Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit In The Next Global Financial Meltdown, Second Edition

What about Retirement?

For those approaching or in retirement, the coming multibubble pop could not happen at a worse time. After a lifetime of working hard, raising a family, accumulating wealth, and planning for one’s golden years, it may feel like the plug is being pulled on all your expectations. And for those who don’t yet know what is about to hit, the shock will be even more unexpected.

Putting some real gold into those “golden years” will take a new kind of retirement planning—with new knowledge, courage, and actions that very few financial planners can help you with. We plan to devote an entire chapter to this subject in our next book, The Aftershock Investor. For now, here are some key points to think about for your Aftershock retirement.

Estate Planning and Gifts

For tax reasons, it is usually better to give gifts to children and others now rather than later as part of one’s estate. However, in the new, upside-down world of bubble-popping retirement, it may be better to give those gifts later, for a variety of reasons. For example, when asset values are way down, there will be less to tax. However, taxes will go up eventually, so you will only have a small window to take advantage of this.

Giving gifts now that can be wisely protected and grown is also a good idea. For example, selling assets and buying gold to give to others, rather than dollars, stocks, bonds, or real estate, would be an especially thoughtful gift. Overall, gold will increase in value for quite a long ...