ANYONE can be lucky in retirement, but it requires preparation, having the right attitude, being ready for opportunities, and taking the necessary action.

Former publisher of Success magazine and author of Compound Effect, Darren Hardy, said that the formula for luck is preparation + attitude + opportunities + action. Getting an early start to retirement planning will put you on track to be lucky. It was Richard Bronson who said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Are you willing to take action when luck happens? When investment opportunities come your way and you procrastinate instead, then surely you will be out of luck. Being lucky means preparing now with what you have and taking advantage of every opportunity to earn more, becoming better and doing more.

As you prepare for retirement, are you learning a new skill? Have you decided on a new hobby? What about paying more attention to your health? It’s important to make hay while the sun shines. Often it is said that others got ahead because they were lucky. But if one prepares to do all that is necessary to save, invest, and learn there is every likelihood that your activities and mindset will place you in a position to meet opportunity. Taking the right steps to grow your money for the long term and making sure that funds are also invested for emergencies and opportunities will reap great rewards during times of crises.

Having a positive mindset helps in being lucky. If you believe you will die early, even though you enjoy good health now, then you may never appreciate planning for retirement or even having a comfortable life after the working years are over. Our attitude towards growing money will determine how much money we will have rather than the money we do have. Investing money in stocks require that investors take a long-term view, if the goal is to create wealth or financial freedom. If every time there is a downturn in the stock market, the investor panics and sells out of fear of losing money, then that investor will continuously lose money. An investor who is committed to achieving sustained growth and financial freedom in the long term will become lucky because no one can quite “time the market”.

From a biblical perspective, it was King Solomon who said, “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.”

A wise investor understands the value of staying in the market “to buy good stocks and hold”. The wise investor will get lucky when the market overcomes the early volatility and the investment experiences exponential growth caused by compound interest. It’s the attitude of the investor during market turmoil rather than the behaviour of the market that will determine whether the investor will succeed or fail in achieving long-term growth of his/her assets.

It is said that the more prepared you are the more opportunities will come your way. If you have a positive mindset and are prepared to save and invest, then you will witness growth in not only your money, but in other areas of your life as well. Luck happens when opportunities are seized. Others will say that they were unlucky, but lack of preparation cancels opportunity. Planning for retirement requires discipline. There will be challenges along the way but the “pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity and the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. With the stock markets experiencing declines and instability, which impacted not just the stock markets but returns on pension funds, the opportunity now exists to keep saving and investing as shares can be purchased at reduced prices. Investing in the stock market during market downturns will yield financial rewards in the long term that will compensate for the times of low or negative growth. The current financial climate provides the opportunity to review and/or expand your emergency funds, check out real estate options, and examine diversification strategies so when the crises are over your long-term investments benefit from the market rebound.

Taking action is the only way to seize opportunities. Pre-retirees may be presented with many opportunities to save and invest for major goals, such as long-term health care and creating retirement. It’s the timely response to opportunities that will help to determine the size of your nest egg in retirement. Any delay in planning for your retirement can prove costly. If you have been making the minimum contribution to a pension plan, then taking action now to increase monthly contributions or starting a long-term investment account could enhance your retirement nest egg. Don’t ignore the opportunity to act. If you seek peace of mind in retirement then make sure to seize the opportunities when they come knocking. Be warned that “teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself”.

Grace G McLean is financial advisor at BPM Financial Limited. Contact her gmclean@bpmfinancial. and visit the website: www.bpmfinancial.com. She is also a podcaster for Living Above Self. E-mail her at livingaboveself@gmail.com