What to do if you haven’t saved enough for retirement
-By Bob Foley, Legacy Transition Coach
I’ve read the various surveys reporting that many Baby Boomers feel that they have not saved enough for retirement. Many say the reason is their 60’s just crept up on them and other expenses like their children’s college education, cost of housing, and the 2008 market crash were obstacles to saving. Some even had to deal with unexpected medical expenses that soaked up all the funds they were trying to put away.
So now as they age the need to retire gets closer and the funds necessary to augment social security just aren’t there. This causes fear, anxiety, and helplessness. It puts many into the dark hole of denial. A place that only causes a downward spiral. Many hold on to the jobs they have and plan to stay with it as long as they can. But they know the end is in sight.
So what can they do?
Well, just like they did in their early 20’s it’s time to stop panicking, reflect and get some advice. Remember when you were first starting out it in your career it felt hopeless as you started to interview for jobs and you were terrible at it. But over time you started to become a better interview, you networked yourself through family, friends, and neighbors to get your foot in the door of the company that eventually hired you.
Well, it’s time to do that again!! But this time you bring a boatload of experience, you actually can show how you can bring value to your employer and finally you have the wisdom of your years to share.
If you’re current situation can sustain you and you like what you do keep doing it for as long as they will have you. When your annual review comes along have a heart to heart with your company. Tell them about how you would like to continue in your role for X years and then pull back into a consulting or a specialist role at market rate for as long as it is good for both. As long as you continue to bring high quality value to your workplace why wouldn’t they keep you around?
The big thing is that you have to set up a trusting relationship with your employer. The head games that you imagined disappear because you are dealing with the company upfront. You are in control. Now, if the company, for some reason has to pull back on their commitment for whatever reason nefarious or not you simply negotiate a good severance and do what you did in the past – network, network, network until that next opportunity appears.
But before you start that networking stage step back, reflect on what it is you really want to do not what you can do because you’ve done it before. It’s the latter that many people jump into that puts them right back into that cycle of new job that lasts a year. Why? Because the company needed to fill a hole quickly and because new skills are needed in your job that you did not recognize you stop bringing value therefore you get replaced.
Today many people I coach feel it’s their age that is against them when actually it is their inability to see change in their short term future and they fail to seek out the new skills necessary to bring value to what they are doing. Remember, the company does not want turnover because it’s an expense. What they want is all employees getting behind the vision and you bringing value that will sustain said vision.
In order to reenter the workforce decide what you really want to do. Research the long term value skills necessary to do that job. Make sure you have those new skills. Or, if not, go back to school or get a certification in order to show your new potential employer that you are relevant and you can bring big value and huge wisdom to their workplace.
But in choosing this new workplace it’s not only about skills. It’s also about how the place feels, what their corporate values look like and finally when you check out their website can you see yourself on that site a year from now. In other words are you representative of their culture.
Now, there are also alternatives to joining “the man” again. In deciding what you want to do you should also check out other ways of generating revenue for Y-O-U!
Are you ready, willing and able to be an entrepreneur? Ok then go talk to several Business Brokers to see what opportunities they have. Or, if what you are looking for, isn’t for sale seek out a Franchise Coach. They can show you the various franchises that may appeal to you.
If you have the “knack” to run your own business successfully the entrepreneur track can help relieve the long term stability FEAR and set you up on a 20 year “revenue for me stream” working as much or as little as you want. There are also significant 401k savings rules that are available to you as an “entrepreneur” that are not there as an “employee” on top of your “revenue stream for me”.
Finally, on top of deciding what you want to do and finding it you need to take care of yourself physically. You need to understand that it is all about “Intake”. It’s about what you eat, how often you exercise and that you seek out, at least yearly, exposure to trained medical personnel to bring surety to the way you look and feel.
If you are in the lacking position we spoke of in the beginning of this piece stop, reflect and take action. You are in control of your life just give yourself the chance to do it right. And if you need some advice or help you can reach me at Bob@legacytransitions.org
Your future is as bright or as bleak as you make it. Just give yourself the chance to decide what you want and then go for it.
Bob Foley left the corporate world, a former CEO and CHRO, five years ago without a clue of what to do next. He checked off his bucket list, traveled extensively, bought a new car and downsized his domicile. That took a year. He then started to fall into the “retiree slump” becoming a way to acquainted with Steve Harvey in the morning and his local pub for lunchtime entertainment. Soon he felt life without purpose, adrift in the sea of FEAR and not knowing what to do next. That’s when a friend suggested speaking to a retirement coach. He did and he liked the advice. So much so he decided that would be his new life purpose. Bob became a Retirement Coach focusing exclusively on his “C Level” peers. The “C Level” is the most vulnerable population because they used to have all the answers and now they have none. They need an After Work-Life Plan and Bob can help..
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