Future Challenge – Are you a Gambler or a Squirrel?

Challenge #9

When we’re young, we think we have all the time in the world to save for our later years. It seems there are always more urgent needs than saving. Besides, there are government programs that provide income and medical care for retirees, right?

As we head into middle age, we become more realistic, and we look at what we’ve saved, what we expect from Social Security, and what equity we have in our homes, stocks, and other assets. Many of us see likely shortfalls at this point.

What we do next says a lot about our personalities. Do we invest in speculative stocks and commodities (gold, silver, collectibles), or do we start to put aside money in lower return, but surer vehicles like Certificates of Deposit/Savings Accounts or Money Markets? Do we refinance our homes to take cash out to pay off debt, or to get a lower interest rate and pay off the balance sooner? Do we gamble with our assets, or hoard them?

How about you – are your retirement financing plans more long-term or short-term? Do you tend to take chances or play it safe? How are your strategies working out for you so far?

As part of my retirement theme, I offer this weekly Thursday “Future Challenge” to get people of all ages thinking in general about their futures and/or retirement. Each challenge goes with a post of my own on the same general topic. Hopefully we’ll start some interesting discussions!

If you’d like to share what you think, or post on it, that’s great – and I’d love it if you’d share those thoughts in a post or comment (please tag posts TRS Future Challenge and link to this post) so others can also see them.

If you choose not to share them, that’s fine too – but with any luck, you’ll still gain some insight on where you’re headed (or would like to be), and how you can get the most out of your own journey.

To see my own take on this week’s challenge, see my post A Little BIt of This, A Little Bit of That…