For all of you who are in the state of denial, consider these facts:  You will get old, you may possibly live longer than your parents, inflation will always be a concern, you may not be in the best of health, the government (or any other entity) will not be concerned about your lack of cash, expense will surface that you did not plan for, and many other things may change.  If you are not already putting away large amounts of cash for your retirement, now is the time to start.

Let me tell you what happened two weeks ago.  While redoing part of my yard, my sprinkler system was broken creating a repair bill of $287. Last week, I woke up on Saturday morning to someone ringing my doorbell.  Opening the door and looking outside, I noticed a virtual river flowing out of my front yard.  While totally unrelated to the previous incident the week before, a main brass valve had sprung a substantial leak and had blown a hole up through the yard.  After shutting off the main water line to my house (this had apparently been going on for hours), I called the sprinkler man.  He arrived, assessed the situation and said he would return on Monday.  Total bill for parts and repair was nearly $800.

I called the water department of my local city and asked for consideration.  Because of strict rules, none was given, but the leak cost me $190 for the water.  So in just two weeks time, my unexpected expense in just one area was nearly $1,300.

Bottom line, when preparing for retirement, don’t forget to “expect the unexpected”.

Content © Rich Brott, 2011

 email to a friend