Ignore All The Financial Experts Who Advise You to Scale Back Your Expectations and Lifestyle
The chorus of gloomy financial experts is singing a ballad of restraint. They warn that we all must adjust ourselves to a “new normal,” in which we lower our expectations and scale back our lifestyles.
The supposed villains are many and include: persistent high unemployment; the devastated real estate market; rising energy and food prices; record budget deficits; the possibility of a double-dip recession; international turmoil; and, well… you name it.
You have no choice, caution the pessimistic gurus, but to swallow:
- Earning less on your investments and savings for the foreseeable future
- Downgrading your current lifestyle to make up for the loss of investment returns
- Having less income at your disposal due to rising prices and the threat of inflation
- Getting socked with higher tax rates as the U.S. Government struggles to close its budget gap, and cash-strapped states and cities do likewise
- Pushing your retirement out – perhaps indefinitely
- Living on less if you do eventually get to retire (that is not only less than you live on now – which these downbeat advisors have always claimed is a retirement must – but less even than “the less” they were already advising you get by on just a few years ago)
- Sticking with the financial counselors who have been at your side all along because they remain your best source for guiding your future financial planning