Retirement Planning Destined to Fail-Are You Making this Mistake, too? | How to Retire Early

Retirement Planning Destined to Fail – Are You Making this Common Mistake?

Is your retirement planning in alignment with the ninety-seven percent of Americans that are destined to fail? Are you, like sixty-seven percent of your fellow countryman banking your retirement on the worst performing investment in America? How long have you been buying into broken financial ideas and concepts?

Do those questions have you a little nervous, or even scared? Are you at least a little curious to know if you’re a member of the ninety-seven percent of people whose financial planning will fail them, or are you one of the wise three percent?

No doubt you’re wiser than most. I mean you’re on the Internet looking for answers to your retirement planning. I commend you for that. Most people hardly make an effort, or exert any effort beyond calling their “financial planners” once a year to see how their retirement plan is working. Notice I put financial planners in quotes. That’s another story altogether for another time.

Certainly, there’s more than one approach to successful retirement. If you looked hard enough, you might find a dozen or so approaches when it comes to good retirement planning. Having said that, let’s remove all opinions, theories and conjecture and simply look at the numbers.

If you began a thirty year working career earning $65,000 a year and were guaranteed a one and one-half percent annual salary increase, compounding each of those thirty years, and let’s say you contributed six percent of your income to your company’s 401K plan, and let’s say you work for a really awesome company that will match your six percent contribution dollar for dollar for all thirty years, and let’s say the market was really kind to you over those thirty years and blessed you with an average annual return of seven percent… sounds darn near like a fantasy… uh… err… the “American Dream,” doesn’t it?

What would that “dream” look like in reality at age 65?

Well, after you account for inflation and taxes you would be left with a $35,000 a year income. Oh, and you better not live one minute past your 80th birthday since you will have depleted your retirement funds at the stroke of midnight.

It’s not your fault, though. You only did what you were told to do, right?

This antiquated ideology of retirement planning likely began to be ingrained in your head first from your grandparents, then your parents and then it was probably proved to you in a free consultation on a spreadsheet by your “financial planner.” There are those quotes again.

Listen, their retirement planning doesn’t work. They are not financially educated, they are “sales trained.”

Nonetheless, this fated financial planning continues to wield power, endorsed and enforced by a small army of hypocritical celebrity “experts” who aren’t rich by their own advice. You see… these financial fortunetellers have a dirty secret. They know what they recommend and promote doesn’t work, but selling it does.