MySMARTblog.com

You have worked hard for most of your adult life and the day has come that you will retire and enjoy the freedom of your golden years. You might take up a hobby, volunteer, or just enjoy working in your garden and socializing with your friends.

If you have been planning ahead and contributing to your retirement fund, you will likely have a nest egg built up which will help you support yourself once you leave your job. You also may have built up a large amount of savings, or equity, in your home. There are some really good strategies to release this equity to support your retirement while staying in your home.

However, it is important to keep your expenses down when you are retired so that your spending won’t outgrow your savings. If you can reduce your outgoing costs during your retirement years, you can stretch out your savings fund for longer and not have to worry about running out of money. Here are a few ways that you can reduce your expenses during your retirement:

Downsize Your Home

Now that your children are grown up and have homes of their own, do you really need a large three bedroom house? Most retirees find that it is advantageous to sell their property and downsize to a smaller and less expensive house or a condo. This will free up a large chunk of your equity, as well as reducing your living expenses such as heating, electricity and property taxes.

You may also want to consider an equity release program if you’d like to stay in your home while accessing your built-up equity in order to supplement your retirement income.

Take Care of Yourself

Health care related costs are one of the biggest expenses in retirement and you cannot completely avoid the eventual health problems which will arise as you grow older. However, there are many ways that you can reduce your health problems by taking care of your body and maintaining your health as much as possible. Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day, drink plenty of water, eat fruits and vegetables and whole foods and get a good sleep every night. To avoid stress, do things which relax you such as enjoying favorite hobbies and spending time with friends. The more you take care of your body, the less likely you are to develop serious and expensive health problems in your old age.

Get Rid of One Vehicle

While most working couples will have two vehicles to get them to their respective offices, when they retire they will not need this anymore. Sell one of your vehicles and simply share the one. This will give you some cash right away, as well as cutting your insurance and car maintenance bills.

These are just a few ways that you can reduce your expenses during your retirement years and enjoy the good life for less!

Here’s a great video that shows anything is possible.  People committed to doing what others think is too dangerous, or just plain old crazy, continue to defy the odds and prove that the seemingly impossible can be achieved.

This is a really well put together video and every action packed scene is spectacular!

Which scene inspires you the most?  What one do you like best?

Make sure and share your answer in the comments section below!

Here’s a great opportunity to see one of the top trainers in the Real Estate, Mortgage and Financial Services industries right here in Scottsdale!

I’ve been a fan of Brian Buffini for almost 20 years now.  I was in his coaching program and it was some of the best money I ever spent to learn the skills that helped me become a top producer in the mortgage industry.

I’d highly recommend taking advantage of this free training opportunity to learn from one of the masters of referral marketing!

Hilton Scottsdale Resort

6333 N Scottsdale Rd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85250

9 AM – 12 PM

We have all rolled a squishy lump of Silly Putty in our hands as a child and remember the strange feeling of this one-of-a-kind substance. It is bouncy, yet flows like a liquid, and will even break from a sharp blow. It is one of those toys that you spent hours playing with as a child, but did you know that the same brightly coloured wad of Silly Putty can also teach you many lessons for success as an adult?

Here are a few inspiring lessons you can learn from this squishy substance:

Sometimes Accidents Can Be Genius

During World War II the United States War Department needed rubber to produce boots and tires, but imports from rubber-producing countries in the Far East were cut off. The War Department was experimenting with several different methods to create a cheap and flexible synthetic substitute. Instead, they accidently created silly putty. The bouncy substance seemed to have no practical use, until a local entrepreneur named Paul Hodgson bought the recipe for it.

Rather than seeing a mistake or an accident, Hodgson saw potential. He marketed the product as a children’s toy instead and began selling it through a toy-store catalogue. His innovative look at the problem paid off, and Silly Putty became a favourite toy all over the world.

Look at your mistakes in a new way, how can they become solutions?

It Helps to Be Flexible                                   

Silly Putty’s malleability allows a child’s imagination to create it into anything at all. However, Silly Putty is not just used as a toy, as it has been discovered to be useful for many other different purposes over the years. Silly Putty has been used as everything from a lint-picker-upper, drumhead resonance dampener, stress reduction ball, physiotherapy tool for hand injuries, and a masking medium for model building hobbyists. The gooey stuff has even been used by Apollo astronauts to secure tools in zero gravity!

Be versatile. If you can adapt for many different challenges and situations you will be more successful.

Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

The hint is in the name “Silly Putty”. When this unusual synthetic rubber substitute was branded as goofy and wacky, more people took a liking to it. People are drawn to things that tickle their funny bone, and showing your sense of humour is a great way to win people over both in business and in life.

Don’t be afraid to be a bit silly. People will love you for it!

These are just a few secrets that Silly Putty can teach you about success. I’ll bet you never realized how many life lessons were hiding inside that colourful plastic egg?