When it comes to planning for retirement you really have only a few choices to make for your future. Strategically speaking many people take the approach of “I hope it works.” People really never give their retirement a thought until it’s to late. When they decide it’s time for retirement is when people decide to take a look at their accumulation of wealth for a hard 30 to 40 years of work.

It’s at this time when people realize they have not set enough aside funds to carry them from retirement date to the end of their lives. Realizing that they have to embark on a new career just to compensate for their costs of living and the needs of the individual. Rising costs of living are enough to drive the value of your dollars to an all time low.

With a little patience, goal setting and a needs analysis for the individual needs and the needs of the family through the time of their retirement years. People expect that the flow of cash (income) will never stop; yet with a twist of fate, peoples lives can be affected in an instant. This is some of the areas people need to consider for their goal planning and choosing their “NUMBER”.

What’s the number you ask? The number is the “NET” income you need to achieve after retirement takes place. So let me ask you to stop for a minute and figure out your number. If your current expenses require a monthly budget of $5,000 while you are working; you’ll need to almost double it to cover your taxes, medical needs, and the standard costs of living.

By the time you retire you loose certain advantages, for example your home will be paid off so your tax deductions are reduced, medical costs increase since you loose your benefits at retirement. Certain perks that may have come with working suddenly disappear. What if your income suddenly stopped before you were ready? Have you ever given that a thought? If not you should, at a minimum you need three to six months of living expenses socked away to cover any sudden pitfalls in your income.

So how do you plan strategically for retirement and the normal bumps in the road that can pop up in your path at any given time during the travels of your life? Simply put you need to be proactive in your affairs and handle yourself first. This means you ALWAYS pay yourself first! Then you move about your personal business.

Set up your incoming income stream(s) to work for you instead of against you. The first priority is to take care of your retirement and pre tax dollar savings. By setting up your retirement savings you tackle two birds with one stone. A) you are creating a better future for you and your family; B) you are reducing your tax liability and therefor you are saving on the amount of income tax that you pay.

You need to check with your tax person or CPA to make sure you are not saving too little or too much. This way you are reducing your overall exposure to the tax laws and keeping more money in your pocket.

Secondly you need to make sure you are setting aside 10% of your income for personal expenses in the bank. You need to build a nest egg equivalent to three to six months of monthly expenses to shore up your confidence and set you ahead of the rest of America.

Once you have established these cash reserves you can pull back and your cash savings and start a new stream of income not based for retirement, these are accounts to keep liquid money available for quick access and no penalties. By the way liquid investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, cd’s, and etf’s etc should not be used as the main source for your retirement. Strategically planning for your retirement means seeking out the best opportunities for capital appreciation, preservation, and conservation. What I am suggesting to you are solutions that aren’t commonly expressed or shown to people by the big financial institutions.

These large institutional financial companies are showing you a path for disaster, look at the dot com bubble bust, the most recent melt down in our economic system. People lost thousands to millions of dollars overnight. Stocks are risky in fact one of my mentors called it “legalized gambling” which in fact is the truth.

Your placing your hard earned dollars into a stock(s) which allow companies to leverage your money for there benefit. If they make a profit you share in the winnings; however if the CEO makes the wrong decision(s) it’s your loss! Whew that’s a lot to think about, your trying to create wealth, build your future and all of the sudden BAM!

You just lost your precious nest egg, you’re about to retire and the next thing you know you are faced with the option to keep working and don’t retire or retire and live a miserable, uncomfortable lifestyle. Strategy means you plan through the mini setbacks, allocate & diversify properly. One of the best ways that you can prepare for retirement is by placing “select pre-developed real estate [land banking] into your portfolio.”

When doing so you need to know how to locate the the property, look for the crucial signs of future development, have an exit strategy or use the specialists who know all of these details and then some. Strategic land banking is one of the surest ways to grow your retirement portfolio, avoid risk exposure to the stock market and preserve your capital.

You can invest in companies accounts receivables and many other types of non traditional investments that are more secure than stocks or other types of investments that are not as receptive to market volatility. Your retirement is something you need to take seriously. I have many friends who are approaching their early to mid forties and they have no cash reserves or retirement nest egg to speak of.

They are working a plan that will ultimately set them up for failure and certain disaster. The differences in planning for today versus tomorrow are quite simple. You have the ability to fail in your planning for the short term and still have time to recover from the losses. However when you don’t plan ahead for retirement you are risking the comfort and security for your future.

You’re older and the Government places restrictions on your contribution limits, your age prevents you from having the time to successfully rebuild your retirement nest egg to a point that it can sustain you for the rest of your years.

Sure people bank on the inheritance they may receive I have a friend right now that is doing just that; she’s unemployed and the inheritance monies is being held up for many months while the trustee takes care of paying all of the creditors and lien holders, sell the shares of stock and remove their share of the proceeds before the disbursements ever take place.

Now she is facing eviction, loss of her car and other parts of security that comes with being financially prepared. Creating wealth isn’t rocket science, it’s a simple mathematical equation that simply says it’s not how much you make it’s how much you keep.

More and more people are faced with job loss, foreclosure, bankruptcy and other financial hardships that place unneeded stress, health implications and burdens that can cause sever health problems. Being financially sound creates peace and comfort in your life. Take the time to learn the knowledge, plan your finances strategically and retire with surety and ease.

