“Age doesn’t mean anything to me. I can’t get old; I’m working. I was old when I was twenty-one and out of work. As long as you work, you stay young. Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five it still had pimples. ” George Burns 1896-1996
One of the most disturbing aspects of the recent economic recession of 2008-2009 is the fact that many people on the horizon of their golden years have just lost about 50% of their retirement portfolios. Your hard-earned money put into 401 (k), IRAs, stocks and bonds, or market funds on the advice of a trusted advisor, practically disappeared overnight! Not only have huge sums been erased, but recession-hit businesses have now frozen access to employee 401 (k) accounts. Who knows? (401 (k) Visiting Withdrawal Freezes – Wall Street Journal May 5, 2009)
If that wasn’t bad enough, those who depend on Social Security benefits to make ends meet have just gotten bad news. For the first time in 30 years, they will not receive their COLA (cost of living adjustments) for 2010 and 2011. Older fixed-income Americans who received a 5.8% increase in COLA in 2009 will have a hard time keeping up with the cost of life. going forward. (Social Security benefits not expected to increase in ’10 New York Times May 2, 2009)
Oh well so much for thinking it was your money first! Reality paints a completely different picture for us.
Most Americans have worked through the prime of their lives with one eye waiting for that magical moment when they could leave it all behind to play golf, fish, garden, and spend time with their grandchildren. While many suffered hours-long hating jobs away from their families and enduring the stress of professional responsibilities that didn’t really matter to them, retirement provided the carrot to cross the finish line.
Unfortunately, that carrot is hard to come by these days, as retirement as a social concept is in its declining years. The writing has been on the wall since the 1990s with pension plans discontinued or bankrupt and jobs sent to other countries.. The 2008-09 recession has turned the retirement scene from bad to worse. Still, most Americans prefer to keep their fingers crossed in the hope that they will be the ones to break through the retirement window before it closes for good. Lest we forget, the employer of last resort, the federal government, continues to offer a healthy pension carrot.
The good news is that an alternative already exists. The radical change in retirement in the 21st century is REINSPIRO. Inspiration is born from the ashes of the exponential loss of purchasing power in a debt-based monetary system. Similar to the conventional wisdom that tells us to start saving for retirement when we are young, rebirth offers the similar journey of a lifetime.
Accessing a comfortable and independent life in later years requires a willingness to change the way we think about money and plan for the future. Reinspire states that you (with the help of friends, colleagues, and professionals) you can design and implement a work path to meet current and future needs, simply starting from where you are and what you have today.
Cash flow for life is the name of the game, but it doesn’t necessarily mean hard work for life. Part of the rebirth challenge is learning how to leverage your hard assets (not fancy digital numbers on a statement) to work for you in the future. Each person’s unique talents, interests, assets, and abilities offer the key to unlocking and developing a personalized re-inspiration strategy.
A commitment to inspiration means that you will blaze a trail beyond current societal expectations of when to hang up your chair; that is, when private money stops flowing into your life. If you accept this mission, you will lead by example to provide a much-needed role model for future generations. Given that given a central banking system, the value of the currency will continue to devalue. That means young people will need viable options for their later years even more than we do.
