If you are concerned about your retirement savings and income, you are most likely cognizant of the time-span between your desired retirement date and your life expectancy... but could you be decreasing your health by practicing risky investment strategies thus decreasing your quality of life during your retirement time-span? Many brokers ask you to pick your desired age of retirement and use powerful illustration software to demonstrate which indices, on historical basis, will provide the hypothetical returns needed to meet your retirement savings and income goals. The core issue with this approach is that no one really knows how long they will live and what the market indices will be. This is really a two guess retirement strategy.
Why guess at all and can you afford to guess? What about leaving money to your spouse or beneficiaries? We have seen market drops of 30 to 40%. Even if we guess a conservative drop of 10 to 20%... is that kind of drop going to affect your stress level or your future plans for relaxing in your golden years. Shouldn’t your retirement income plan provide you sufficient income to last the rest of your life, no matter what?
Putting your money into Safe Money investments, such as certain types of Annuities, that ensure a lifetime of stable and guaranteed income can remove a significant burden and reduce stress in a time of your life where stress should not be the emotional focus.
A recent study from Duke University found a link between how key stock indices performed and how many heart attacks were treated at their North Carolina hospital shortly after the recession began in December 2007 through July 2009, when sign of recovery began. We have known for years that stress causes many health conditions. During stressful situations, both short-term and prolonged, we experience many negative symptoms. According to the Mayo Clinic stress can cause the following conditions:
On your body… Headaches, Back pain, Chest pain, Heart Disease, Heart palpitations, High blood pressure, Decreased immunity, Stomach upset, and sleep problems.
On your thoughts and feelings… Anxiety, restlessness, Worrying, Irritability, Depression, Sadness, Anger, Feeling insecure, lack of focus, Burnout, Forgetfulness.
On your behavior… Overeating, Under eating, Angry outburst, Drug and alcohol abuse, Increased smoking, Social withdrawal, Crying spells, Relational conflicts.
How we protect our retirement savings and income, can not only affect the way we spend our last years doing and enjoying the things we love, such as the activities we participate in, but it can dramatically affect our health when considering how financial safety affects our stress levels.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Do you get stressed about your retirement accounts when they are losing?
- Do you have mood swings when you get stressed about money? Here is a helpful hint to find out that answer. Ask
- Have you spoke with a Safe Money Mentor to address these issues about protecting your money and lifetime of income?
See if a FindYourAnnuity.com affiliate can assist you with creating a stress free retirement savings and income strategy