The Nest Egg Myth: How the Rules to the Game Have Changed

Few would disagree that the nest egg (long-term) savings concept is as American as Mom and apple pie. So how could it be a myth? Actually, it was not until about 10-20 years ago. But as President Obama recently said in his 2011 State of the Union speech, "the rules to the game have changed".
"Nest Egg:A special sum of money saved or invested for one specific future purpose. Examples of the purposes for which nest eggs are usually intended include retirement, education, and even entertainment (vacations and cruises). The main idea is that the money in the nest egg shouldn't be touched except for the purpose for which you saved it."-Investotopia.com
The American Institute for Economic Research released (January 2009) their cost of living research, which monitors the cost of living over time. Since 1990 the average American is paying 248 percent more for health care and 157 percent more for oranges and tangerines. The good news is your money is going further when it comes to technology. Computer prices have dropped more than 89 percent since 1990. Television prices are down by 83 percent and children's toys have dropped 43 percent. The Institute's report concludes: "No matter what the politicians and monetary authorities say, the buying power of the dollar continues to decrease".
Despite an economic landscape completely unrecognizable from just 30 years ago, the financial services industry still beats the drum for long-term savings and investments as the exclusive retirement solution or best supplementation thereof. Never mind today's near-extinction of company pensions combined with a debt-based currency and subsequent exponential rise in the cost of living topped off with a dollop of low-paying, part-time or no work.
Problem is... there's no money in truth.
It's pretty much business as usual. Yet how could anyone figure that last century's strategies might apply to the wild-west 21st century economy? The truth is that different times demand strategic revisions of the best ways to build wealth and manage personal finances if to achieve similar financial security.
Trust me, this more than just another good idea.
Back in the good-old-days of pay-as-you-go, company pensions and a dollar worth much more than the 4.5 cents-worth it now purchases, nest eggs made a whole lot of sense to fulfill retirement dreams. But that was then and this is now: Do-it-yourself retirement plans, increased credit use, mounting household debt and subsequent issues due to stress tell a different story.
Money simply does not go as far in 2011.
The good news is that those who have seen the writing on the wall choose to take the (personal finance) road less traveled. They rethink traditional strategies and apply more relevant ones even though less conventional and perhaps outside their comfort zones. They believe such strategies will get them safely away from living on the edge and towards financial sustainability. Plus, they are determined to avoid the usual-suspects of personal problems brought on by a sinking personal economy; (marriage, family, work performance, substance abuse and mental and emotional health).
Change the sequence.
Relevant strategies, based on and redesigned to reflect the typically omitted relevant data about money as debt, empower everyday people. How so?They shift the emphasis away from doing whatever it takes to enlarge the nest egg to the importance of first putting the focus on doing whatever it takes to establish financial stability in the present and how to maintain it.Otherwise, important decisions made by desperate and stressed-out people easily lead to more of the same. Going forward with stability provides a foundation for sound and creative retirement strategies.
Certainly nest-eggs have their place in one's long-term financial plan but because they are hatched from debt-based money they also lose their mojo over time. Inflation and its subsequent cost-of-living ultimately take their toll. Those, whose dreams have rested heavily on a cashed-out nest egg, face the ever-increasing cruel reality of lost purchasing power.
To first seek stability reflects the actions of informed individuals and families who refuse to wait for increased value-erosion of their dollars. Yet as creatures of habit educated by the financial services industry, it's hard for most people to wrap their heads around the fact that their money is worth more today than it will be tomorrow and especially, after years parked in a securities investment. Debt-based money is time sensitive because the system-design used in central banking recognizes increasing debt as the measure of success.
Stability is the key to financial sustainability.
Maybe the current food and gasoline prices going through the roof to bleed budgets will provide a wake-up call. These higher prices remind us that the official government inflation rate (Consumer Price Index CPI) does not include food, energy or housing prices in its calculations to make the CPI erroneously low and deceptive when used to plan budgets.
While most understand how important it is to update their computer's software to stay in the game, far fewer consider how essential it is to update the way they think about and deal with their money. Why is it that humans tend to pay attention to something only once it directly hurts them? Debt-based money will continue to lose value. Just as sure as night follows day and a snowball rolling down a hill grows larger, currency's value will erode at an accelerating pace as interest compounds.



Susan Boskey is an alternative financial consultant and author of The Quality Life Plan: 7 Steps to Uncommon Financial Security. Her book goes where no other personal finance book has dared to go. It not only exposes the systemic-root cause of the 2008-09 economic meltdown but perhaps more importantly, provides critical strategies for everyday people to turn the tide and build real wealth.
As millions struggle to find an honest way off the vicious cycle of credit and debt, frugality measures and debt-consolidation offer some relief but not enough. For families to achieve similar financial security and well-being as in times past, an entirely new personal-finance model is called for. The Quality Life Plan offers exactly that by providing strategies using a big-picture perspective about money and wealth. Without the big picture, strategies alone are proving to be insufficient. Those yearning for a quality life of simplicity, creativity and financial sustainability find practical answers via the book's alternative approach and user-friendly workbook format complete with recommended action-steps. There's no turning back once you're in the know.
Sign up for a free eCourse to learn more at http://www.AlternativeFinancialNow.com where you can also purchase the book.