huffington post

I’ve just been named one of the 30 most influential people in personal finance and wealth, and I wanted to share the exciting news with you!

Starting with a field of more than 1,000 finance experts, the study (commissioned by MoneyTips) used a rigorous process to score and rank each expert to whittle it down to a ranked list of the top 30 influencers in wealth and personal finance.

I’m ranked #19 on this list of the Top 30 social influencers impacting Americans’ financial lives.

The list was published last week on the Huffington Post, titled, What the Top 30 Personal Finance/Wealth Influencers Know That You Don’t. I was also one of a handful of the top experts quoted in the article.

I am very gratified by this acknowledgement. For the past decade I’ve devoted my life to educating people about alternatives to traditional investing and retirement planning that have enabled hundreds of thousands of people to stop using the crystal-ball-hope-and-pray method of financial planning and start knowing how good their financial future can be.

And I’ve learned several important lessons along the way – I’ll share the most important one with you in a moment.

Here are short summaries of three of the most interesting and thought-provoking items that have crossed my desk this week. Enjoy!

What would it be like to retire on $260 a month?

Have you ever thought about what kind of lifestyle you would have if your retirement plan only threw off $260 a month?

It’s a question a lot of Americans are going to have to start asking themselves.

A shocking article appeared this week on SmartMoney.com ¹ revealing how much money the typical person approaching retirement actually has saved in their 401(k) and/or IRA. And it’s not a pretty picture…

Pre-retirees — What would it be like to retire on $260 a month?

A typical pre-retiree taking withdrawals the way most people actually do would only be able to take $260 a month.

Oh, yeah – the article didn’t even mention you gotta pay the taxes you deferred all those years on that money!

How much do you think is going to be left for food, housing, utilities, car expenses, medical expenses not covered by Medicare, etc.? You’ll be lucky if you can scrape by at all, let alone enjoy even the smallest of life’s luxuries.

Of course, maybe you’ll have Social Security and Medicare to rely on. Or maybe not…
[Read more…] “Bank On Yourself Round-Up for week of June 23, 2011”