No question about it.

Is this a "gloom and doom" forecast'? Not at all! All this should tell you is that it is more important than ever to:

PLAN, PLAN, PLAN FOR THE FUTURE! REMEMBER, PEOPLE DO NOT PLAN TO FAIL, THEY JUST FAIL TO PLAN!

The government cites the following fact:

94% OF ALL AMERICANS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RETIRE ON THE SAME STANDARD OF LIVING THEY HAD BEFORE THEY RETIRED!

Why is this the case? It is because people spend more time planning their vacations and evenings out, than they do planning their future finances! Why?

BECAUSE YOU ARE BUSY RUNNING YOUR LIFE AND IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND KNOWLEDGE TO ANALYZE AND PLAN YOUR MONEY!

We understand. After working all day you don't have the time to study tax laws or other essentials. Raising a family is more work than "work" itself!

WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO FIND THE TIME TO START A FULLTIME JOB OF BECOMING A MONEY EXPERT?

Let's look at a very different scene from Elizabeth's bad situation:

Jake and Sue couldn't really believe that John was graduating from college. It seemed like yesterday that he was just a little guy going to kindergarten, and crying all the way into the classroom. Now, he was going to be receiving his diploma, and be ready to start his own life!

Sue was blatantly crying. Jake was also, although he tried to cover it up, as John walked across the stage holding up his rolled up diploma. What a sight. Also, what a relief! "

Thank god we had planned for all three of the kids education's," Sue was thinking. "A lot of our friends have gone in the poor house trying to pay for, or borrow money to get their kids through."

She started to reminisce about all the planning and belt tightening they have done over the years.

They realized that tax savings was crucial to succeeding in the money game. She estimated that they saved over $5000 per year in taxes, and had invested quite a bit of it for the kid's schooling. Not paying all those income taxes was just like getting FREE MONEY! The rest of the tax savings was put aside in IRA's and other investments for their own retirement. She was still amazed at how much you had to put away to have enough money at retirement! Inflation continues to be a major problem, that Jake and Sue realized was not going to go away!