• Loyalty within your portfolio are you faithful with to your investments When it comes to investing many individuals are leaving more money on the table then compared to the profits that they can realize. Loyalty is the simple practice of being true to your self and to your needs. Just like with a friendship you cannot go out and do......
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• A proven formula for a better retirement The issue of retirement has been surfacing around the social media and content of conversation for sometime now. One of the most outstanding issues is the fact that the corporate pension and retirement plans are going by the wayside. Individuals are being forced to take control of their retirement portfolios.......
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• The Mortgage Crisis and Investments in Real Estate According to regional and state real estate analysts, the factors which previously fueled the housing boom of the last few years are easy to explain. The factors that fueled this boom in the real instate industry ranged significantly, including: - Interest rates that were historically low. - Flight-Risk Safety Investments......

Have you considered using a debt settlement company for your over leveraged credit lines? What’s the best method, service provider and option for you as a consumer? These are questions that many people should be asking before they answer an ad for a company who “specializes in debt consolidation.”

Many companies that perform debt settlement and consolidation have a couple of pitfalls. First off many of them negotiate with your creditors and set up a payment plan, then the funds that they collect every month are accrued and collected for their fees first, then after a period of time up to six months your capital is being applied to their costs and not your debt.

Secondly they are consumer advocates and not necessarily attorney based there for when your creditor decides to sue you for settlement trying to force your hand into financial turmoil or bankruptcy you get dropped from the debt settlement company.

Scenario case and point we had a client in our office who needed a debt settlement service so we directed them to a known source. The payment plan was negotiated and set up for three years. Soon after the program started the clients proceeded to make the required payments. After three months and $7,500 later the clients received a notice from their mortgage company.

They were being sued, after contacting the debt settlement company 3 days before the end of the refund policy they talked it over and decided to file bankruptcy. The couple called the debt settlement company back and they were informed of two issues.

1. Yes we see you have been issued a lawsuit by the mortgage company & that they would not be receiving any refund.

2. You are also being dropped from our program because we do not have an attorney on staff,

Needless to say we had some very, very upset clients for the obvious reasons of loss of thousands of dollars and now being dropped for something totally out of their control. Now they had to file a bankruptcy to save their home, which translated into more of an expense and more headaches.

Another scenario plays the same way; the debt settlement company charges a fee of $14,000 up front on $100,000 in debt. The credit card company receives no payments for several months and issues a lawsuit. The clients are out the months of payment for debt settlement, they received a total of three months and simultaneously were dropped from the debt settlement company because they did not have an attorney on staff.

When it comes to debt settlement you need just as much legal protection in this arena as you would to modify a loan or start a corporation and draw up the documentation. Time and time again people fall victim to companies who are out for their own agenda and business gain.

It’s sad yet people make decisions based on emotions and not necessarily on well thought out or planned out strategy and they wind up with either a band-aid on a sever wound that needed proper medical attention; or they wind up with a situation that is far worse than the one they started off with.

Also besides having the professional advise of an attorney you have the representation to assist you when those creditors retaliate against you. This way you can rest assured that you are protected and safe from those unexpected bumps in the road.

• Can you roll your retirement plan into a self directed IRA? Have you ever considered a real estate purchase to fuel your retirement account? There are several plans that are ready to house real estate. Does your plan have the capabity? 1. A traditional IRA as many benefits. ( the tax benefits are incredible). 2. SEP IRA's. 3. Roth IRA's (tax......
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Yes you can obtain credit in a down market with the proper mindset, motivation, and knowledge. Where do you start especially if you need to acquire it fast and you don’t have many resources. This is a quick guide to preparing for the individual or the corporate credit seeker.

If you want the simple truth you need to be in a tip top shape financially and have the ability without a shadow of a doubt that you are financially able to repay the debt you are borrowing. This is nothing new from previous markets, the new rules are the same when it comes to borrowing.

The new way to obtain credit is to prove that you really don’t need it, however this has been the case since bartering and credit has evolved. People always have said you need credit to get credit and you need money to make money right. It’s no different today.

Guidelines have become tighter and banks and lending institutions started lending less. So with all of these odds against you what do you as a prospective borrower are crucial for your success.

First off you need to have your financial affairs in order, secondly is your credit accurate, have you reviewed it within the last three to six months to ensure that everything on it is accurate? This should always be the first step before applying for any credit.

If you are trying to obtain credit for the first time or after a financial hardship such as bankruptcy or divorce you have some “sub-prime credit card companies” out in the market place who can get you started with a low balance & a higher interest rate.

Now remember these are for reestablishing as well as rebuilding credit. You can always obtain new lower costly credit after six months to a year. Obtaining credit in a down market isn’t as difficult as one might think. The down marketplace makes obtaining credit more challenging and difficult.

However the rules are still the same. Recently I applied for some new credit and I was able to obtain a new line of credit from my credit card company with less than perfect credit. I was able to do this because of the relationship I have established with my current credit card company.

I have also have closed several mortgages which is an indication of banks starting to work through there financial crisis. There is always a way to obtain what you need more than what you really want however people have always seemed to find a way to get what they want rather than what they need.

Now that credit is tighter and banks have cut off a lot of equity lines, credit card companies have folded and new laws on the horizon only time will tell what new requirements will be placed on both businesses and consumers.

Always remember to keep your financial house in order and to keep all of expenditures tracked and allocated. Keep tabs on your credit to ensure your identity is protected. Also optimize your spending so that you can keep enough in reserves to ensure ongoing success with debt elimination.

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