A New Beginning for Retirement Savings Programs

 A New Beginning for Retirement Savings Programs

"The best laid plans..." are said to be the most cliched of all things. There comes a time in everyone's life when they have to start over because something went wrong. Changing your retirement savings strategy from the ground up is not as daunting as you might think.



Being an active participant in the process is the one piece of advise I would give anyone facing the prospect of starting over with retirement preparations.



Just lately, I was in a similar predicament, so I made it a priority to educate myself.



You know, back when I was younger, my family and I enjoyed a comfortable six-figure income and a sizable investment account.



In essence, my husband delegated all financial planning responsibilities to a "expert" advisor.



I opted to educate myself on the subject so I would not need to depend on this expert in the future because their performance was adequate but unremarkable.



Even though I do not pretend to be an expert, I am familiar with the fundamentals of investing and have discovered that most of the advice we receive is incorrect.



I can now sit down with my financial advisors and evaluate the validity of the data they are giving me.



In the past several years, my friend's investment account has taken a major hit.



What many "experts" advise when the market begins to fall is to simply wait it out; this is what her "expert" said.



They assure you that all will be restored when the market recovers.



That might be so, but they leave out the part about how you can sell a bunch of stocks and put the money into something more stable when the market becomes too hot.



Not only will you be able to keep making money even when the market is down, but you will not even have to wait years for it to recover.



That seems more reasonable, does not it? In my opinion, it did. The concept of retaining capital in a collapsing market with the expectation of eventual recovery of losses is something I have never grasped.



When it comes to investing, I am quite cautious. Instead of being greedy and holding on to my money for too long and losing some, I would prefer to sell early and potentially lose some profit.



I do not pretend to be an expert here, but ultimately, this is your money, therefore it is in your best interest to educate yourself on personal finance so you can collaborate with your planner.



Also, think about this before you bring in a financial planner: if they are that skilled, why do not they just invest for a living?



I do not see the point of working for another person. Commissioned salespeople make up the majority of these financial planners.



While that may not be inherently negative, you should be aware of it before giving them any of your money.



Although it is possible to start afresh with retirement planning, it is in your best interest to keep in mind that no one else will ever value your money as highly as you do.

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