Tuesday, June 23, 2009

You Can Retire Rich... Really?

My stock portfolio was down 4.4% yesterday, which made me happy I didn't have a bigger portfolio. At the same time, when you've only got that little, it could get a bit unnerving.

To retire young and rich - or to retire at all? That is the question.

And what is considered affluent nowadays, especially when 2.245 million households in the US have annual household incomes of over $250,000.

This probably means that the multi-multi-millionaire is the new millionaire. The standards are higher, so we've got to think bigger than ever before.

People here in Belgium tend to really like the saying: "There's nothing we can do about it" and have a totally "C'est la vie" kind of mentality. I suppose approaching life with that attitude is OK once in a while. We can't be a diva about everything. But I really believe that we've got to rise above the recession attitude and start looking more optimistically at the future. Even if there's a market pullback, we've more than likely seen the worst of the recession.

The good news is that for people 35 and under, the economic crisis is a great shopping opportunity - both in and out of the stock market. And if we play this right, we can not only retire - but retire young and rich!

Am I wearing rose-coloured glasses? I don't know. All I know is they're Chanel.

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