How A Threesome Can Improve Your Retirement

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How A Threesome Can Improve Your Retirement

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Why Tim Tebow and Michael Vick Will Lose You Money

September 17, 2012

I'm officially thinking that any man (or maybe women too) who read this headline was thinking this, "Ted, have you officially lost your mind trying to connect the words threesome and retirement in the same headline?" The answer is no, I haven't officially lost my mind although a few people who know me well have always considered me to be an out-of-the box thinker. And for the record, I'm not going to suggest any of you run out and have a threesome although you've probably fantasized about it once in your lifetime. So how can a threesome actually help improve your retirement?

The menage-a-trios that I am talking about here are the three players you need to fall in love with to be able to retire successfully. Within the X and Y Generation, the philosophies that have been in many of the major publications will likely fail because they simply talk about statistics and numbers. What most common retirement strategies fail to mention is the psychology behind the strategy and how it affects the person who is trying to make work optional. Here are the three strategies to look for under the covers if you want to understand the threesome strategy.

1. You Must Have A Pension - People who retire with large 401(k) balances, sell a business for a pile of cash, or build up massive sums of money in the bank actually have a problem that they didn't realize they would have when they were building up their money. It's the psychology of "I'm not going to go broke" that actually becomes a detriment to the way people behave when they retire. This attitude is actually a deterrent from allowing people to enjoy retirement because anytime you see the account value go down on your bank account or brokerage statement, you immediately revert back to a mentality that you can't do anything . . . or you might run out of money. I've seen this personally with many retirees who have constant panic and stress as they watch the daily values of their accounts go up and down. Even if you don't have a pension at work, setting up a program with an insurance company to provide you with some sort of guaranteed monthly income when you retire is actually a good thing because each month you will get a check directly deposited in your account. Find anyone you know that had the old traditional company pensions and ask them how happy they are that they don't have to worry about the bond or stock market every day.

2. You Must Have A Paid Off House - I'd be remiss not to mention that I recently attended FinCon12 which had some of the top financial bloggers in the world in attendance. I met at least a 1/2 dozen people under the age of 35 who were 'retired'. The interesting thing is that by purchasing a smaller house and aggressively paying off the mortgage, it gave them the financial freedom to use a smaller capital base and other passive streams of income to technically have made work optional. Either way, you must fall in love with the strategy of paying off your house. When I started in the financial services business, we were always told by managers that people could do better off in the stock market than they could on their house especially if interest rates were low. Forget about the financial analysis to determine which is better, and focus here on the powerful emotional feeling you have knowing that you owe NOBODY! When my mom retired (a 5th grade school teacher) that was my number one piece of advice to her-pay off your house and she did. Today, she still says it was the best decision she ever made.

3. You Must Fall In Love With Work That Keeps You Alive - A few weeks back, I had a car service take me home from the airport. During the car ride, I had one of the most wonderful conversations with a 77 year old driver who reminded me of Alfred from Batman. He actually had a cooler of beers waiting for me in the car, Nutrigrain bars, and several choices of fruit. I shut down my phone and he preceded to tell me about how he has been in and around the car business for the last 60 years. He told me that he actually drove race cars competitively and he still drives cars today as this is his life's passion. He never plans to 'retire', but is truly enjoying his retirement staying active with the work that he loves to do. Why do you have to wait to come alive in retirement if you are dead every day going to work? Seems like that would be backwards. When you love what you do, there will always be a way to make an income stream.

From my headline, I'll bet somebody had a flashback of being Jack Tripper from Three's Company, one of my all time favorite shows. If you have daydreamed from time to time about having a threesome, perhaps these three tips can give you a fantasy you have also dreamed about. The ability to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, without having to really think about money. That's my smart money move for retirement.

Written by:

Ted Jenkin, CFP®, AAMS®, AWMA®, CRPC®, CMFC®, CRPS®

Co-CEO and Founder of oXYGen Financial, Inc - The Leaders in Gen X & Y Financial Advice and Services

Visit www.oXYGenFinancial.net to request a consultation on how to make smart money moves for your future.

Securities and Investment Advisory Services offered through NFP Advisor Services, LLC (NFPAS), Member FINRA/SIPC. Oxygen Financial is not affiliated with NFPAS. NFPAS does not provide tax or legal advice. This site is published for residents of the United States only. Registered Representatives and Investment Advisor Representatives of NFP Advisor Services, LLC (NFPAS) may only conduct business with residents of the states and jurisdictions in which they are properly registered. Therefore, a response to a request for information may be delayed. Not all products and services referenced on this site are available in every state and through every representative or advisor listed. For additional information, please contact NFPAS Compliance Department at 512-697-6000. PLEASE NOTE: The information being provided is strictly as a courtesy. When you link to any of the web sites provided here, you are leaving this web site. NFP Advisor Services, LLC makes no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of information provided at these web sites. Nor is NFP Advisor Services, LLC liable for any direct or indirect technical or system issues or any consequences arising out of your access to or your use of third-party technologies, web sites, information and programs made available through this web site. When you access one of these web sites, you are leaving our web site and assume total responsibility and risk for your use of the web sites you are linking to.

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Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. oXYGen Financial is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS. Kestra IS and Kestra AS do not provide tax or legal advice. https://Bit.ly/KF-Disclosures

This site is published for residents of the United States only. Registered Representatives of Kestra IS and Investment Advisor Representatives of Kestra AS may only conduct business with residents of the states and jurisdictions in which they are properly registered. Therefore, a response to a request for information may be delayed. Not all products and services referenced on this site are available in every state and through every representative or advisor listed. For additional information, please contact Kestra IS Compliance Department at 844-553-7872.

PLEASE NOTE: The information being provided is strictly as a courtesy. When you link to any of the web sites provided here, you are leaving this web site. Kestra IS and Kestra AS makes no representation as to the completeness or accuracy of information provided at these web sites. Nor is Kestra IS and Kestra AS liable for any direct or indirect technical or system issues or any consequences arising out of your access to or your use of third-party technologies, web sites, information and programs made available through this web site. When you access one of these web sites, you are leaving our web site and assume total responsibility and risk for your use of the web sites you are linking to.