It's never too early to plan for your future

From the time we were little snotnosed bratsters, our parents and teachers always told us that we need to think about our futures and start planning for them. That makes no sense at all when we're living at home with Mom and Dad taking care of us—doing our laundry, cooking our meals, keeping our home clean and everything working, etc. We live at home until someone sweeps us off our feet, then we marry that lucky person and go live with them and take care of each other for the rest of our lives.

Wait! Not so fast...

Somewhere in that plan should be getting an education and/or going to work, raising any children that might result from this partnership (marriage is a partnership, right?), and affording/maintaining a home. At the same time, we need to plan for those years when we decide to call it quits at work; that is, retire.

Back in the old days, we'd usually retire at the ripe old age of 65 and collect our Social Security money till we died. In many cases, that was within ten years of retiring. These days, many people tend to be healthier, which means that they'll live longer. The longer we live, the more money we'll need to keep ourselves going. If you have the means to put away part of every paycheck, one of the best things to do is to open a 401k account. (Everyone reading this already knows about these accounts, so I won't go into details.) Investing in the stock market could also be lucrative, provided you make wise choices.

Blather, rinse, repeat.

Most people are well aware of the financial end of retirement and all of the decisions needed to be made and responsibilities fulfilled. But many people forget about another aspect of our so-called golden years: our health. By my observation, many people my age spent much of their youth and early adulthood doing what is known as "partying hardy." Not to brag, but that just wasn't my scene, man. Unfortunately, Type 2 diabetes caught up with me and has wreaked all kinds of havoc. Never mind the booze and marijuana and all of the other things. Like all of mine, my battle with diabetes is a "Long" story with no need to repeat the details. Many of those things have already been written about and are here on my planet, so take a look elsewhere in this blog to find them.

In my own case, I don't have much. Circumstances beyond my control (which I won't get into here) helped to deplete my funds. But that doesn't mean I'm sunk. Opportunities abound if you look for them or create them. It's a matter of finding something that works for you and to have the drive to do it. I ain't dead yet. A bright future is still possible. And it is if you're able and willing to do what it takes to get there.