I still hope and plan to work several more years (God willing) but my wife is now retired as of last month. We were in position for her to retire due to sound planning and investment opportunities with our financial advisor, with hard work and sacrifice to save rather than spend through decades, and by just sticking to our plan to save even when it hurt. Our goal was simply to provide for ourselves to allow us to continue to enjoy our comfortable standard of living as long as we live without becoming a burden to our children and to society.
Sticking to the plan was very difficult when the market tanked a few years ago, but I stuck to my guns, didn't bail out of the market, and even doubled down by increasing our position in aggressive stocks. That all paid off big time as the market has recovered so now we are in a more defensive position trying to figure out how to protect what we have for the "Long Haul" (the basis for the name of my blog).
Fortunately a few years ago when the market tanked I had faith in the US economy and figured the market couldn't get much worse so there was no point in bailing out. For those younger than we trying to figure out what to do and how to do it, I admit that it is hard to be optimistic about our economy with this current administration. It seems one of two things has to be true. Either Obama is totally clueless on economics or he is so committed to the socialist agenda that we are seeing the results of exactly what he really had planned but dared not tell anyone before the election. And it might be both.
Sticking to the plan was very difficult when the market tanked a few years ago, but I stuck to my guns, didn't bail out of the market, and even doubled down by increasing our position in aggressive stocks. That all paid off big time as the market has recovered so now we are in a more defensive position trying to figure out how to protect what we have for the "Long Haul" (the basis for the name of my blog).
Fortunately a few years ago when the market tanked I had faith in the US economy and figured the market couldn't get much worse so there was no point in bailing out. For those younger than we trying to figure out what to do and how to do it, I admit that it is hard to be optimistic about our economy with this current administration. It seems one of two things has to be true. Either Obama is totally clueless on economics or he is so committed to the socialist agenda that we are seeing the results of exactly what he really had planned but dared not tell anyone before the election. And it might be both.
The key is starting now if you haven't already and stay with it. There simply is no other way. If you haven't started, don't put it off any longer. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to meet your goals. Start now.
How to beat the market without even trying Mark Hulbert - MarketWatch
