Retirement is never urgent until...

If you’re like many people, your retirement savings have not been growing consistently over the years. We’re not referring to the wild fluctuations in the stock market, but rather the fluctuations in our short-term needs. Every once in a while, it just seems like a good idea to yank ALL those retirement savings out and pay for something.

You might need to pay for a down payment. You might need to pay off some credit card debt that’s nagging at you. You might want to ‘bugger off to Europe’ as Rick did some years ago. You know it’s not a good idea financially, but you do it anyway. Retirement savings are not designed to bail us out when we need this kind of short-term cash infusion but if it’s there…

As financial advisors, we have our ideals. Ideally, you should put retirement funds away and ‘leave it there’. Ideally you should never touch it at all, even when you retire! Why? Because it is the ‘earnings’ from the nest egg that you should be using, never the principal. As we heard one person suggest recently, your principal is like your ‘goose’, and you never kill the goose, because then you’re eliminating all those future ‘golden eggs’ (interest/earnings) it will lay.

As financial advisors, one way we try to prevent people from yanking out their retirement savings is by ensuring there are other ‘short-term’ funds available for emergencies. These are meant to act as a buffer zone against the yankers. It helps, but it doesn’t always work.

One problem is that a distant retirement will never be more urgent than the current cash demands you have. It’s impossible. How can long-term demands be more urgent than a current crisis? So what stops you from yanking out those retirement funds? Their convictions? Simple arithmetic? A more viable alternative?

When a client is bent on yanking out their retirement savings to pay off, for example, some credit card debt, telling them how much they’re going to lose in retirement income in 25 years time doesn’t seem to work. Even telling them how much the tax bill is going to be next year can pale in comparison to the relief the person is seeking from the anxiety over their current debt crisis.

So, the question is how can we provide ‘relief’ and still keep the retirement funds intact? Look at a debt consolidation loan? Review the person’s cash flow and create a debt repayment program? Maybe this will work for a minority of people. In the real world, when people are looking for relief, however, they are looking for relief NOW!!! The easiest way is to yank to retirement funds and be done with it.

So, in the moment, when you are in a cash crunch and seemingly have no other place to go, you will yank your retirement savings. Unless you have anticipated the problem and ‘pre-decided’ that under no circumstances will you access your retirement savings. In this way, you will do a pre-emptive strike on bad financial moves. Further, you will be cognizant of putting yourself into situations where you might risk those long term savings.

The alternative is to invest long-term, make progress, encounter a short-term cash crunch, yank out your retirement funds, survive the problem, invest long-term again, make progress, encounter yet another short-term cash crunch, yank out your retirement funds to get relief…

If you’re locked into an investment cycle like this, your retirement savings have not been growing consistently over the years, and it’s not just the market.

Rick Hoogendoorn has been in the financial services business since 1991. Cheri Crause is a certified financial planner in Victoria, BC. .
www.chericrause.com
rick.hoogendoorn@shaw.ca

Everybody wants to learn how to make money on the Internet. What about saving money for retirement and your future? If you don't do it, who will? Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, recently confronted the U.S. Congress about the cost of future retirement benefits.

You may recall the 1999 Tom Hanks film, "The Green Mile". This film adaptation of Stephen King's novel provides just a couple of comparisons to current economics and Alan Greenspan. Greenspan's comments before Congress sometimes equal the length of "The Green Mile" (3 hours), but his testimony won't evoke tears unless you're a baby boomer, soon to be a Social Security beneficiary.

In "The Green Mile", Hanks plays a prison guard charged with the care of death row inmates. He treats each "death row" convict with care and Southern civility. In order to avoid stretching parallels to the movie, I will observe only that Mr. Greenspan, born in New York City (March 6, 1926; send him a card) is civil when Congressional Committees question his opinions.

"The Green Mile" ends at the hot seat for convicts. Alan Greenspan's February 25, 2004 testimony leads to an economic, political, and social hot seat: Social Security benefits. I suggest you read the full text of his testimony found at: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs estimony/2004/20040225/

Now to "The Green Span" hot seat comments about Social Security:

**We sing Happy 62nd Birthday to the first baby boomers in 2008
**50% of them may retire at age 62
**Everyone's gong to live longer
**Social Security costs will escalate
**Funds to pay may not meet the demand

What does this mean to you? Well, it's motivation to make that site sell while saving toward retirement. Further, every site generating cash flow, may do so for years and years, if managed wisely. This means qualifying for retirement does not force you to retire. Cash flows can continue for your life time.

However, saving for retirement still makes sense. It saves you taxes now and later. Furthermore, an aging population living longer means Social Security benefits may be reduced when you become eligible. So, start saving now by starting any one of the following methods.

**Individual Retirement Account: You may contribute up to $3,000 in 2004, $4,000 in 2005-2007, and $5,000 in 2008 and beyond. When you reach age 50, "catch-up" provisions allow you to contribute an additional $500 in 2004-2005 and $1000 in 2006 and beyond. This means your IRA contribution in 2006 may be up to $6,000.
**If your Internet web site incorporated, you may have an employer sponsored plan. The Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE plan) "SIMPLE plan contribution for 2004 amounts to $9,000. This increases incrementally to an "adjusted" $10,000 in 2006.
**A SAR/SEP and 401(k) let you contribute up to $13,000 for 2004 (the maximum in 2006 is up to $15,000) Employer sponsored plans also allow "catch up" provisions for workers over age 50. For example, an employee over age 50 may contribute a "catch up" contribution of $3,000 for 2004 (the maximum "catch up" contribution is $5,000 in 2006).

IRA accounts and employer accounts may be opened at banks and brokerage firms. Check with your tax adviser and financial consultant first.

Social Security provides for basic needs during retirement. Make sure your resources permit the lifestyle you want by saving for your retirement now.

Ray Randall is a registered investment advisor with Ethos Advisory Services, Essex, Massachusetts http://www.ethosadvisory.com. He writes a weekly newsletter for Ethos Advisory Services, and is the webmaster for Echievements . You may write to him or call (877-895-3756).