Since the beginning of time man has tried to predict our planet’s demise. Take Ronald Weinland for example. The Church of God founder and convicted tax cheat predicted the world would end on September 29, 2011. Er, make that May 27, 2012. No, it’s really May 9, 2013. My bad, it’s June 9, 2019.

It’s unclear which is worse, that he missed it so many times or that people actually believed him. 

The Trouble with the World Ending

Mr. Weinland is not the only person who purports to know when the world will end – far from it. The trouble with the world ending is it becomes a real Debbie Downer for future planning. Why plan anything if the world is going to end? Why save any money? Why go to work? Why even get out of bed in the morning?

The idea that the world is coming to an end can become a crutch, an excuse not to plan for the future. Of all the things that it affects, perhaps the hardest hit is retirement planning. Retirement already comes with its own set of unknowns, it doesn’t need any more. Questions such as: will I live long enough to retire? If I do live that long, will it still be up to me to provide for myself or will the government step in with a program that pays for everything in retirement?

Your Future, Your Responsibility

Regardless of whether you believe the world is about to end or not, it’s up to you to provide for your future. If the government creates a program that pays for all your retirement expenses, you can donate your nest egg to charity. Given the fact that they can’t even get Social Security right, it seems highly unlikely.

The point is, if you are not saving for retirement, you need to start. The world might end or the government might pay for everything or your life might end before you get a chance to retire, or it might not. In fact, it’s more likely that none of those things will happen.

Conclusion

We all find ourselves in the same situation. We are here though we never asked to be, and despite our religious beliefs (or lack thereof), not one among us can point to absolute, irrefutable proof of how we got here, where we are going, or why we are here.

Consider this:

• There have been hundreds of predictions that the world will end and not one of them has come true.
• Social Security was never meant to be a retiree's sole source of income.
• The average U.S. life expectancy is 79.
• Most of us cannot or do not want to work until we die.

Do the math. The most likely scenario is you are going to retire at some point in your 60s and you will be retired for about 20 years. The question is, what are you going to do about it? If you are not yet saving for retirement, start. It’s never too soon to start saving for retirement.

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