Do You Have a Retirement Maintenance Issue?

November 18, 2010

The other day I was flying back home from Tennessee when it came to my attention that my flight was being delayed due to a maintenance issue.  Now while I find this aggravating, I certainly would prefer getting home in one piece.  Amongst the ramblings (and choice “words”) that I overheard, was this statement: “Plane has been sitting here all night and they wait until morning to find this maintenance issue?”  I chuckled to myself as I gave the person a polite smile, but then I got to thinking…

I run into a lot of people that are doing the right thing in that they are diligently saving for retirement.  Month in and month out dollars feed their way into investments with the end goal of having enough money to retire and maybe travel (possibly Tennessee?).  When investments are doing well, people tend to look at their retirement statements often to see how much closer they are to their goal.  But what happens when investments do poorly? The poor statements sometimes never see the light of day!

I know it’s not fun to view “paper losses,” but it is very important that we keep on top of how our investments are performing, not only in good years but in bad as well.  That way we can make adjustments as necessary.  In other words, don’t wait until it’s too late to see if your retirement planning has maintenance issues.  No one likes delays.