Rebreathing Replaces Retirement – 2009
“Age means nothing to me. I can’t get old; I’m working. I was old when I was twenty-one and out of work. As long as you’re working you stay young. Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five years old I still had pimples. George Burns 1896-1996
One of the most disturbing aspects of the recent economic downturn of 2008-2009 is the fact that many people on the horizon of their golden years have just lost about 50% of their retirement portfolios. Hard-earned money put into 401(k), IRAs, stocks and bonds or exchange funds based on the advice of a trusted advisor, virtually gone overnight! Not only have huge sums been erased, but now recession-hit businesses have frozen access to employee 401(k) accounts! Who knows? (401(k) Withdrawal Frozen – Wall Street Journal May 5, 2009)
If that wasn’t bad enough, those who depend on Social Security benefits to make ends meet just got some bad news. For the first time in 30 years they won’t get their COLAs (cost of living adjustments) for 2010 and 2011. Older Americans on fixed incomes who received a 5.8% COLA increase in 2009 will have a hard time keeping up with the cost of living going forward. (Social Security Benefits Not Expected to Increase in 2010 New York Times, May 2, 2009)
Oh well, so much for thinking that it was his money first! Reality paints a completely different picture for us.
Most Americans have worked in the prime of their lives with an eye out for that magical moment when they could leave it all behind to play golf, fish, garden, and spend time with their grandchildren. While many endured jobs they hated hours away from their families enduring the stress of professional responsibilities they didn’t really care about, retirement provided the carrot to cross the finish line.
Unfortunately, that carrot is hard to find these days, as retirement as a social concept is in its waning years. The writing has been on the wall since the 1990s with pension plans discontinued or bankrupt and jobs shipped to other countries.. The 2008-09 recession has changed the retirement scenario from bad to worse. Still, most Americans prefer to keep their fingers crossed that they can be the ones to make it through the retirement window before it closes forever. Lest we forget, the employer of last resort, the federal government, continues to dangle a healthy pension carrot.
The good news is that an alternative already exists. Retirement’s Extreme 21st Century Makeover REINSPIRES. Born from the ashes of the exponential loss of purchasing power in a debt-based monetary system, Reinspirement is an idea whose time has come. Similar to the conventional wisdom that tells us to start saving for retirement when we’re young, re-inspiration offers a similar journey for a lifetime.
Accessing a comfortable independent life in later years requires a willingness to reorganize how we think about money and plan for the future. Rebreathing states that you (with the help of friends, colleagues, and professionals) you can design and implement a work path to meet current and future needs by simply starting from where you are and what you have today.
Cash flow for life is the name of the game, but it doesn’t necessarily mean hard work for life. Part of the challenge of re-inspiration is learning how to put your tangible assets (not fancy digital numbers on a statement) to work for you in the future. Each person’s unique talents, interests, assets, and abilities offer the key to unlocking and developing a personalized re-inspiration strategy.
A commitment to re-inspiration means you’ll blaze a trail beyond current societal expectations about when to hang up the saddle; that is, when private money will stop flowing into your life. If you accept this mission, you will lead by example to provide a critically needed role model for future generations. Since given a central banking system, the value of the currency will continue to be devalued. That means young people will need viable options for their later years even more than we do.