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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Retirement Woes and Common Mistakes

Hey, gang!

I'm coming at you all the way from California today! I've been here since last Monday meeting with clients, catching up with colleagues like Dr. Helen (in Santa Rosa), and presenting at this year's Women and Technology Summit, hosted by WITI (Women in Technology International) at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara. I'm joining another colleague of mine, Ardice Farrow - founder and publisher of Wake Up Women - in two sessions at this conference: "Storytelling - A Powerful Leadership Tool" and "Developing the Natural Leader in YOU!" It's been so exciting and fascinating...I'll be sure to post about it when I return home to Connecticut.

In the meantime, I was doing my usual survey of today's news and was disheartened to see this headline in the Yahoo! Business section:

"Retirement Accounts Have Lost $2 Trillion"

"Ouch" doesn't even BEGIN to cover it.

By the time we reach retirement age or the point in our lives when we're ready to leave our professional careers and focus on doing all the things we never had time for, we rely on our retirement funds to finance us. We've worked hard, darn it, and we deserve to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor, to travel, to relax, to buy a boat...to follow our dreams! But so many people contemplating retirement today aren't going to be able to do that because they simply don't have the funds to leave the workforce.

While there's very little we can do to control economical circumstances, there are mistakes that we can avoid making, to help ensure that our nest egg is healthy and ready to be cracked open when we retire.

I found this fantastic article on AllBusiness.com:

"Top 10 Retirement Planning Mistakes"

Here are the highlights of the list:
Top 10 Retirement Planning Mistakes

1. "Not taking advantage of time."
2. "Not investing regularly."
3. "Not taking full advantage of tax-free retirement accounts."
4. "Poor asset allocation."
5. "Not creating a post-retirement plan."
6. "Forgetting about your 401(k)."
7. "Cashing out or borrowing heavily against your 401(k)."
8. "Failing to consider tax and inflation."
9. "Relying too heavily on Social Security."
10. "Relying too heavily on your company's stock."

I would strongly recommend that you go to the article directly and read through it carefully as well as do your own research on the dos and don'ts of planning for retirement. Your ability to retire might just depend on it!

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1 Comments:

Blogger Isabella said...

These are great things to think about when you're getting closer and closer to retirement. Retirement has become tricky, you've really got to do your planning...the sooner the better!

When you begin to plan, remember one company who will be there with you as you journey down the road to retirement towards your golden years!

AARP is a great source of services and information that can be beneficial to the quality of life. What's great about AARP is that a membership comes with prescription and travel discounts!

AARP has teamed up with talk show host, Cristina Saralegui and made a fun, customizable video and you're just a click away from being the next guest on Amigos Live! Check out http://www.upclosewithcristina.com/video to learn more and make your own video!

Also, you can enter to win an all inclusive trip for 2 to Miami while you're checking out the site! (And even if you don't win, there's still those great travel discounts that come with the membership!)

Definitely check out AARP for yourself or a loved one. There are really are some great benefits to joining!

I hope it's alright that I commented on your blog -- wanted to let you know about the fun video with Cristina and AARP's great benefits. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to email me.

Thanks!
Isabella Coldivar
AARP Ambassador
isabellaAARP@gmail.com

11/13/2008 6:33 PM  

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