Wayne Miller asked:


This is not a given for every employee. It used to be in the generation that was in the workplace of the nineteen fifties and sixties that staying with a company for thirty or more years and retiring with full benefits was the norm. That is not the norm any more.

We cannot just blame the job hopping ways of employees for the change of culture away from going for the gold watch and retiring in a company. From the corporate side, so many companies have eliminated retirement packages entirely that there is a strong belief of the do it yourself retirement in the working population.

A company offers retirement benefits for employees for one purpose. That is to aid with retention. When you have a pool of talented, well trained and energetic employees, that is a corporate resource. So if you can keep those employees all the way through to retirement, that is a real value to any corporate entity.

So if your company does offer these benefits to your employees, its important that you take advantage of them in more ways then just sponsoring them. A retirement package for aging employees sends a message to the employees that the company cares about them and about their families. And this may be true in your company that you have a corporate culture of being involved with your employees at a personal level and maintaining that we are family feeling for people who work for you. If that is the case, it makes sense that you would extend that feeling to care for the retirement planning of any employee that you have that shows signs of being a long term value to the company.

You should highlight the company retirement package as early as the interview with your prospective employees. Remember that an interview is about more than you looking for qualified people. It is also about qualify people interviewing you. And that is exactly where the value of a strong retirement package is of greatest value. If a job hunter who is looking for a place to work that they can retire at knows that you have a good plan to help them with their retirement planning, that will draw the brightest and best to your HR department.

Your HR department should not let the retirement issues of employees lie idle for very long at all. The more you help your employees plan for and participate in a retirement program, the happier they will be and the more engaged in their work they will be. Hold regular retirement planning meetings to have employees review their level of participation in the program. This is where you will put in front of the employees your most empathetic HR employees to show genuine interest in the employee retirement issues.

Above all be sure to show particular concern and caring for aging employees. And when an employee finally crosses over into retirement, throw a party and go out of your way not only for the company to help the employee transition to retirement but to demonstrate to all employees that the company lives up to its claims to be faithful to employees all the way into retirement. In an economy where so many companies throw people away, your employees will notice that this is not that kind of company. And your faithfulness to retiring employees will result in a rich crop of faithfulness from ongoing employees who stand behind you because you stand behind them from the day they start work in the company all the way through to retirement.



DORSEY

Wayne Miller asked:


The basic level of retirement planning is to sign up for your 401k at work, support legislation to keep Social Security intact, buy some life insurance and let it go at that. This system will work so there is reason to call this bad retirement planning. After all, if you began preparing for retirement in your early adult life and stayed with it, you will have a resource to retire on and that is a good thing.

But there is a way to take it to the next level and that is to actually start putting some flesh and bones on your vision of your retirement and get a feel not only for the fact that you will retire but how you expect to live in retirement. Very often, we have idealistic visions of retirement life based on media images or the fantasy life of living in luxury and having little to do but golf in the morning and drink campaign and eat caviar all afternoon. So if you can get a realistic view of what you have as your expectations for retirement, you can start making adjustments to your retirement planning package right now.

Start with how you see your retirement lifestyle working. If you want little more than a manageable retirement apartment, a cat and the chance to knit or watch ESPN without interruption, that is a fairly modest retirement lifestyle to prepare for. But other people have adventure and high living in their retirement dreams. So if world travel or living in a luxury setting is part of that dream, only one person is going to make that dream a reality and that is you.

An exercise that is fun and eye opening is to detail every aspect of your dream life in retirement. Start by picturing your living conditions. Include your diet needs and wants as well as any entertainment and recreational needs you expect to be a part of retirement. For example, if you know you will want to go on long fishing adventures several times a year, you will need a RV and the finances to support taking off for the most scenic spots within driving distance to kick back and enjoy the fishing. So include the physical and financial needs for that lifestyle in this final step of retirement planning.

You can complete the exercise by getting to such a level of detail that you could go out and price the dream in todays dollars. Then when you take your own dream retirement shopping list out into the open markets and use retail locations, catalogs and internet sites to actually find out how much it would cost to have that retirement today, that will shed a lot of light on your retirement preparations that you are doing.

Now, the actual cost of those different components will be much higher when you actually get to the point of retirement. You could try to factor in inflation and make those kinds of adjustments but do not play with the formula so much that you get the idea that it is impossible and give up. However, another factor that offsets the inflation factor is that your retirement life will be less expensive then your current lifestyle. Your daily needs may not be as demanding. If you sell your house after paying off the mortgage, your monthly expenses will go way down and you will have a significant surge of retirement capital that will come from the sale of the house. And you are not raising kids, putting them through college or having to support the lifestyle and wardrobe of a working person. All of these things offset the inflation issue.



BROCKMAN

Miodrag Trajkovic asked:


Planning your retirement can be confusing. Unless you are actually retired, you really can’t appreciate what it is like. A lot of myths have sprung u pabout retirement and retirement planning and we will take a look at some of them in this article.

A common myth is that retirement will last for 10 – 20 years. In truth, people are living much longer than previous generations. Not only that but the retired population is more healthy and active. Plus if you retire early which is an increasingly popular trend, then your retirement will be longer than normal. To be on the safe side, it is best to plan for a retirement that will last for 30 years.

Another myth, and one that could hurt your pocketbook, is that living expenses are lower after you retire. In most cases, this is not true. You may still be paying off a mortgage, taking care of your children, grandchildren, or parents. There may be others in your family who will be depending on your income for long after you retire. So it is a good idea to figure your expenses to remain the same and not count on them going down when your retire.

Social security is another topic of confusion and myths abound. Many people belive that social security will be defunct by the time they retire and others believe they will be able to live off of social security alone. Only time will tell if social security will survive through the years, but one thing is almost certain. If you do receive social security benefits, they will amount to much less than your current income.

More myths exist on the subject of taxes. Yu will still have to pay taxes after you retire, even if you live off retirement and social security as long as your income exceeds the limit. If you planned your financial future well, it is possible you will encounter increased taxes after you retire. If your taxes are lower or zero then, then it will be because your income be quite low. So it is best to plan taxes into your retirement planning and know that you will have to pay them long into your retirement.

Any of the myths above can harm you if you believe in them and don’t do your research and learn the truth about planning for retirement. The best thing to do is consult with a financial planner who can guide you through all the technicalities of taxes and savings so you know your retirment plan is on the right track.



FELDER

small_business_CEO asked:


I’m a small business owner (4 full time employees) who does not offer any retirement plan or have one for myself. My employees are commission based only. What would be the best retirement plan for me and for all of us, individually? Thanks!

ANGEL