The choice is yours
Catch up with what’s happening on the PA business front
HOW do you want to live when you are retired?
The final choice is yours. When a financial advisor tries to discuss this extremely important matter, most people will try and make a joke out of it. “Oh, I’ve got many years to retirement” or “I’m still young, I will worry about retirement when I get closer to the time” or “my kids will have to look after me”, or various other wise cracks.
The only thing one can do under these circumstances, is to pity these ignorant individuals as they certainly do not know what they are bringing on themselves. I have had the unpleasant opportunity to meet many of these “Smart Alecs” when they were well into retirement and came to realise that they have left it too late.
When you are 75 or 80 years old and discover that whatever you do, you cannot make ends meet, it is certainly too late. So please stop laughing at your financial advisor. I am certain that he/she could have changed your financial situation, if you just gave them the opportunity and enough time.
Some time ago, I saw a comedian on TV, who commented “be nice to your kids, because you will be forced to move in with them one day”. About 50 or 60 years ago, that certainly was the norm. Retired parents would just move in with the children and they were taken care of, happily ever after. I have some bad news for those who were planning to take this route. Matters have certainly changed considerably since those days. It is not uncommon to find daddy, mommy and the three kids moving in with the parents or parents-in-law because daddy has lost his job and their house, car and furniture had been repossessed.
Please don’t think that I am trying to be negative towards the current economic conditions in South Africa and in many overseas countries. If you watch TV news regularly, you would certainly have seen about the conditions in Greece, Italy, Spain and even worse, the famine in Somalia. Thousands of children and the elderly are starving to death every day.
Please don’t say, it will not happen to us in South Africa. Without being a “prophet of doom” one can just look at the unemployment figures in South Africa, being well in excess of 40 percent. The entire world economy, including the United States of America, is in trouble. The main reason for this is because nobody saved sufficiently and most people live above their means.
Do you want to be a grandparent who can afford to spoil his lovely grandchildren or do you want to be the “battling old soul” that your grandchildren visit out of pity?” I once again repeat: The choice is yours.
Don’t delay your retirement planning until there is not sufficient time to take corrective action. Phone me for an appointment to discuss your retirement planning, on my office number (087) 805-7712. We would love to assist you with planning a stress-free retirement. Our offices are situated at 20 Southwell Road, Port Alfred. VINTAGE decor and decorative rugs are what you will find at Rugz n Thingz which recently opened in Bathurst.
As you enter the shop, you immediately enter a world of elegance and splendour, with numerous items on display – from rugs to lifestyle accessories such as silverware, crystal and much more. “The focus is on elegant living,” said business proprietor Sharon Whitcomb, who recently relocated to Bathurst from Nottingham Road in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, where she successfully traded for the past five years.
“We identified Bathurst as the perfect fit for our offering in that it is located for local and tourist visitors”.
Whitcomb and her husband have been visiting the area for the past 40 years and say that it has always felt like a second home. “We wanted to get back to a coastal lifestyle,” she said.
Rugz n Thingz had previously implemented a successful auction service in the Midlands, which serviced the local community in “disposing of treasures”. The plan is to introduce an online auction service in the New Year, with the objective being to achieve maximum exposure to the global buying community.
Visit Rugz n Thingz at shop 4, located next to the Historic Pig & Whistle, for your touch of elegance.