As most of you are aware, I recently lost two very close friends, both of whom were full-time musicians. They were extremely talented individuals who were performing on average at least 4 to 5 days a week, every week of the year.

And, like many musical entertainers I know, they lived for today. Neither had a scrap of life insurance, health insurance, they didn't have a dime in the bank and for the most part they were not good businessmen. They frequently ate every meal at a restaurant, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the only thing in the refrigerator was various beverages.

Both paid cash for nearly all their purchases, which most folks in business for themselves consider very foolish. They kept lousy records of their expenditures, frequently forgot to claim single performances where they were paid in cash, and when it came to planning for the future, they both figured they had plenty of time to do that sometime later in life. Unfortunately, later came much sooner than they anticipated.

Consequently, when they died, which was within a few months of each other, they left their families with a woeful mountain of debt and problems. When I talked with them about planning for retirement, setting up a retirement savings program, and running their musical entertainment business like any other business, their usual excuse was "I can't afford to put anything away, and I don't have enough time for all that paperwork."

I, personally, have been planning for retirement for the past 20 years, and with a little luck, I'll be able to just do a couple jobs a week when I reach age 70-1/2, which is the mandatory age to begin drawing from my retirement programs. I haven't put a huge sum into retirement, but over the years it has grown steadily, and despite the current economic times it continues to grow.

Additionally, I have supplemental health insurance and term life insurance, both of which are not overtaxing on my income. Both of these things are extremely important, particularly for those of us with families that would be left behind in the event of our untimely demise.

I use Quicken, Quick-Books and rely heavily on my computer to keep the business purring along. Nothing is paid in cash, including tolls. The tolls are paid using EZ-Pass, which is billed directly to a credit card that is strictly used for the business. The same is true for other expenditures, gasoline, equipment, repairs, equipment insurance, etc.. The card is paid off IN FULL every month, just like clockwork and the expenditures are all itemized using Quicken.

The reason behind that relatively long post is I recently discovered that another of my musician/entertainer friends is probably in the early stage of Alzheimer's Disease, which slowly but surely robs them of their mind. He too has no health insurance, very little life insurance, still pays a hefty monthly mortgage and has no savings account. His loving spouse of many years, has serious physical problems, which precludes her ability to drive. The next few years will likely be a series of trips to doctors, hospitals, and eventually end up with him in an extended care facility, which is extremely expensive.

Until recently, I was unaware that so many individuals in the musical entertainment field live exactly the same way as these individuals. They work hard, play hard, have lots of fun, but when it comes time to retire, very few can.

I didn't want to hijack Steve's post about keeping his day job, and I know he will continue to provide excellent musical performances at an increasing frequency during the ensuing years. Zuki, DNJ, Bill and a number of others are all working every day of the week. Hopefully, they are all putting some money aside for the inevitable. However, after reading that post a couple times it becomes apparent that very few of has take time to smell the roses. I frequently wish I could turn back the hands of time so I could have spent more time with my immediate and extended family members, but alas, that's not possible. I hope the members that read this post take a page from the life of this old man while you are still relatively young. Take just a little time each week to smell the roses, and plan for the future--it will arrive much sooner than you can imagine.

Good Luck,

Gary