This blog post was specifically written for anyone under the age of 60, and if you’re under 40 or even 30 you need to read this twice!

When Social Security was enacted during the Roosevelt administration in 1935 the average life expectancy in the United States was 61 years old. The ratio of people paying into Social Security versus recipients was 37 to 1.

As of 2015 American life expectancy has climbed to 76 years old, by 2050 it is estimated that average life expectancy will exceed 89 years! There are now 3 people paying into Social Security for every person who gets a monthly payment. This is not sustainable.

The largest recipient of social security payments right now are the Baby Boomers, the 76 million Americans who were born between 1946 and 1964. 10,000 Boomers retire every single day, and will continue to do so until 2029.

As medical technology continues to improve many of the present Boomers will live well into their 90’s. Federal funding for Social Security was never designed to maintain payments to such a huge group of people for such a long period of time.

I was born in 1974, I have zero confidence that Social Security will still exist when I reach 65 or 70 years old. My parents are both Boomers, and their income is now a combination of pension payments and Social Security. I’m glad they have Social Security, without it they would have less income and less options.

Even if Social Security lasts how many people under the age of 50 will have a pension? The generous pension programs that were common place for workers in the Boomer generation have mostly gone away, leaving my generation with less options.

My generation has also taken on more debt than the previous generation; larger mortgages, credit card debt, and payments on vehicles we never should have purchased in the first place.

The combination of high personal debt coupled with a longer life expectancy is why you see an increase in older people still working today.

In the United States between 2000 and 2015 the percentage of 75 year olds in the workforce have increased from 9 to 14%. Granted, some of these workers are still working because the want to stay engaged and active, but how many people over the age of 75 still have to work?

The waitress in the picture at the top of this blog looks to be in her 70’s, do you think she wants to serve pizza everyday?

If you are 40 years old you can bury your head in the sand and hope for the best when you retire, but it makes sense to create to implement a plan NOW that will give you more options over the next few decades.

#1. Hold your spot as a Life Leadership member and become a hungry student of the Financial Fitness Program. Listen to the audios in your car, read the book, cut up your credit cards and start paying down your debt. Start living below your means until you have zero debt. This is not as difficult as it sounds, but it takes consistent action over a long period of time. The only plastic in my pocket is a debit card, this guarantees that my spending is limited to the cash in my pocket or the balance in my business account.

#2. Subscribe to the LIFE Marketing System and learn how to build a compensated community. If you start to do this at 55 you can build a six figure income before you turn 60. No matter what happens with your job, your pension, or the federal government you will have created a residual income that will take care of you as long as you continue to learn, share the plan, and grow your team.

These 2 simple steps do not require you to invest $100,000 or quit your present job, you can build your community at your pace, up to the income that you desire. My mentor Craig is 67 years old, he started building his community when he was 57.

You can build a LIFE community well into your advanced years, our regular activity consists of meetings in coffee shops and conference rooms. I’ve never heard of anyone sustaining an injury from showing the plan!

In my first 12 months going out and sharing the LIFE business I ran into several folks who were in their mid-50’s who had been laid off from high paying corporate positions. When I followed up with this group several months later some had found work, but it was in a lower paying position, and in some cases they had not found any work at all.

As we get older we have less relevance in the work force, if you are approaching the top of the pay scale in a large corporation they have a financial incentive to eliminate your position and hire 2 people half your age (at half your pay) to do the same job.

A bean counter at your corporate headquarters a thousand miles away may look at your entire division and decide that it can be downsized or outsourced to India! This type of thing happens over and over again, especially in a modern globally connected economy.

The only things you truly control are your personal finances and the growth of your compensated community. When your debt is GONE you can get by on a modest income from your LIFE community. Once your LIFE income is established you only need to take more action to increase that income to match the lifestyle that you want.

Noah built the ark before the first rain drop fell, no matter how old you are take some action to build an income stream through LIFE. Even $500 extra each month will make a difference in your life, and if you cam earn $500 per month you can build that to $5,000 or $10,000 per month if you are willing to put the work in.

To learn more about Life Leadership click on this link:

http://www.lifeleadership.com/61414939

Ben Alexander

November 2015