When you graduate from school into the real world, it can be a bit startling. The same is true when you graduate from work to retirement. Life comes at you fast.
If you go down memory lane, you may not care to remember what interest rate you paid on your first mortgage. But I’m guessing you didn’t buy your first home to make money. You didn’t buy it to flip it.
You bought your first home to have some shelter from the storm. You couldn’t be a rolling stone. You needed stability. You had mouths to feed.
That’s how I want you to think about investing, especially in and for retirement. You’re not doing it to make a killing. You’re doing it to keep what you’ve made and to maintain purchasing power.
In other words, you need to have some financial shelter from the storm. If there’s price appreciation from dividend growth, so be it, but don’t bet the ranch on that happening with any regularity, especially if you need it to do just that.
Markets tend to be cruel to the needy. It’s the well-prepared survival guy type investors who are ready for the worst, and let the chips fall as they may. Work to save money. Invest to keep it.
Action Line: You learned at a young age how to make money. Now it’s time to enjoy it. When you’re ready to talk about your retirement life, let’s talk. Email me at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com when you’re looking for some shelter from the storm. And click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
Read the entire series here.
