OfflineThe first paragraph or two of your sales letter, ad, brochure or web site. When your opening is truly compelling, your prospects never get the chance to “decide” if they should keep reading. They just do it, without ever making a conscious decision.
Another way to think of the opening is as an “executive summary” of sorts.. a condensed version of the entire message in the first one or two paragraphs. Hold nothing back…go all out… You don’t get a second chance to hold their attention. When you have lost it, that’s it. It’s gone forever.
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Many of us have heard this expression before and probably agree. But, we walk in and out of our lives without much thought of the impression we leave behind. Especially our first impression. Those of us in sales sometimes wonder why our sales are not as good as they could be or should be. Have you ever wondered why? Maybe we should look at our first impression and the way we present ourselves. Would you make major purchases from yourself. Many of us can honestly say “No” yet expect others to do just that. Let’s take a look at some of the things that can make or break your image or first impression.
The good news and bad news about your nest egg: You can find ways to make it last, but it’s not going to be pretty.
I’m retired and have lost a third of my savings and a third of my monthly income. I don’t have earnings, so I can’t add new money to my retirement portfolio. I also don’t have enough time to wait for a market recovery to recoup my losses. What can a retiree in my position do? - B.P. Ocala, Fla.
I’m not going to sugarcoat my answer. Fact is, you and other retirees who have seen the value of their retirement portfolios decline substantially over the past year are in a tough position.
The problem comes down to this: The double-whammy of investment losses and withdrawals from your nest egg to pay living expenses dramatically increase your chances of running through your retirement savings prematurely, which is something you obviously want to avoid.
The good news is that there are some moves you can take to reduce your odds of outliving your savings. The bad news is that those moves aren’t very appealing.
To put it bluntly, to assure that you don’t run out of money before you run out of time, you may very well have to scale back the retirement lifestyle you had envisioned, at least temporarily.