A little over a year ago I had an experience with my son and brother that I will never forget and it reminds me of what has taken place in the economy and market.  It was a beautiful peaceful day in October as we went four wheeling.  For a few hours we enjoyed seeing the sights and the beauty all around us.  It was one of those days where you thought nothing could go wrong.  As the others took off down this path, I was putting my drink away and noticed that they had left me behind so I tried to catch up.  The problem came when I increased my speed as I started racing along the path, not seeing too far ahead, going too fast over the mounds of dirt as though they weren’t there.  I knew where I wanted to be but didn’t have a safe plan on how to get there. 

All of a sudden the big one came up and I flew through the air and realized I was in trouble as I was about to come down very, very, hard.  I am so glad I had my helmet on or I would have had some major injuries that could have affected me the rest of my life.  It wasn’t until the $1,500 in damage to the four wheeler and a $1,000 hospital bill that I took the time to analyze the mistakes I had made in my quest to catch up.  I realized the danger in not taking the necessary precautions for the path conditions.  I did not know the road, I drove and acted like I was 20 or 30 years old, not being wise in my decisions like I should have been for being in my 50’s. 

This is what happened in 2008 to many people with their retirement investments.  Retirees should look at the road ahead and see the dangers that might lay ahead and look at the risk factors based on our needs and age.  We have to make sure our money will always be there and last throughout their lifetime. Every day I see people come into my office who took to much risk with their investments and did not consider the dangers of the economy.  They acted like they where in their 20’s or 30’s, taking too much risk.  They needed to first preserve their money then look for growth conservatively based on their needs and age.  

It is important to look over your retirement investments and make sure your money is in the right investments so that you preserve what you have left.  We have programs that will help you down the right financial paths to make sure you can enjoy your retirement and have a peace of mind that you are investing your money in the right places.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Eric Scott. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.