There is a crisis unfolding in America:

• People are outliving their money.
• Traditional corporate pension plans are underfunded for current participants.
• Companies have all but eliminated these traditional pension plans for new employees.
• Instead, companies allow you to invest in their self-directed retirement plans, most commonly referred to as 401K accounts.
• Many of these accounts have been cut in half by last year’s steep stock market decline.
• On top of that, the government is telling us that Social Security looks to be running short of funds three to five years earlier than projected.

You have two choices.

1.  You can do nothing, and the retirement problem everyone is talking about will eventually become your problem.

2.  You can do something about it now and greatly increase your chances of living your retirement-years free from financial worry.

It is all up to you. I am guessing you are going to choose the second choice. OK, so what can you do about it today so it doesn’t become a problem tomorrow?

1. The first step in addressing a potential retirement shortfall in the future is to take a deep breath and slow our lives down enough today to recognize and admit that we need to be responsible for ourselves. It is all about changing our behavior and attitude towards retirement planning. We are responsible for ourselves.

2. The single biggest factor that will determine your financial success down the road is how you spend your money today. Start keeping track of your expenses. Everyone hates to do this, because it has a “budgeting” mentality. Keeping track of your expenses has nothing to do with a budget, and everything to do with creating a system to keep track. It is that simple.  There are many resources available to help you in accomplishing this important task; a good place to start is by visiting www.mint.com

3. There are many benefits of keeping track of your expenses, like finding out whether you are spending money on stupid things or spending money on things that actually matter to you.

4. Keeping track of your expenses is important because, after creating your financial plan, you know how much money you need to be saving to reach a goal, and you can then determine ways to cut back on stupid expenses or increase expenses on things that matter to you.

5. Keeping track of your expenses is incredibly freeing because it allows you to align your spending with your purpose in life, and permits you to spend more money on things that accentuate your existence here on earth.

What does all this have to do with addressing a potential financial retirement crisis sometime down the road? It is all about taking control of your future today. It means accepting the responsibility of being a CEO and CFO of a company called you.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions on how you take charge of your financial future today, please feel free to comment on this post.