How to plan for your retirement

Step One: Decide how much you need on an annual basis.

This will be easier when you are closer to retirement. However, you need a figure to work with when you are younger, cos retirement planning should start as early as possible.

So this is the first problem.

The second problem is that you can only think in terms of today's dollar. Today, Chicken Rice costs $3.50. In yesteryears, it was $1.00 or $1.50. By the time you retire there may be no chicken rice. Or it will cost $8. Or $10. So whatever you estimate you need would be in today's dollar. Factor in 30 - 40 years of inflation, and you have no way of knowing how much inflation would have affected the amount you need.

So you should just give up trying to plan your retirement. With your luck, there may be no retirement in your lifetime anyway.

The End.

Democracy First!

You may have read this before:

The CEO & The Fisherman

The CEO is looking to have a really fresh meal so he goes to the docks in the town and finds a man unloading his fishing boat with his morning haul. He buys a great looking fish and starts talking to the fisherman. The fisherman says “every day I fish for a few hours in the morning, then I eat lunch with my family, take a siesta, visit with friends, have dinner and go to bed.” The CEO says “Well if you fished for a few more hours every day you could buy a bigger boat. Then you could manage a team of fishermen and buy more boats and then move to the United States to manage your company. Then you could build your business until you can sell it to a major company and retire!”