Retirement planning, financing and execution is complicated. There is the seemingly simple but nonetheless elusive matter of recognizing the need, allocating the time, and collecting the relevant information. There is the challenge of creating and projecting personal or family financial statements, anticipating retirement dates, and adjusting future funds for inflation and the time value of money. There are somewhat measurable risks, such as market fluctuations during our future retirement years, unanticipated uncertainties, such as global spread of the coronavirus, and that most significant of unknowns, our longevity. Complicated, not impossible.
Perhaps it can help to compare the process to something with which you likely are familiar. I don’t anticipate many readers will actually own a professional sports team, but it seems likely many follow a favorite team or two, or at least can imagine the challenge of team ownership. While there may be many pursuits, including a quest for community service, personal stature, public recognition, or private satisfaction, many owners have a goal of making money — and winning usually correlates highly with profitability and increased franchise value. Just as you have limited resources to allocate and fund your retirement, a team owner is constrained in hiring talented players — often by a league-imposed salary cap rather than personal or investor resources.
This site suggests a parallel between owning and running a sports team, such as in the National Hockey League (NHL), and owning and running your retirement plan. Most professional sports teams have an owner. He or she bought or inherited the team, has particular goals in mind, and those goals include or invariably are enhanced by winning.
The series will be presented in several parts over time, and hopefully will provide insights you find helpful.
