Before I worked in the financial industry, I sold windows for a remodeling company.
This was probably 20 years ago. Anyway, one of the prospects I went out to sell was this little old lady who lived on an old dirt road.
I didn’t set up the appointment.
The company I worked for did.
They did all the marketing, appointment-setting, and so forth.
I just handled the sales and… later… a lot of the money and financial paperwork for construction and home improvement loans.
So…
This lady… and I’ll never forget this… this lady had like 16 cats.
I can still see the kitchen with that huge picture window and the yellow-stained linoleum floor littered with itty bits of cat food.
Her house was a mess… but not necessarily dirty.
Actually, yeah, it was kinda dirty I guess with 16 cats roaming around…
But she sat there and listened to my spiel… which wasn’t going well.
I kept thinking about… how the frak can this lady afford anything?
So… I stopped my sales pitch and just started talking to her.
Turns out she was antsy because today was the first day Meals on Wheels was showing up.
Meals on Wheels is a charity service where someone comes round and gives you I think one or two meals a day to help you feed yourself.
It’s for people who are too poor to make it, even with food stamps.
Which got me thinking…
“Wait a second… you’re getting meals delivered today?”
What was this lady eating?
She showed me her cupboards.
Nothing.
There was one thing (and only one thing) to eat in that house:
Cat food.
This lady also lived almost entirely on Social Security so it wasn’t like she had no money…
But she had to choose between paying the heating bill and eating.
And that Social Security check didn’t go very far.
I’m sure years ago, she thought it would be plenty. I mean, go get your Social Security statement. It probably says you’ll receive something like $1,000 or $2,000 per month in benefits…
But in 20 or 30 years… maybe when you’re 70 or 80… after inflation has completely destroyed the value of that fixed income… that check will be worth maybe… $500.
And what about savings?
What savings?
The government told her she’d be fine living on Social Security and a pension (which didn’t materialize).
Anyway… this lady never thought she’d be living like this.
No one ever does.
Why do I bring all this up?
Is it to scare you?
No, not really.
I mean, it IS scary to think about.
But, that’s not why I bring it up.
I bring all this up because it’s hard to imagine a reality that doesn’t exist for you… yet.
It’s difficult to imagine living on $500 or even $1,000 per month… until you see it.
Until you experience it.
And… it ain’t glamourous.
No, it’s not scary…
It’s DEPRESSING.
It’s not something I want to ever experience.
It’s not something I want any of my family or friends to have to go through.
And it’s not something I want my email subscribers to have to endure.
Cuz it doesn’t look fun.
And really… who wants to get to the end of their life and think “well shyte… I was a total failure and have literally nothing to show for it”?
Now obviously I can’t force anyone to do anything about it.
But if you are sitting on the fence about this insurance and savings plan thingie… and you’re wondering whether a guaranteed savings can really make a difference… let me give you a little nudge in what I think (in my humble… and yet so very accurate opinion) is the right direction.
Nudge.