The Buckets of Money® Retirement Solution: The Ultimate Guide to Income for Life

Introduction: let'S GET YOUR FUTURE BACK ON TRACK

It's long been said that a rising tide lifts all boats. But the financial tsunami that hit us in 2007 2008 seemingly sent all vessels to the bottom—stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate ... you name it! Almost no investment was left unscathed. And if you're like most of the people I talk to, you may feel as if your retirement plan has run totally aground. How will you possibly get afloat again?

Many workers and retirees have lost confidence in their ability to fund or enjoy a financially secure retirement. In fact, according to a recent survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, just 13 percent of workers claim to be "very confident" about having enough money for retirement. That's the lowest percentage of workers feeling that way since EBRI first began asking the question 15 years ago. What's worse, some 44 percent of workers are either "not at all" or "not too" confident about attaining that secure retirement.

Such a drop in confidence isn't hard to understand. The average retirement account lost a third of its value—and often more—in calendar 2008. In fact, the last couple of years have been among the toughest in history for investors. Once-proud companies like Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, GM, AIG, and Chrysler have gone belly-up or nearly so, and many others struggle. Government intervention has reached epic levels. Headlines often have been bleak, and selling at times seemed to be indiscriminate.

So whether you were loading ...