SPECIAL REPORT 6 MORE DANGEROUS RETIREMENT PITFALLS THAT CAN DERAIL YOUR RETIREMENT This report will reveal the biggest threats to the retirement of your dreams and what can be done about them! You only retire once, so you need to make it count! A Personal Message Dear Friend, In our previous report, we uncovered six obstacles to an abundant retirement, some known and some unknown. In this report, we continue to identify pitfalls to your retirement and the peace and freedom that should come with it. The most important thing you can arm yourself with is information—and not just any information, but information that is focused on shifting the balance of power back where it belongs—to you! After all, it’s YOUR future. You’ve worked hard, paid taxes and saved for retirement. You really do deserve to live the retirement of your dreams. So, let’s continue to the process of exposing the biggest dangers so that you will be better equipped to live an abundant retirement. To your future. “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never Forget Rule No. 1.” ~ Warren Buffet It Doesn’t Have To Be So Hard In our last report, I asked, “What holds people back in life?” The answer, of course, is fear. That fear is what is keeping you from experiencing so much of what life has to offer. In fact, fear is ultimately responsible for keeping us from getting more out of each and every day, both now and in the future. We also discussed the dangers of relying on the traditional “three-legged stool” approach to financial independence in retirement (a combination of Social Security, Pension Plan, and Savings). Before we dive into the six remaining obstacles to retirement, let’s discuss another major retirement mistake. Major Retirement Mistake: Relying On “Traditional” Planning The “traditional” approach to some things is still the best way. However, for many things, the “traditional” has become outdated. In terms of experiencing an abundant retirement, the “traditional” planning approach has definitely not kept pace with the times. Like many other industries (the buggy whip for example), the industry itself is resistance to change, many times because it has its own self-interest at heart. The financial companies that manufacture the retirement product solutions have a “product first mentality.” It’s like the old Russian saying, “If you have a hammer everything looks like a nail.” In this case, YOU are the nail. So, where do you turn for unbiased leadership and direction in order to successfully retire? • Product pushing salesman disguised as “retirement advisors” who only want to sell you on rolling over your hard-earned money into their “amazing” product? Because many of these so-called “advisors” are trained by the product companies, they try and jam their square peg into every round hole. It’s assembly-line, one-size-fits-all retirement planning. • TV, radio, magazines, and newsletters who only care about getting more viewers, listeners and readers, because they have to kowtow to the advertisers that pay the bills so they use scare tactics or play to people’s greed. • Googling the answer on the internet, filled with so-called “advice” from anyone with a computer and internet connection? >>> • HR personnel at your company not trained in navigating the retirement matrix and so afraid of liability that they can’t answer most of the questions you need to ask? • Someone at the Social Security Administration who couldn’t care less whether you understand your options, let alone choose the best one? • Friends, colleagues, family members who have only retired once and may be ready to offer advice that may have fit their situation, but not yours? What’s the result? Many have plans that are not custom designed for their ideal retirement, meaning they will fall short of the kind of retirement they deserve. Worse, some have ill-fitted plans fraught with unknown financial dangers. Poor advice not only impacts your lifestyle, it also impacts your legacy. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that family money rarely survives generations either. That is where the old saying, “From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” came from, meaning that wealth gained in one generation will be lost by the third. Family-owned businesses don’t fare any better. Research shows that 70 percent of family businesses and fortunes evaporate by the end of the second generation, and by the end of the third, that figure increases to 90 percent.1 According to the Family Business Institute, only about 3 percent of all family businesses operate into the fourth generation or beyond.2 Just the thought of your hard-earned money going down the drain when there are options aggravates and frustrates me. So, let’s get you up to speed with the threats you face… 1 Sullivan, Missy. “Lost Inheritance.” The Wall Street Journal. March 8, 2013. 2 http://www.familybusinessinstitute.com/index.php/Succession-Planning/ Dangerous Pitfalls Many people who are either retired or approaching retirement may be in less than ideal, even perilous, positions without even knowing it. Some may face a future of “working til they drop” or perhaps worse, running out of money before they run out of life. Without proper education, some will make “irrevocable” retirement decisions. Wouldn’t you like to know the questions and answers BEFORE you have to make irreversible decisions? There is hope on the horizon, but first we need to open your eyes to some of the biggest threats to your retirement hopes and dreams. • Loss of Core Values • Family Disputes • IRS Tax Traps and Penalties • Lawsuits and Litigation • DIYers: Do-It-Yourselfers • Trusting the Wrong Sources For Guidance Remember, each and every one of these threats CAN be removed with a custom-designed planning process and proper execution. Oftentimes, uncertainty can lead to inaction. Don’t let inaction rob you of opportunities to improve your financial future. Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Sometimes, fear can lead to inaction. Don’t let fear rob you of the future you envision. You can move past the uncertainty and fear and into action. You can live life—every last second of it—on your terms! >>> “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt Threat #1 1 Loss of Core Values Will your great grandchildren know your name, let alone know what your believe in, stand for and value? Do you remember your great-grandparents’ names? It may seem that the idea of the older generations passing down their wisdom, experience and sage advice to their children and their children’s children is outdated. But, according to a recent survey, people still believe in passing down core values to those who will be following in our footsteps. Seventy-four percent of respondents said that values and life lessons are the most important things to pass along to the next generation. How about you? Which would you rather pass along… your money? Or your values? A significant finding of a recent study was that Boomers did not like discussing the one-dimensional topic of leaving an “inheritance” but embraced the idea of leaving a “legacy,” because the latter concept captures more of what really matters in life, such as family traditions and history, life stories, values, and wishes. Another study confirmed that family history and keeping memories alive receive high priority. In fact, 86 percent of Baby Boomers agree that, “it is extremely important to me that future generations remember my parents and what mattered to them.”3 To most of us, it’s not just about leaving our children with a handsome inheritance. I once met with a family who had a successful business that the patriarch of the family had started from scratch. He said to me during our initial conversation, “We want to preserve the wealth; we want to pass our money down to our children and grandchildren.” “Let me ask you a question,” I replied. “If you had the choice between passing down money or values and family unity, which would you choose?” The wealthy man replied, “Family unity and family values are the most important things for us to pass on.” He was delighted to find out that you can actually pass on both! If you haven’t considered yet what you want to pass along to your heirs besides money, now is the time to discuss it with your loved ones. It’s up to you to make sure your true LEGACY is carried on through your children and grandchildren. 3 The Allianz American Legacies Pulse Survey. Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. Accessed September 28, 2015. >>> Threat #2 1 Family Disputes Nothing seems to tear a family apart quite like inheritance disputes. A survey of 2,000 financially successful Americans by Barclays Wealth found that 1 out of 3 said their wealth has caused conflict and dispute in their family.4 A perfect example of good intentions gone wrong can be found in an article from Businessweek entitled “The Dolphins Never Played This Rough.” The article began:5 “In November, 1989, two months before his death, Joe Robbie, owner of the Miami Dolphins, moved to keep the National Football League team in the Robbie family ‘for at least the next generation.’ He established a trust whose primary asset was two partnerships that together owned an 88% stake in the Dolphins. When Robbie died on Jan. 7, 1990, at the age of 73, his family's control of the club seemed secure.