You need a vision to plan well for retirement.

Many years ago, when I was being introduced to computers there was a common phrase that said “what you see is what you get”. Being computer talk, it would not be incomplete without an abbreviation which is stated as “WYSIWYG”. What you see is what you get is a fairly accurate description of vision. Whether you are moderately or extremely successful, the key to that success can usually be traced to a vision that you had earlier life.

One excellent illustration of the power of vision is the story of Venus Williams and Serena Williams, two women who have become legends even before they become 30 years old. Before Venus was born, the story goes, her father, Richard Williams, was flipping through the channels, and spotted a tennis match on TV. He began watching it, and when he saw Virginia Ruzico win the tournament, he decided that he loved the sport and wanted to teach his next daughter how to play tennis. He hoped she would become a professional. While she was still young, Richard would collect tennis books and videos to prepare for when he would teach her how to play the sport when she got older. Shortly after Venus turned four, she received her first tennis racket and they drove to the public courts. After some practice and words of advice, she was able to hit the ball over the net almost every time. The rest as the say is history.

The most widely read book in the whole world says that “without a vision the people perish”. When considering one’s financial future or retirement plan, the importance of having a vision, cannot be overemphasized. One attribute of a good vision is that it should be encompassing. It is the one goal within which all other goals fit.

Many times people have had a vision for retirement but still ended up less than happy because the vision was not encompassing. An encompassing retirement vision will certainly have a money element, because as the bible puts it, money is the answer to all questions. But the vision does not simply stop on money. It will also consider and cover other issues like health, the kind of activities you will be involved in during retirement and your spiritual relationships.

If no effort is made to achieve a vision then no matter how big that vision may be or how well articulated it is, it will be nothing more than a day dream. Richard Williams did not simply stop at having a wonderful dream about his daughter playing tennis as a professional. He invested in achieving the vision: bought books, bought recordings of other tennis players and practiced and trained with her for over 10 years before the rest of the world begun to take notice of Venus Williams.

The driving force for working at achieving vision is the sense of purpose and passion. We are wired with both purpose and passion. When we discover one, we will find the other.

Your chances of success, whether in preparing for retirement or other pursuit in life are directly proportional to the degree of pleasure you derive from what you do.

Purpose will keep you focused. Most people start planning for their retirement, when they still have decades to go. It takes a sense of purpose to stay the course and keep moving toward the retirement vision. It takes purpose to keep saving and investing when your peers are seemingly having a good time.

Passion brings enjoyment and excitement to what you are doing. When you have left developing a vision for retirement too late and you serving out the last contract before the retirement party, the fear of running out of money or being forced to look for another job should fill you with a lot of passion. You can also develop passion in a more positive way by looking at the opportunities that will be created when you properly prepare for retirement. The opportunity to do the things you really like to do, instead of slaving away because you need the money; the opportunity to be with the people you care for or the opportunity to serve the people as the politicians always tell us.

In closing I am reminded by the saying that when you aim at nothing you will certainly get it. The choice to aim at something or nothing is pretty much yours to make.