As politics and the world continue hurling toward the future, the money you made yesterday must be protected. There are a few trends in our current society that we at Pension Parameters like to look at when helping you carve out an ironclad plan to continue growing your nest egg.

1.    Age- People tend to live longer. While the original age to collect Social Security has edged past 65, consider that many people live longer than ever before. That even includes men – who live longer. We can thank medical science for this leap forward, and we want to be sure to be able to support ourselves without totally relying on Social Security.

2.    Medical Science. Age and medicine go hand in hand, and with new reforms in healthcare, and the wobbly cost of health insurance, you will need to consider that you will be paying more for your medical care than your parents did. We do not know what lies ahead in this area, but we do know that right now we’re all paying higher prices than we did previously. Certainly Medicare offsets some of this cost for those “of age,” but not totally, and long-term care has become a financial crisis for so many American families.

3.    Inflation. Economics experts define inflation as the rise in prices (general level) of services and goods in an economy over a certain period of time. In earlier times, the term inflation was used to refer the increases in supply of money, but these days the “inflation” is purely used to refer the increase in levels of prices. One could refer to inflation as the decrease in the value of money (or loss of the purchasing power in some medium of the commodity exchange). We have seen this beginning in recent years – and all signs point to inflation rising. Most accurate measure of the inflation is known as “inflation rate”. Inflation rate is defined as percentage change in the price index over a certain period of time.

4.   Investment Power. A hedge against inflation is smart investing. While we’re more conscious of the global economy than in the past, it’s always been there. Your retirement plan advisor’s job is to address how your plan is affected by world economics and what trends can be expected.

5.   Savings. While some folks really guard their savings very carefully, many Americans have had a harder time doing so in recent times.

The next few columns will address each of these BIG FIVE FACTORS: Age, Medical Costs, Inflation and the cost of money, the value of good investments, and savings. We think it’s a good idea to “break it down” so you can see just how each factor will contribute to your future –post retirement.

Just as twenty-somethings do not think they will ever turn forty, we know they will. And just like them, many of us cannot imagine life after seventy. Better to plan for a long life and in doing so, protect our retirement assets.