Dreams and Money
Tom Ruwitch / Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 / No Comments »An excerpt from Chapter 9 of
Generation BIG – The Rising Tide of Dreams to Action
To launch a BIG life, you need a financial foundation that perpetually fuels the journey. Being BIG doesn’t demand sacrificing lifestyle. In fact, our observations confirm just the opposite. People who pursue a BIG life find increasing opportunities for financial growth. As you reach new heights of fulfillment you experience opportunities you otherwise would not encounter.
On the other hand, if you choose not to take control, if you choose not to pursue a BIG plan, you will face a world of unprecedented economic turmoil without a game plan. We believe you have two options: 1) Develop a plan that will provide increasing income for you the rest of your life and fuel your BIG dreams, or 2) be the victim of a financial system that is hopelessly broke.
We live in a post-meltdown world where unprecedented government intervention has reshaped the financial map. Everyone has been impacted by collapsing real estate, stock and bond prices. The largest federal deficits in our nation’s history will lead to strikingly higher income taxes. By some estimates, the unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will total $700 trillion. That’s a high multiple of the total economy of the United States that should be in the bank earning interest but is not.
Meanwhile, the largest segment of our workforce, the Boomers, 78 million of them, are set to retire and quit contributing to the system. On this basis, entitlement payments could represent one in four dollars of projected tax receipts. As we asked in the introduction, do you want to act, or do you want to avert your gaze?
To be bold, innovative and generous – in fact, merely to get by in the post-meltdown world – you must have a plan that frees you of financial concern. We want to equip you with that plan. In the course of my professional life, there has never been a clearer need for dynamic financial planning. In the 21st century, the financial planner will emerge as the most important professional advisor you’ll have. As financial complexity overwhelms, the need to engage professional help will be the difference between BIG living and being mired in continual frustration.
