You're on Your Own, Kid: Defensive Personal Finance

Filed in archive Retirement on June 1, 2006

In this Yahoo Finance column, Ken Dychtwald discusses laying the foundation for a secure financial future. He's addressing boomers and it's mostly cookie-cutter advice, but I liked his first point so much I wanted to expand on it: Don't Count Too Much on the Government or Your Employer.

I have a member of my extended family who seems to bemoan the fact that he wasn't born 40 years earlier, when men went to work at their job that lasted forever, wives stayed home with the kids, the company doled out fat pensions, and Social Security kept you going while you rocked on the front porch until quietly dying in your sleep with a slight smile on your face.

My point? Those days are over. No one cares about you like you care about yourself. And if you think your employer or the government is going to keep you working steadily and supporting you financially in your retirement, you're asking for a little seltzer down your pants.

These days you're on your own, kid. YOU have to save, YOU have to invest, YOU have to make a plan for the long haul, because no one's going to do those things for you (unless you pay them and they get a nice commission, of course). And you have to continually defend against your own complacency--the thought that there's plenty of time, or that the money will come from "somewhere."

Sucks, huh?