Retirement Planning - Your Attitudes Must Change

"And it is that that we must commit ourselves to change!"- Rt. Hon Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham

It is not often that I am moved by what is said in parliament but this past week provided me with one of those rear moments. A moment so profound that I had to share it with you - And it may surprise you that the comments were not about finance.

Not only were the words gripping but the passion with which they were delivered.

"How is it that a 62 year old man can go to court in The Bahamas on April 15, admit to having engaged in sexual intercourse with a five year old and be convicted and sentenced to 3 years in prison? Where is the outrage? Where is the outrage that our country has one of the highest rates of rape in our Hemisphere?" Those were the words of Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.

I am sure you will agree that those words provokes the need for some serious soul searching. And as the Prime Minister said "we must commit ourselves to change!"

As this passiveness will only continue to erode the moral fiber of our communities and eventually destroy the residual tranquility that is quickly being affected by the other social ill that we have encouraged with the same deaf ear and blinded eyes.

It is up to you to decide and commit to take personal responsibility for what happening in and around your community. I am sure you may feel a sense of helplessness but you would be surprise at the power that resides within you to effectively change what happening around you. For there is no force on earth that is more powerful than a made up mind and no one can do what you can do if you have it!

"The reality is that the Government is only one part of the issue; there are many other parts." quoting the Prime Minister again. But you will find that the most important part is you!

Another critical area where there is considerable complacency and passiveness is Retirement planning.

Today more than eighty percent of Bahamians have done nothing towards planning for their retirement years. Resulting in an increasing number of Bahamians having to depend on the government, charity or family for support. A position that will certainly be unsustainable as you retire.

Therefore, planning for your retirement is important. This is why you can not afford to leave your planning for retirement until you're retiring!

Many retirees regret not having planned their retirement better and according to some analysts-n
"satisfaction in retirement is remarkably greater when you can plan for your retirement."

And the longer you have to plan your retirement, the higher will be the satisfaction and happiness of your retirement. Successful retirement doesn't just happen without being prepared and intentional about your planning.

As you will probably spend about one third of your life in retirement. You will need to be proactive in the way you confront and deal with real life issues. There is much more to retirement than having a financial plan.

Other than financial needs, developing a holistic retirement plan will mean you need to consider and deal with a range of issues. These include:

1. Health issuesnn 2. Legal issuesnn 3. Relationship issuesnn 4. How to make productive use of timenn 5. Apprehensions & Fear about agingnn 6. Life Purpose issuesnn 7. Life Balancenn 8. Relocation issues & Housing issuesnn 10. Legal issues; andnn 11. Safety issues

Your retirement is your responsibility. Nobody else is going to do it for you. You are solely responsible! I believe that doing the proper retirement planning today will improve the quality of your life now and into the future. And if need help the workbook " Strategies for Achieving A Comfortable Retirement-Yours" is a good tool to get you started.

So start now to plan how you would like those years to be and don't let someone else decide how you live your golden years!

"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day."

Copyright 2009 - Glenn S. Ferguson