RETIREMENT – the bittersweet pill you don’t have to swallow
Are you a business owner or executive with a plan for retirement?
The answers to that will be very varied. Some may say, “You must be joking – I’m only 28!” Fair enough. Others might say, “Yes, I am going to sell my business and that should realise at least £250,000 which will do very nicely, thank you.” Fair enough.
However, it is worth considering that the more advanced your preparations the more likely you are to have a happy and successful retirement. It is also worth remembering that while the plans you have in mind are sound they remain theory and there is no guarantee that the economic climate will actually be kind to you.
So, what are we saying – invest more in your savings? No. Sell the business earlier? No.
What we are saying is that the complications of running a business have no age barrier. From the first day of your business you will be working towards your retirement either consciously or otherwise. Those complications could make all the difference to your retirement starting from now!
The Law of Diminishing Simplicity
The Law of Diminishing Simplicity is likely your worst enemy and allied to carbon monoxide which can be deadly or at least cause serious long-term health problems. Carbon monoxide is especially dangerous because you cannot see, taste or smell it – diminishing simplicity is exactly the same and could cause serious long-term health problems to your retirement plans.
Selling your business at the right time and living off the proceeds is an excellent and logical plan. However, theory does not always turn into reality and theory also rarely takes into account those hidden problems that are not unlike the carbon monoxide we have been talking about. Or indeed the swimmer or surfer who falls prey to sharks. The sharks were there all the time, it is just that nobody noticed.
Enough of the similes, the reality is that virtually every business, small, medium or large has problems beneath the surface and often they remain undetected until it is too late and that nest egg is seriously damaged and possibly even beyond repair.
Let us come back to that in just a moment. First of all, though let us look at the projected growth of GDP (gross domestic product) which a measure of all the economic activity of governments, companies and people in a country.
These are global but we are concerned with Britain were the growth rate in recent ties has often been 0.1 % which is well below what we need to feel financial secure. Should that figure fall to a minus for two consecutive months we are in recession and that could indeed be clearly dangerous for your business – the investment for your retirement.
The Reality
So, back to the reality of your business. Let us face it, tax after tax piles up to erode your financial larder and the prospect of tax rises constantly looms unless we are on the home run to an election.
The good news is that hidden beneath the surface of your company are other scavengers and they can be eliminated. This is where the Law of Diminishing Simplicity comes in since an understanding of what this means and how it can be turned to advantage could make all the difference between a happy retirement and troubled retirement.
“Simplicity is the key factor in life, business, and politics, Complexity will deliver income of £100 and costs of £101 – long-term failure and destruction. Simplicity will deliver income of £100 and expenditure of £99 – long term survival and success. That’s the truth at the heart of simplicity so you diminish simplicity in your life, business, and the country as a whole at your peril.
If the ‘Law of Diminishing Simplicity’ is responsible for destroying the performance and effectiveness of millions of businesses around the world, why is it that we’ve allowed everything we do to be based upon the ethos that is crumbling our existence – the Law of Diminishing Simplicity?
During the past century alone, we and our predecessors have simply listened to the words we want to hear and put a tick against a name of someone we don’t really know and thereby granted them power over our lives and our financial standing based on the illusionary promise that doing so would enable them to make our lives better, as assured.
Unfortunately, in giving them those levels of power we have actually abdicated everything we have and everything we are and allowed them to create the biggest case of Diminishing Simplicity ever recorded. The evidence of the catastrophic impact that is wreaking havoc on your life is not only outside your front day every day but is also on your television, your computer and on your phone every minute of every day.
This is not simply about politics though, it is about business and the stampede towards oblivion. Someone shouts ‘fire!’ and everyone runs. Isn’t it a good idea to find out where the fire is, to avoid running into it? Of course, it is, simple isn’t it. Those that do not find out are heading into danger – that is the result of the Law of Diminishing Simplicity.
The good news is that we can do something about it. Let us introduce the Methodology System which is proven to work since it helps eliminate the otherwise invisible siphoning of your money and while it might seem like yet another daunting obligation to add to your already busy work-load, it will actually save you time and effort as well as sleepless nights. It is also very likely to save your retirement as the value of your business will not disintegrate but actually grow and possibly even beyond your expectations.