Planning for the Future
Are you planning for your financial future? Your work future, Your educational future, Career path?
Since the economy took a downturn several years ago, planning of any kind has become very different than it was in the past. Many people who thought they had planned well and put away for their financial futures … only to have vast majorities of their nest eggs wiped away by a crashing economy. A lot of workers thought they had planned for their long term career path only to find out that their positions could not withstand the tough economic times. Workers who have been displaced during this recession have had to rethink their educational planning and many have either transitioned into new fields based on past education or entered school to start completely new career paths. A case in point is a very close friend who was a stellar real estate agent for many years, when the market dried up she made the tough decision to change her family lifestyle for the next three years as she returned to school full-time to start over again, at age 40. She has just become a RN working in a busy county hospital emergency room. She is one of thousands, if not millions, who have had to change their planning to deal with the times. She stated just this week, "I would highly recommend starting over at 40 to anyone who needs a career change".
So, can you really plan for the future? You sure can as long as you plan comes with flexibility and contingencies. The best laid plans may not work out as first designed but without a roadmap you really can not go anywhere so, plan for the future but allow for the detours along the way and embrace them and get back on course as smoothly and easily as possible. It can be done, at 40, 50, 60 or even 70!