How To Never Retire

A reader passed this over to me yesterday and thought it was pretty good 🙂 (Thanks Richard!)

“A 20-Step Guide to a Horrible Retirement” via Business Insider

Would have made for an excellent April Fool’s post had I seen it earlier! Haha…

Here are my favorites from the list:

Keep thinking retirement is so far in the future that there’s no need to act now
Bank on being able to work until age 75 or beyond
Live for today, so you accumulate debt right up until the day you hope to retire
Invest in individual stocks you pick personally. Almost as good: If offered a retirement plan at work, close your eyes and pick the three options that sound best.
Ignore all the retirement planning tools available to you
Never contribute to your 401(k), because right now there are so many better uses for the cash
Keep the same mix of investments at age 60 that you had at age 25. Change is not good.
Ignore the need to provide for survivors. Don’t designate beneficiaries for your 401(k) or IRA.
Make sure all your savings are in tax-favored plans, so they aren’t easily accessible in an emergency
Cancel that long-term-care policy you bought years ago. If you haven’t needed it so far, you likely never will.
Invest heavily in your employer’s stock. There’s no doubt it’s a good company—and not at all like Enron.
When someone tries to explain the power of compounding, don’t bother listening to all that gobbledygook.
When there’s a big drop in the stock market, make sure you shift into bonds. There’s no point sitting around and losing everything.

Hahaha… You can check out the entire list for the rest of the goodies, but needless to say it’s most excellent advice to avoid if you love money 😉

And I’m willing to bet many of you are cringing right now at how many of these you once thought too! I know I can check off a solid 6 or so right off the bat, haha..

But here’s the good news:

It’s never too late to start focusing on that money!!

And I recently got two notes from readers of the blog to prove it:

“I’m in my 60s and finally learning about money. How to deal with it. How to try not to be emotional about it. How to manage it. We have always been a paycheck to paycheck family and raising 3 kids… It’s been a great learning experience reading your blog and looking forward to continuing my money education.”

*****

“I just started saving at the ripe old age of 52 – so crazy. I am a late bloomer… I knew it was smart but I just wasn’t doing it.”

It’s never optimal starting later of course, but life is what it is and sometimes we have our epiphanies at different times. (And just because you’re not good at money btw, doesn’t mean you’re not good at other things that we all suck at!! Perhaps like exercising or eating well or anything else that keeps our bodies ALIVE BETTER which are all more important than $$$?? ;))

But if you’re reading this you’re already on the right track, and here are even more excellent resources to help you along your journey: My Recommendations Page

Some of my favorite blogs off it include:

Cait Flanders (<– minimalism / money / mindfulness)
Mad Fientist (<– early retirement hacks / FIRE tools)
Derek Sivers (<– life and business hacks)
Four Pillar Freedom (<– visual and thinky
Financial Samurai (<– super smart / high income targeted)
Raptitude (<– someone who will make you think all day)
Afford Anything (<– fun / real estate focused)
1500 Days (<– early retirement / humorous)
My Money Blog (<– the first blog I ever read!)
Mr. Money Mustache (<– when you need a good ass kicking!)
A Wealth of Common Sense (<– stocks stocks stocks)
Why You’re Poor (<– I wonder why?)

Lots of ways to ruin your retirement, but it won’t be on my watch!!

Keep stackin’ and cashin’!! Your freedom is counting on it!

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from Finance http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/how-to-never-retire/