The kid is hot tonight.
Whoa, so hot tonight.
But where will he be tomorrow?
-- "The Kid Is Hot Tonight" by Loverboy
I'm not one to turn to aging Canadian rockers for financial planning advice. You won't find the key to a better retirement in red Barchettas, signs of the gypsy queen, or reminiscing about the summer of '69. (That would be Rush, April Wine, and Bryan Adams, respectively, for those compiling a mix tape.)
Be that as it may, turning to one of Loverboy's earliest hits -- before the Canadian quintet was working for the weekend or asked to be turned loose -- is a great place to start. Don't bother to dig up the track, even though it was actually my favorite Loverboy tune. "The Kid Is Hot Tonight" is simply about a young musician who is new on the scene. He's kicking up some favorable buzz, and the song's chorus ponders whether his overnight success is a flash in the pan or whether it will prove the test of time.
That kid may very well be you. You didn't come here by mistake. You're at Fool.com because you know about the hundreds of provocative articles that are freely available every month. You've taken on the challenge of managing your own financial future. You rock, Fool -- and I mean that in the best of ways. A peek at your portfolio may even reveal some pretty big winners. You've done well, but could you do even better?
Here today, more tomorrow
You may not realize it, but many of your great stock picks are alluring to you because of their role in the future. Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) may have won you over with the success of Epogen and Neupogen, but when it comes to established biotechs and pharmaceuticals giants, it's the probability of living longer and healthier lives that probably really excites you .
It's why you can overlook the Vioxx liabilities tied to Merck (NYSE:MRK), the Celebrex concerns at Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), or fears that the dividend at Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) will get slashed. You're buying into these companies for the long run. Even when you take a chance on a riskier biotech with blockbuster potential, like Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) or Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ:HGSI), you're likely doing so with the distant future in mind. The duration of some clinical trials can gray your brows.
So if you're a drug stock investor, buying into companies on the premise that we're going to be aging gracefully through science, has it dawned on you that you'll be part of that group, too? What will you be like when you're 80? 90? 120?
If I'm hearing the cricket chirp correctly, you probably haven't given that much thought at all. You may have a small IRA, 401(k), or pension in place, but your nest egg may not grow enough to fill the gap that will be left between your Social Security and your ideal retirement.
Painting the future in brighter colors
No one buys Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) because it makes baby shampoo. Investors buy in because the company extends lives through pharmaceutical advancements in areas such as oncology, dermatology, and the treatment of cardiovascular disease.
It's time to take the forward-thinking vision you've honed as an investor and turn it toward the mirror. You're buying companies that will make you feel better on the inside as you age. Now it's time to treat your financial planning with that same kind of respect and TLC.
Our resident retirement planning guru, Robert Brokamp, has a newsletter service that aims to arm retirees and eventual retirees with the knowledge to plan for that better tomorrow. Rule Your Retirement covers everything from asset allocation to current events and tax code breaks to make it happen for you. You can't be asleep at the wheel when it comes to retirement planning; financial risks and opportunities are constantly in motion. To dig back into my archive of Canadian rock classics, Rush said it best when alluding to today's Tom Sawyer. He knows changes aren't permanent -- but change is.
Robert's service is cheaper than some of our premium stock-based newsletters -- or as cheap as these words, if you go for a free 30-day trial subscription -- but it's not any less critical to your financial health.
Drug stocks are starting to bounce back in 2006. Let's make sure your financial planning follows suit.
You can join Rick in planning for your retirement -- and owning your retirement if you're there already -- before it owns you. Subscribe to Rule Your Retirement, or simply kick the tires with a 30-day free trial to see whether it improves your outlook.
Merck is a Motley Fool Income Investor pick, and Pfizer is a Motley Fool Inside Value pick.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz thinks that the quantity of a lifespan doesn't have to come at the expense of its quality. He does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. Not yet. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
