While our politicians have been talking about raising the retirement age in this country for at least several years if not decades, other countries have already started implementing similar policies.

But is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, we have first to ask why a later retirement age is being proposed in the first place. This is critical because every action can come with unintended consequences, and more often than not, the “solution” is meant to fix the unintended consequences of a previous “solution” from politicians.

Unfortunately, the “why” here is that our government has so egregiously mismanaged our tax dollars that it has essentially made Social Security insolvent. Because more money is going out than is coming in, the Social Security Administration will soon be unable to pay its obligations. This means that millions of Americans have paid into a system — many for their entire lives — and will never see a dime of their own contributions.

The response to this revelation is often like, “Then let’s raise taxes.” While that may seem logical on the surface, it actually makes the problem dramatically worse because it sucks productive money out of the economy and dumps it into the government coffers where it is sure to be wasted on an epic scale. The problem is not a lack of funding—it’s excessive government spending. That’s also the cause of inflation, which is crushing the budgets of Americans at all income levels across the country.

Unfortunately, I believe we reached this point in this country quite some time ago, when many of us can no longer count on receiving the social security benefits we’ve paid into our lives. I tell people today to consider it gone because it is. And because of the situation, it’s even more important than ever to take accountability for our own financial independence.

To put the scale of this problem into perspective, according to a Georgetown University study, about 55% of Americans between the age of 55–64 had less than $25,000 in retirement savings and 41 percent had absolutely nothing saved. These people are literally setting themselves up to work until they die and most of them don’t even realize it.

The solution is to become financially literate and consistently make sound investments starting as early as possible. It’s a proven formula to leverage compounding interest to grow your wealth significantly, even if you don’t have much to start with. Over time, this empowers you to thrive throughout your retirement years.

The foundation for this starts with learning how to create and balance a budget. Still, you also need to understand how to use credit, buy a home, get the right insurance, and invest in assets, to name just a few other financial literacy subtopics. Unfortunately, most people are not financially literate, leading to poor financial decisions.

It’s important to note, however, that the status quo won’t work today. Our economy has crumbled into a pile of rubble over the last few years, with inflation soaring, wages remaining stagnant, and government, corporate, and personal debt at historic levels. Our economy is sitting on a powder keg right now and a bunch of hoodlums in DC are smoking cigars next to the fuse.

I talk about this in my latest book, Building Your Financial Ark: How to Survive and Thrive During the Next Economic Storm, which I wrote to help people through times precisely like we’re facing today.

My gray hair tells you that I’ve been an entrepreneur for quite a while. I’ve experienced a number of boom and bust cycles throughout my career and can say that most people are not prepared for what’s coming. We’re in the early stages of stagflation, which is the simultaneous appearance in an economy of slow growth, high unemployment, and rising prices. This has happened numerous times in the US since the 1970s, and each time, it devastated our economy.

To thrive over the coming years, we all need to be more cautious in the due diligence we conduct for our investments. In this environment, our goals should be focused more on reducing risk and hedging against inflation, rather than trying to score a homerun on each swing.

Don’t get me wrong — you’ll find some of the most significant opportunities during an economic downturn, but you just have to be more careful where you put your money because the market will be far more volatile than it has been over the last few years. In other words, take your time, make sure you really understand the numbers on a particular asset, and patiently wait for the terms and price to be right for you.

It’s also wise to minimize debt where possible—especially revolving debt. Freeing up the money used to pay that debt each month can be the difference between going bankrupt or flourishing when things get tough, and it can even help protect your credit score. This can be nuanced in some cases, though.

For example, if you have a mortgage with a low rate on your home, I probably wouldn’t recommend paying that off because your cash would be better utilized investing in new assets. There’s a side benefit to this as well: when you’re not burdened by debt, you’ll be better positioned to capitalize on opportunities that come your way.

But it’s not all just about ourselves. We also need to hold our elected representatives accountable for the policy decisions they make, which they are often immune from, while we’re left to suffer the consequences. We need to demand that they implement responsible fiscal policy; when they don’t, we need to replace them.

Every decision they make on our behalf affects not only us but also future generations to come. Hence, it’s our responsibility to elect the most qualified representatives who will enact fiscal policies that benefit us, not just themselves. At the same time, we should be preparing a financial launchpad for our children, which includes savings and investments, but more importantly, financial literacy education so they’ll know how to make and keep more of their own money.

At the end of the day, the question isn’t “What should the retirement age be?” Instead, it is “How can I make sure I have enough money to retire?”

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Dr. David Phelps created Freedom Founders to help its members achieve the freedom they wanted in their lives by building the necessary financial foundation. He is a noted financial expert who is regularly cited by the media, and recently helped the FL Dept. of Education develop its new financial literacy curriculum.