I love Star Trek, especially the original crew. I also really liked the Next Generation too. For some reason, I just thought it was important that we start out this article with that truth.
Many people consider the society created in Star Trek to be utopia. We rarely see people working (though they are always busy??) and money as we know it doesn’t exist. I grew up watching the original series in the 1960’s and I’ve seen every movie multiple times. Star Trek is in my Top 5 of series and movies.
If you are a fan then you are aware of the Prime Directive. This “directive” is a guiding principle of Starfleet that prohibits members from interfering with the internal and natural development of alien civilizations.
The influence of this directive is so strong in Starfleet that death should come first before breaking the order. Now that’s a commitment to a cause that you just don’t see very much.
I’m not asking anyone to accept death before breaking any retirement planning Prime Directive but the purpose needs to be very strong. Sorry, I need to laugh for a moment because my previous sentence was pretty funny. And for the record, your life comes before any retirement planning Prime Directive that you might create.
Remember, if you choose to create a Prime Directive to boost your retirement planning process just remember: this is a no interference order. There will be times you regret this path … for that you’ll have to trust me. But the benefits are tremendous if you can pull it off.
If you go this route, then you are committing to not interfere with what you really need (not want) to accomplish. This has to be a “need” or a cause so strong that distractions won’t knock you off course.
No interference from excuses or a nagging kid that wants to go to restaurants constantly. Or a good friend that just bought a new $50,000 car and they want to go skiing in Aspen for a week. This is my first warning … if you go this route it will be tough and you’ll question your commitment more than once.
Prime Directives For Retirement Planning
So why is this important? Because to pull yourself out of a consumerism, debt riddled, low savings rates mentality you sometimes have to make that kind of commitment.
For many people, financial behaviors need to change and you’ve got to create a purpose so strong that it will pull you out of the funk of being poor. I’m a perfect example of this.
I was 48 years old with a $115,000 net worth and I needed to change. I was on the cusp of having two kids go into college and we didn’t have much to our name. The only advantage I had was a good job and a corporate pension that was still accruing.
Something in our financial life needed to change. So we made a commitment to track expenses to see where our money was going. We started tackling our debt behaviors and tried to save what we could. There was no magic but we took small bites out of the huge financial issue we had created.
We were going along just fine until I realized that I needed to speed things up if I was going to retire at a reasonable age. If I had started sooner, I could’ve taken the steady path to financial independence. But I needed an immediate change.
And then it happened. We got real serious and put a stake in the ground. My wife and I committed to having me retire by 62 and we didn’t let anything interfere with that goal. Our commitment was strong and has only gotten stronger.
“Our Prime Directive is Mr. TLR retiring at age 62 and nothing will interfere with that goal.”
Mr. and Mrs. TLR in 2018
It’s been tough at times and it feels like we are missing out on some things but we put ourselves in this hole. We have nobody else to blame but ourselves.
This retirement planning Prime Directive is our beacon, our rallying cry to focus on cutting debt, reducing spending, and increasing our savings rate. Once we truly got this commitment our debt reduced (substantially) and the savings rate became very important.
Conclusion
So do Trekkies have an advantage? They might if they employ some version of the retirement planning Prime Directive. If you need a boost, something to change behaviors then creating a directive might be the ticket. I consider this a “hail mail” move.
And trust me, creating a prime directive is hard work. You will be missing out on things and you’ll need to be completely committed to the cause. Remember, this is a last ditch effort to achieve your financial goals.
But who should use the retirement planning Prime Directive? People that want to retire in 7-10 years and they really need to change their financial behaviors. This could be me at 54 years old that wanted to retire at 62 and was not even close to being financially ready to retire.
Or, it could be a 35 year old that’s done pretty well but wants to kick it into high-gear and spend the next 10 years focused on retirement at 45.
WARNING!!! It’s dangerous to employ a retirement planning Prime Directive for more than 10 years because you’ll burn out. This is especially true if you have a significant other.
That’s right, I just issued a warning. Going all-in to a financial Prime Directive is not child’s play. If you have a weak marriage it can do more harm than good. If you live to travel, go to lots of restaurants, or spend generously on discretionary items then it might be difficult to go more than 10 years. Heck, you might have trouble for 6 months but you might be a good candidate too.
This has helped Mrs. TLR and I tremendously. In fact, I’d say this changed everything for us and made retiring at 62 possible. But choose your path wisely and set yourself up for success. Don’t let your path handcuff you or cause more harm than good.
Good luck and thanks for reading!
Mr. TLR