Often times in our adventures on earth, delays do happen but at the point the reality is dawn that one is behind, the only option is to re-plan, buckle up and speed up in order to recover the lost grounds. Please note, at the stage you discovered a delay, mere movement will no longer suffice. Extra speed at such season will need be added to make life more meaningful and the future secured. You can’t expect to Johnnie Walker into retirement and live like a Caesar in retirement. As far as retirement is concerned, so long as you have delayed your planning, you will need a measure of catalyst in order to arriving at the sure haven and peacefully too. To walk on a wet ground, you must endeavor to wet the ground ahead of you.
ADDING SPEED TO RETIREMENT PLANNING PROCESS:
PSYHOLOGICAL CHANGE OR THE BELIEVE FACTOR: Success in any area of life is possible no matter the seeming hurdles or delays. There is nothing that is lost that could not be recovered, including time. In our time, men have climbed the Everest, reached the moon and visited other planets regardless of the difficulties imposed by natural forces. A seventy two year woman just put to bed few weeks back. In the same vein, retirement is possible regardless of the challenges imposed by harsh economic climate, initial poor planning and outright no planning but only if there’s a paradigm shift in the psychological disposition of a worker at different levels more so as it is apparent that the current job will not last for eternity.
It is high time we jettisoned this idea that planning is not possible anymore all because of previous delays. Please put on the possibility cap. For as long as you continue to believe that retirement and subsequent living in peace isn’t possible, planning will remain difficult.
I have come to discover that the end product of the impossibility thinking is passivity and extreme coldness in taking action at all towards achieving success not only in retirement planning but in all areas of life. If you have the benefits of discussing with some that are comfortable in retirement now regardless of the huge numbers of those that are struggling in retirement, they will sure tell you that planning was never easy. If you change your thinking and begin to believe that you can still retire successfully, I never can tell how that nature will make things work out but what I know so well is that you will achieve whatever you believe, so believe that you can still retire rich and happy and that is exactly what you would see because your believe will ultimately result in an involuntary action in the right direction.
STRETCHING: This is a key topic in one of Anthony Robbins’s optimal performance trainings where he referred to stretching as a principal ingredient in becoming successful in anything; I guess this also applies to retirement but what is stretching? Tony Robbins aptly describes this concept in a simple expression as I quote ‘if you can’t, then you must and if you must, then you can’. Premised on the current harsh economic realities around us and other key factors behind previous planlessness, retirement is not going to come easy but it is possible if only our minds are tuned to it and because it is possible then we must make it happen by force. If all we believe is that I have delayed planning and that things are so difficult such that our take home pay can’t take us home not to talk of retirement, then nothing would ever be done, so to recover from previous lack of plan for retirement, you would need to stretch yourself even if it means to the last elastic limit and how do you do this?
- If your current income is not enough to cater for your day to day needs and yet leave the extras for retirement savings, you might need to take up additional job for additional or multiple streams of income to complement. This would definitely stretch you but you sure need it. This is already happening really because I know of a friend who works as manager in an insurance company who also lectures at weekends to generate additional income. I also know of a lady who is a marketer with an insurance firm but also at her leisure sells ladies’ wears. Another woman that I know borrowed money from the cooperative society of her office and went to Turkey with China to buy dresses; she today owns an average size shop in Balogun market. Do I tell you this? I discovered sometimes back that one of the then security guards in our house was also running okada business when he is not on duty; I also know that a staff in our Akure printing press then also was into similar form of business. What is it that you too can do to complement your current income? The reality of the times require that you dabble and if you don’t know what you can do then you need to stretch yourself by thinking through but note it that there’s sure other streams of income that will not tamper with your current engagement. Did I just hear someone asking to know where the extra jobs to be done are? Then again I tell you, stretch and you shall find.
- Stretch yourself by cutting all channels of wasteful spending just to make sure that the so required excess is created for savings purposes. You might need to start with your call cards, then quality of phones and so many like that you can think of. My wife just told me as I write this that some people brought laptops to her place of work to sell for deduction within one year; what do you need it for was my response because really, she’s got a table top computer even at home while I have a laptop, desktop and a tablet to make them three in the same house, so what does she really need additional laptop for? The times at hand call for judicious use and appropriate distribution of funds just for one purpose, savings for retirement. If you must recover lost grounds in retirement planning, Stretch yourself by cutting down on your alcoholic consumption. May I ask why you are this fat? Then cut down on your food intake. There are so many items to cut down on, please close your eyes and do so. Why should you be burning fuel at this exorbitant rate just to watch television? You would need to cut down on the number of hours of generator use. This is what current realities demand and we’ve got no choice than to give it.
- Stretch yourself by avoiding certain luxuries you can’t afford anymore. For example, if you can no longer afford to pay for private school of your children why not consider public schools with the combined option of hiring a private teacher to see which is cheaper? Who says you can’t even be your children’s teacher? I know of a family where the husband is a medical doctor and the wife a school teacher, these two even before times became this hard chose to take up the challenge of tutoring their kids themselves while the kids attend public schools where the mother of the house works. I have a friend who in the real sense of it could be said to be rich in Ondo state; I was surprised when he told me that his children were in public schools. Do you really need that latest car? Why not consider latest tokunboh instead? Must you live in Magodo when your income now can’t carry the rent? Think. If you cut on those unnecessary luxuries then you can create the desired savings that will carry you at retirement no matter how hard the times might be.
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