Leaving your pension to Luck

Research complied recently has revealed that 80% of people believe that they haven't saved enough money for their retirement and are now starting to panic – or worse they have abandoned hope and are leaving their financial future to Luck.

30% of people aged between 55 and 64 have worked overtime in the last year in a desperate attempt to save more as this age bracket believes that they now have to save 50% of their income for their future.

Many, however have given up and abandoned any hope for a pleasant and relaxed retirement and have decided to leave their potential pension to the state, gambling, a lottery win or inheritance.

I remember in 1988 when I was working at a company where the van driver was 65 years old and said he wouldn't be retiring as he had made absolutely no provision for his retirement.

This came as a complete shock to me then, as my Dad had already retired at the age of 55 financially free, and my Mum followed a few years later and she was only around 50.

I just didn't understand how this man could have not taken care of his future, after all he had had 49 years in which to do it, or at least do something!

What has amazed me over the years since then is that so few people take care of this small detail, because they simply don't consider it important enough. Or more likely just can't be bothered.

When this statement came out, I was surprised, not because that many people do it this way, I was surprised they could actually bring themselves to say it and then not immediately think they have got to do something about it now!

The trouble is they have done nothing at all in their lives regarding understanding money, let alone becoming financially literate.

I consider myself fortunate that my parents brought me up as a saver, unfortunately I lost this skill in my late teens. But I was fortunate enough to recover it in my late twenties.

The problem is people aren't prepared to go and learn about how easy it is to create money and set themselves free, it's simply boring to most people and that's why they don't do it.

If it was interesting enough they would read about it or at least listen to the things that affect their lives when they come on the news.

I myself find making money to be fun and very interesting! When things go right, your on a high, when things go wrong, your striving to make them go right, and trust me the reward getting it right the second or third time is much sweeter than if you get it right first time every time.

We are all different but all of us no matter how boring we may find it have to look after ourselves. There has to be something that inspires people about becoming free from money, I wonder what it is for these people who don't ever do it, I wonder at what point in their life did there future become so unimportant.

The problem is they didn't notice it, and probably never will! I am very grateful that I noticed when I was getting it wrong and it was in plenty of time to affect a positive change in my life.

This is it by the way, this is the life you have now, there's not going to be a second take, get it right now or suffer the consequences.

Ask yourself this question have I done enough, to prepare for the future, chances are the answer is no, mines still no, and I've been doing a lot recently to protect my future. This is not something that can be fixed by a quick visit to an IFA this is something that you need to put time into.

That's why I did this website, it's not just as a hints and tips guide to property investing, as that will only carry you so far on the journey. The point of this site is to plan where you want to go and to help you get there.

In August 2006 I decided that I would take January and February off to plan my life for the next few years. I was fortunate enough to go to a conference in New York with some good friends. There was about 10 of us who went and we had a great time.

When I returned I started to consider what I wanted to do, obviously I had my ongoing obligations, but I could cover my responsibilities in a few hours a week. But I looked at everything I'd done and decided that it was great and I felt good about making clients money, but that this wasn't going to do it for me, as it didn't feed me what I wanted. At the time I wasn't sure what I wanted at all. In those two months where I sat and thought of what I'd do and this great plan I'd unravel, I just couldn't get it together.

It was later on after a seminar in February that I discovered what I wanted to do, and the book and the membership site are part of that plan.

I digress, the point here is that I spent a huge amount of time thinking about my future, trying to see where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do and the person I wanted to become.

During those two months the idea didn't reveal itself to me, it took some outside interference to put me on the path I was looking for. The point being, if you don't look at yourself and start to plan for the future you want, then how do you ever expect to get there?

This is why people are relying on luck to sort it out for them. If they only knew that luck did not exist then what would they think then?

If you still are a believer in luck then I can recommend a book that will cure you of this illness called The Luck Factor, by Richard Wiseman – read it only if you want the luck illusion completely crushed and then have to experience the next few years of de-programming!

Back to the point - I took this time off because I made intelligent financial decisions in the years before I did it because I could. I did it because I planned to be wealthy and because I learnt how to do it.

Anybody can become wealthy over 10 years, so why in 49 years did the man I knew never do a single thing.

Why did he never think, I am going to read a book, or go and ask someone else what should I do. Why is it that 99% of us in this abundant society we live in are already condemned to a life of near poverty when we retire?

What does this say about the education system of this country?

If the stats had said 20% of people were relying on luck for their pension, then this would be appalling! So to have 80% is a tragedy.

And what of the other 19%, well 4 of the 19 will be like my parents financially free as long as they live a quiet life and don't expect too much, and the others will have to rely on family handouts if they want to do anything other than sit at home in a blanket and eat.

If you choose to retire which I think is greatly overrated, then you want to live an abundant retirement having a lot more money than you ever did when you were at work. All you need to do to achieve this is tick the right boxes and follow the right path.

If only my friend had known that he could've educated himself financially, if only the vast majority of our country knew it as well!

Then how much more prosperous would we all be?

The advantage that you all have is that someone somewhere had said something to you about looking after money, so you are all already 'PROBABLY' in the 19%, ie the people who aren't leaving it to the illusion of luck.

So the question is, what are you prepared to do about your plan?

In the next few months the true reason this site is here will start to be explained and the personal development tools that I am putting in place will start to work for your benefit as they did and do mine.

Is it worth you spending the time it will take on you?

Are you worth it?

Or do you want to just close off the section of your mind by choosing to stay where you are and rely on good old luck to sort it all out for you.

Everything we do in life is a choice and all we need to decide is what choices are important to us.