Most successful people will tell you that vision had a great deal to do with their success. You don’t want to stand on a level plane with your sight obscured by the forest around you, tentatively groping every step of the way. It is better to proceed from an overview, fully cognizant of where you are but with full knowledge of where you want to be in the future.
You then must map out a strategy for getting there, and you have to stick to your plan over an extended period of time and this requires some discipline. There are those who live in the moment throughout their lives, making no plans while hoping for the best. Time flies as we all know, and many of these people find themselves well into their 50s with the typical retirement age hovering in the not too distant future.
When they analyze there finances they may recognize that Social Security is going to be their only source of income when they reach full retirement age. The fact is this is all too common. The Social Security Administration tells us that approximately one-third of the people who are receiving Social Security say that it comprises at least 90% of their income. There wouldn’t be anything particularly wrong with this if it wasn’t for the fact that the average monthly Social Security benefit is all of $1072 as of this writing.
A recent poll conducted among baby boomers found that the average amount of money that the typical baby boomer has saved for retirement is $40,000. Over a third of Americans have no retirement savings, and about 25% of baby boomers have no retirement savings at all.
So when you hear retirement planning attorneys saying that you should develop a long-term plan if you want to be prepared for the future they are speaking from experience with full knowledge of the above statistics. If you recognize the fact that you have to be proactive about mapping out a strategy for success, take action and arrange for a consultation with an experienced legacy planning attorney.
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