8 Steps to Dealing with Forced Retirement

Despite what you hear from a few factions of the media, these changes can actually be very good for the United States economy. The industries that were the most generous, it turns out, could hardly afford the largess they heaped upon employees. Now, the current generation is paying for those mistakes with corporate bankruptcies. In the airline industry, for example, many bemoan the former high salaries of the past. Yet, what they don’t realize is that the entire “family” if you were to think of the U.S. that way, is much better off – consider that flying across the country once cost thousands of dollars (that’s not even adjusted for inflation!). Today, businesses and families are able to travel virtually anywhere in the country for a fraction of the expense, resulting in a higher standard of living for everyone outside of the industry. (That’s not to say you can’t grow wealthy while working in such an industry. For more info, read Yes, Virginia, You Too Can Be Rich.)

Yet, the ramifications are clear: These productivity gains are going to be felt by companies. Who owns companies? That’s right – the individual shareholders; everyone from your Grandma, to the local factory worker, and the high powered lawyers on Park Avenue. If you focus on using your money to acquire ownership of America, Inc. you’re likely to do very, very well over long periods of time. If, however, you expect to be able to spend all of your income and still have the comfortable existence of the past, you are going to be sorely disappointed when you grow older as you realize that you are no longer able to work and you can’t pay your heating bill. The great thing about this country is that it comes down to individual choice. You can’t start on that journey until you finally concede, deep down, that the only one who can provide for your retirement is you.