Plan 'B' Progress Report

"These things never work!"  How often have we heard that phrase?  You have an idea, you're enthusiastic about it but there's always someone who will try to rain on your parade. The sad fact is that very often the comment may even be justified, there are lots of things that fail.  The failure rate doesn't just affect a few business approaches, it's a very common occurrence in any of life's ventures - If you chose to see it that way.  However, it's worth remembering that it only takes a few verifiable positive results to prove the statement wrong.

I'm inclined to think that there are two ways of viewing the result of any attempt to do almost anything. Some see failure as an end point where others see failure as educational, merely a step in the road to success.  Successful people have failed, not just once or twice but repeatedly until they have it figured out.  As observers, we generally only see the end result, the winning athlete, the hugely successful business person, the incredible invention.  The road of how they got to where their success was acclaimed is so much less interesting to a world raised on 15 second TV sound bites.

So, how is my personal plan 'B' working out for me.  Slowly, but surely, is I think a fair assessment.  The slowly part is that for my particular affiliate program to work, I have to have three lines of affiliates all bringing in a certain amount of sales revenue. Now whereas one line is going great guns, with over six hundred people in the team, I have yet to reach certain levels in two other business lines.  Am I worried, do I consider this a failure - not at all.  It may just take a little longer than I might have wished is all.  The steps I can celebrate is that the three lines are well established and my job is to do everything I can to help them grow. The line with six hundred affiliates, might be considered success in the bank.  The overriding success, is that the plan has been started and my team and I are well on our way. Six months in, we haven't failed, we are six months ahead of anyone who was offered the same opportunity but chose not to join in.  Not only that, but we each have a little nest egg of gold, perhaps small now but accumulating nonetheless.

Financial Plan 'B' Essentials

The new GOLD Rush - A Plan 'B' for anyone.

It's been some time since I wrote here. Time flies when you're having fun and various projects have kept me consistently busy for a few years.  2014 has been an interesting year, as kids get on their feet and start their own families, you find yourself thinking about slowing down a little and maybe taking some time for yourself.  Increasingly the word 'Retirement' enters conversations, and I wonder what I would do if I were not making a good living from my businesses.

Many of my colleagues and friends are telling me that after so many years of working hard at their careers, they find that their pension funds are simply not enough to allow them to retire comfortably and they worry what the future will bring.

Personally I consider myself very fortunate that my own father started a second career in his fifties and as I like to tease him, set a really lousy example by working until be was eighty.  This too got me to thinking.  Why the rush to retire? If we all exit the workforce at age 65 or so, who is going to pay for the services we need?  When I look at my children's circumstances, I see that they are potentially contributing to the wellbeing of four generations. We have to ask ourselves - is this sustainable or even fair?  In less developed societies, a child will begin to be productive at an early age, and grandparents generally contribute up until the day they pass away.  In the west, however, we are still gaining an education, often until we are past 25 years of age and expect to retire at age 55, only 30 years of productivity.  Fortunately not everyone falls into this category but it is still an issue.

Now some might argue and I will agree that after a certain age, the brain isn't quite as sharp, or the bodies reflexes begin to slow, so some careers should allow, perhaps even demand an appropriate   exit strategy.  For some the retirement funds are insufficient, for others savings are tragically wiped out thru illness or fraud.

Two factors affect pensions or any savings for that matter:

1. Even a small amount of inflation will considerably reduce the purchasing power of your savings over time. This is before management or other fees have also been deducted.

2. Almost no one can actually save enough to cover the future cost of living. Banks are quite happy suggesting that to retire comfortably a 'mere' three to four million dollars is all you need. I'm not sure how to do that when taxes are astronomically high to pay for political boondoggles, questionable jet fighters and lawsuits fighting pipelines that no one seems to want.

So what can be done?  Again two simple solutions:

1. Convert some of your paper money to something that is inflation proof

2. Find ways to save more.

My strategy has been to convert some of my paper money into Gold and to earn additional commissions for doing so. This approach addresses both requirements. I can set aside an affordable amount of my weekly cash and buy a small amount of gold.

Comment on this blog, or send me an email if you'd like to know more.