ReadyForFuture

Are You Ready For Your Future? . . . . probably not.

What Do You Want and

How Do You Get There?

A friend of mine we'll call "Ed" was a pilot for Delta Airlines for many years. He worked hard and was looking forward to living out his

golden years sipping lemonade on the back porch and traveling to

various tropical places with his wife. In 2006, Delta announced that

they had under-funded retirement plans by billions of dollars. It

seemed that the pension fund was heading south instead of Ed. Because

of the Pension Protection Act (legislation, passed in August 2006)

Delta may be able to take a little longer to fund the plans but there

will be unmet promises. While it sucks to be Ed, at least he didn't

work for United. In 2004, His colleagues at United Airlines were

devastated to find that their employer had defaulted completely on

their pension obligations. Pilots who had expected $140,000 per year

were now being told that there was only enough insurance to cover

$30,000. That's a yearly pay cut of 110K!!!! or almost 80%.

Another major pension disaster involved Bethlehem Steel in 2003 when

the company absolved itself from responsibility for its severely under-

funded pension in Bankruptcy Court. Although an unavoidable result of

the declining market for steel, the move resulted in nearly 95,000

people, many of whom spent 40 years with the company, losing their

generous health coverage among other things like sanity!!!.

Like United, the fund was turned over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty

Corporation, a company that provides insurance for pension plans.

Unfortunately, due to the sharp rise in the number of companies

defaulting on their plans, PBGC is over stretched by $23 billion

dollars.

The outlook doesn't get any brighter for those that are counting on the government to provide for them during retirement. The effect of the baby boomers on various social programs such as Social Security and Medicare have been well documented but most people still feel like they won't be affected or that they can sneak in before the real shortfall starts. According to a study done by the Congressional Budget Office in 2005, payments made by the Government for Social Security benefits will outstrip the fund's income by 2018. That means that those of you born after 1953 will face reduced payments or a delayed age of entitlement. It is a real possibility that you will

have to wait until age 70 to receive that little brown envelope every

month. (Source: Congressional Budget Office)

Depressed? - Not to worry. I've arranged a sponsorship contract with

Valium and there should be some free samples coming your way.

- NOT!!!

Sorry, you're gonna have to face reality unmedicated!

- but not without help . . .

LuckyLarson.com is here! Let's build your empire with Real Estate.

If you are like most of us, you have some hopes, dreams and expectations about reirement. But, most Americans are in for a very rude awakening when the so-called "golden years" arrive.

So, how can you be better prepared for what should be the best time of your life? What can you do to actually arrive at financial freedom faster? What will you do with that freedom?