Wrote David Pitt of The Associated Press: “The financial crisis that toppled major Wall Street banks and snarled credit markets around the world has taken a toll on most nest eggs, forcing people to rethink when – and even if – they can retire.”

Wrote American writer Rex Stout (1886-1975): “There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up.” Know this: There will be fewer defined pension programs for workers to participate in, and more people will be forced to develop their own retirement vehicles. Both statistics are correct.

Tony Pugh of the McClatchy Newspapers wrote: “As millions of people watched their 401(k) retirement plans rise and fall along with the stock markets, their fears reflect a sweeping revolution in how Americans save for retirement.” Retirement today is not a matter of certainty.

Navigating retirement-related grapples is both visionary and having perspectives on them. This navigation will necessitate the use of planning models different from the parameters of defined pension programs. Welcome to the new world of retirement financing.

In a Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll, the percentage of Kentuckians who said they were worse off in 2008 was the highest (40 percent) since the Bluegrass Poll survey began more than two decades ago. Twenty percent of the respondents expect their financial situations to be even worse in 2009. These numbers reflect opinions found in similar surveys around the nation.

American botanist George Washington Carver (1864-1943) voiced, “Ninety-nine percent of failure comes from people who have the habit of making excuses.” American author Richard Wright (1908-1960) chimed in: “Men can starve from a lack of realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.” Proceed to achieve ... and with few to no excuses.

To alleviate retirement-related grapples, here are seven suggestions to ponder:

1. Live cheaply, but qualitatively. Barter, reduce spending, eat less. These ideas work.

2. Retirement building is multidimensional. Evaluate all revenue-generating streams that go into retirement vehicles, e.g., long-term care insurance, municipal bonds, stocks, annuities, rentals, cash, the tax-deferred 401(k) and tax-exempt Roth IRA. Diversification is a key tag line.

3. Develop your own financial bailout plan. The federal government will not be rescuing you in case financial snarls present themselves. Four to six months of liquid assets will suffice.

4. Employ adolescents. Teenagers, too, should be envisioning their retirement years.

5. Opt to participate in a company-sponsored retirement plan. To forego the privilege to participate in a retirement plan is unwise and will be very costly as the years pass.

6. Work as long as possible, and stockpile cash in layered CDs and in liquid savings.

7. Maximize Social Security benefits via wage increases. Work longer (beyond age 65). Self-employed workers must fully participate in the Social Security program. Report earnings.

A financial crisis could be the catalyst for personal financial gains. During these times of serious financial turmoil, we had better build our own retirement vehicles ... and the process must begin now. Maximized retirement vehicles are of the essence ... not retirement grapples at the beginning of a century that has presented the United States, and the world, with so many acute challenges.

Reach T&D Columnist Howard D. Hill, Ph.D., via www.educationconsultant@sc.rr.com.

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