Are you worried about your financial future...?

...If you are, you may relate to this scene:

Elizabeth was shocked. How could she be in such bad shape? It just didn't seem possible.

Looking back over the years, they did the things that they were told. They paid off their house as quickly as possible. They never invested in any risky things like stocks or commodities. They bought life insurance, with cash values, and had their retirement plans from work.

Everything should be fine.

"Then why am I struggling so?" Elizabeth is wondering.

At first, retirement was really nice. Elizabeth stopped working before Mark. She was at her job as a Career Counselor for twenty-six years, and at age 62, was entitled to a monthly pension of $800. Her health insurance was paid for, and she decided to take her Social Security checks right away. She felt great about having the time to spend with her two daughters and the grandchildren.

Mark worked for seven months after Elizabeth retired. He wanted to wait until his thirty years with Petro Chem, Inc. was up. Hitting this milestone enabled him to get an additional $200 per month, bringing his total to $1200 a month. He was quite excited about playing golf with his buddies, and doing all the things he never had time for. At 64, he was ready to do things right!

For the first three years, they managed quite nicely. Although, Elizabeth was curious why they were not really saving any money. She was always taught that when you retire, your expenses would go way down. Maybe to half of your previous budget. It just seemed to make sense that there would be a lot less to buy when you are not working.

She finally realized that even though certain costs went down, there were others that went way up. When her oldest daughter moved to California, Elizabeth went out there several times a year. Not to mention all the long distance phone bills. They also helped a lot with their younger daughter's husband's business, and with their house. Mark's and Elizabeth's hobbies took up a lot of cash. Then there were the trips with the Millers and Franklin's. And on and on. Who ever said that retirement was cheap?

"Then there is inflation." Elizabeth mused. "Our property taxes, insurance, food, clothes, EVERYTHING, just keeps going up! These politicians tell me that the economy is fine. What dream world do they live in?"

Then it happened. Mark passed away. She was devastated. It took months for her to even begin to feel better emotionally. She really missed him. The loneliness was the worst part. But, she had to go on.