Sunday, April 4, 2010

Putting All your Eggs in one Basket


I thought in keeping with the Easter season a story about eggs and baskets would be fitting. I would like to share a story that my mother used to tell us when we were kids. The story was of the little girl who was taking her basket of eggs to the market to sell and on the way she was dreaming of what she would do with the money she would get from the sale of the eggs. Well if you haven't already guessed, on the way to the market she dropped the basket of eggs and of course they shattered all over the ground. Needless to say, she had nothing to sell at that point and consequently her dreams of spending were squashed. She used to tell us this story to remind us that sometimes even the best laid plans do not work out the way we hoped that they would. The same can hold true when we plan our futures around one source of income. Our basket(job) can drop out from under us and our eggs( source of income) can be gone in a split second along with your dreams and hopes for your future. In this economy why risk your future on one source of income. Putting a back up plan in place will protect you in case your basket drops out from under you. I am building a business that affords me a second stream of income, in case I can no longer work a traditional JOB.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Social Security.."will we or won't we collect"

I received my social security statement yesterday. I love getting these quarterly statements. It keeps me living in the real world. If anyone thinks that they will be able to support themselves on their social security payment or retirement plan then they are fooling themselves. No matter how successful you are in your current job or future jobs, you cannot predict what life has in store for you. Will you be able to work until 66 1/2 years of age (social security statistic)? What if something happens to prevent you from working your full potential? And if you are part of Generation Y or younger, you very well may be contributing to a system that will not be available to you at age 66 1/2.
Young people today need a back up plan for their futures. With the high cost of colleges & universities, we are placing our kids in their respective careers already in debt. What chance do they have to recoup before they retire? The only way for them to survive is to teach them how to become entrepeneurs and to control their own futures.