit working so they could travel, and so she quit. Full Story
One Big Retirement Lie… And What You Need To Know About It
Over the last few decades, retirement planning, and even the very essence of what it means to be “retired,” has dramatically changed. And while some of the “old” rules of retirement still apply, those looking to enjoy a comfortable retirement in today’s world often need to buck old trends.
Case in point… in the past, the old adage was that, in general, during your working years you should put as much money as possible into your 401(k) and tax-deductible IRA to save for retirement and lower your tax bill. The idea was to get a deduction during your working years, when your tax rate was higher, and to later take that money out of your tax-deferred accounts in retirement, when your tax rate was lower. For some, that’s certainly still true today, but for many others, the reality is that retirement will bring with it a higher tax rate. In such situations, old-school tax-deferral strategies are less effective, and may even be detrimental to your long-term retirement success.
There are a number of reasons your tax rate might be higher in retirement than it is today. Take, for instance, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed last December, which temporarily lowers taxes for most Americans through 2025. If no changes occur before then, however, we’ll see a reversal of that trend, and many Americans will see higher taxes in 2026, even if their income remains the same.
RETIREMENT IS A LIE!
The concept of retirement you have been taught is a lie!
Billions of dollars of marketing, and hundreds of thousands of financial advisors & so-called “experts” will tell you saving 10-20% of your income for 40 years will make you financially independent.
WRONG!
(Don’t worry. I have an answer at the end of this.)
Let me explain why….
Figures Don’t Lie, But Liars Figure
I read an article from Ben Stein, actor and economist, shared an experience he had as a boy in the 1950’s. He told his father (an economist at Harvard) that he learned the world would run out of food in the following 10 years. His father assured him it wouldn’t happen. Ben insisted that “figures don’t lie.” His father’s response was, “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.”
Most of us would say, “It must be true.” However, if you use an online calculator, you’ll see that his math is wrong. You would have $979,000! Almost $200,000 less! He can’t even get that number right. And that’s not adding to the fact that the market DOES NOT get 12% returns consistently. Although the S&P 500 index “averages” more than 10% a year, actual yields are less than 8% a year. And those numbers don’t include fees or inflation. Full Story