First let's do a hypothetical situation. Suppose your doctor told you that he had a service that would provide a comprehensive medical screening, using state of the art diagnostic technology, that would give you a clear concise report of your health and potential problems, including an clear indicator of whether or not you had any cancer cells anywhere in your body. And, on top of that, the entire service was free of charge. That's right, absolutely no cost to you.
If your doctor told you that, would you, (in your right mind), say to his face, "No, that's all right. I feel fine right now so I don't think I need that". Of course not.
A survey was done by a reputable financial news outlet that had several disturbing statistics about American's financial health, and their attitude about their financial health.
It turns out that 54% of American workers have not even tried to calculate what they need for retirement. The survey also showed that 43% of American workers have less than $10,000 in savings.
These are the same people who, when offered a free no obligation analysis of their financial health, would respond, "No thanks, I'm doing fine". How do I know? Because my colleagues and I have spoken to a lot of people during our careers and that is exactly the answer we get.
Tell me, how can they know that they are doing fine if they have not even thought about their financial future? (Let alone the present)
I am going to ask you a question, and you need to really, honestly, answer it: If your primary source of income, (job, etc.), were cut off today, how long before you would experience financial disaster?
- How many house payments or rent payments could you make?
- How long could you go on buying groceries like you normally do?
- How long before the phone, gas, electricity, cell, internet, etc., are cut off, or threatened to be shut off?
- How long before the car is repossessed?
- How long before the credit card companies start calling?
A short while ago I had someone come to me in a panic. This person was about three years away from retirement and had finally admitted to themselves that they had a problem because they still had 20 years worth of debt. I am happy to say that my colleagues and I were able to help them out so that their financial picture isn't quite so bleak, but they won't be retiring when they thought they would.
What makes these statistics even more sad is that I know of over 100,000 trained, experienced professionals, through out the US and Canada, who would, with no charge, provide a comprehensive analysis of your financial health and provide clear, concise, easy to follow recommendations, and yet there are millions of Americans who, with their head in the sand, say to themselves, "I'm just fine, thank you".
