by Jeff Cody, RFC, LUTCF, FSS, CCAA

In 1956, Earl Nightingale recorded "The Strangest Secret," which is perhaps the most listened to self-help recording in history. Here is a quote from the first few moments of that recording.

Not long ago, Albert Schweitzer, the great Doctor and Nobel Prize winner was being interviewed in London and a reporter asked him, “Doctor, what’s wrong with men today?” The great doctor was silent a moment, and then he said, “Men simply don’t think!”

He goes on to say this:

We live today in a golden age. This is an era that man has looked forward, dreamed of, and worked toward for thousands of years. But since it’s here, we pretty well take it for granted. We in America are particularly fortunate to live in the richest land that ever existed on the face of the earth – a land of abundant opportunity for everyone. But do you know what happens?

Let’s take 100 men who start even at the age of 25. Do you have any idea what will happen to those men by the time they are 65? These 100 men who all start even at the age of 25 believe they’re going to be successful.

If you asked any one of these men if he wanted to be a success, he’d tell you that he did, and you’d notice that he was eager toward life; that there was a certain sparkle to his eye, an erectness to his carriage, and life seemed like a pretty interesting adventure to him.

But by the time they’re 65, one will be rich, four will be financially independent, five will still be working, and 54 will be broke.

Not much has changed since 1956. So, what did Dr. Schweitzer say what was wrong with people? CONFORMITY.

If you study the Baby Boomer generation, arguably the wealthiest generation of people who have ever lived, you will see through Google searches that the average 401(K) balance of those reaching retirement is less than $300,000.

Meanwhile, for those of you who have kids who are college bound (or maybe you're still paying for your college bill) you'll see that one year of college at many of today's universities can cost more than $100,000 per year! So, how can it be that the wealthiest nation in the history of the world could have so many people with so little savings? Could conformity be the sole answer?

I believe conformity does play a role in people's current financial state, but I also believe it's more about misinformation. You have to ask yourself this question: Who controls the information in the financial world? Then, you have to ask yourself this question: Do they follow their own advice?

So, when you have answers to those two questions, I tell my clients they are at the beginning of understanding. Remember the definition of insanity? Well, if you want a different result, should you not consider a different approach to your financial life and areas of your financial life like college planning for your kids? Do you really think that saving money in some government approved vehicle is the whole answer? Is that really the smartest choice, given the fact that every dollar you have in a government approved account actually counts AGAINST you when it comes to receiving free aid?

Ask yourself this question: Who has more money...Families or large companies? And, do those companies have accountants? Do you think those accountants know how to take advantage of things like the tax code and recovering losses? Are you starting to connect the dots here?

Maybe a good financial strategy would be getting with a financial advisor who has a passion for teaching families how to do things like large companies do them, which in turn would help you reap a similar result.