Jul
30
They Laughed at Me When I Began Planning for Retirement
Filed Under Moving And Relocating | Comments Off
Andy Rogers asked:
my colleagues realized how important was retirement planning when they themselves got retired, did they understand my wisdom. People would be idiots to not plan it earlier. It may seem tough at first to believe that one has to retire someday from the workplace and the sooner it is done the better it is for the life after retirement. Retirement planning is essential in order to be able to enjoy retirement. Most people have dreams for their retirement years and only planning will make it happen. The best time to begin retirement planning is as soon as a person has graduated from college and begins to work. Those people who begin early will find that their retirement years will be filled with the ability to do whatever they want or dream up.
Some people who don’t plan properly find retirement to be a night mare. But there are actually some good ideas to help plan for retirement. A great idea is to reserve a convenient optimum percentage of pay and place it in an investment account. Doing it this way means that the money isn’t missed and doesn’t become part of the monthly budget. Don’t expect that if the money isn’t taken out automatically that a person will have enough will power to do it on their own. Retirement planning isn’t easy and it takes determination and discipline to keep the plan together for years.
Taking advice form a retirement advisor is a good idea. He can make suggestions and advise of several significant things like opportunities to increase investments. As a person gets increases in salary or pay, keep the percentage of ten percent going to retirement planning. In doing this the person might also have the opportunity to possibly have early retirement. By retiring early a person will be able to spend more time doing all the things they have dreamed of. It doesn’t mean that life stops. Because of all these reasons, retirement planning is essential for later on in life.In the same way that as a child one learns how the ants and birds work hard for the winter to come, it is important to have instilled inside a person a good work ethic.
Prior planning is going to have long term benefits. It feels so good after retirement when you see the fruits of your planning endeavors ripe. A person will be glad that they spent the time doing retirement planning. They will be proud of the fact that they had self discipline to keep it up over the years. For those people not at retirement age it’s never too late to start preparing and if one sticks with the plan, retirement can still be filled with the opportunities to fulfill dreams someday.Retirement planning should never feel like a chore because it is a means to have a great time in the golden years of life.
FUQUA
my colleagues realized how important was retirement planning when they themselves got retired, did they understand my wisdom. People would be idiots to not plan it earlier. It may seem tough at first to believe that one has to retire someday from the workplace and the sooner it is done the better it is for the life after retirement. Retirement planning is essential in order to be able to enjoy retirement. Most people have dreams for their retirement years and only planning will make it happen. The best time to begin retirement planning is as soon as a person has graduated from college and begins to work. Those people who begin early will find that their retirement years will be filled with the ability to do whatever they want or dream up.
Some people who don’t plan properly find retirement to be a night mare. But there are actually some good ideas to help plan for retirement. A great idea is to reserve a convenient optimum percentage of pay and place it in an investment account. Doing it this way means that the money isn’t missed and doesn’t become part of the monthly budget. Don’t expect that if the money isn’t taken out automatically that a person will have enough will power to do it on their own. Retirement planning isn’t easy and it takes determination and discipline to keep the plan together for years.
Taking advice form a retirement advisor is a good idea. He can make suggestions and advise of several significant things like opportunities to increase investments. As a person gets increases in salary or pay, keep the percentage of ten percent going to retirement planning. In doing this the person might also have the opportunity to possibly have early retirement. By retiring early a person will be able to spend more time doing all the things they have dreamed of. It doesn’t mean that life stops. Because of all these reasons, retirement planning is essential for later on in life.In the same way that as a child one learns how the ants and birds work hard for the winter to come, it is important to have instilled inside a person a good work ethic.
Prior planning is going to have long term benefits. It feels so good after retirement when you see the fruits of your planning endeavors ripe. A person will be glad that they spent the time doing retirement planning. They will be proud of the fact that they had self discipline to keep it up over the years. For those people not at retirement age it’s never too late to start preparing and if one sticks with the plan, retirement can still be filled with the opportunities to fulfill dreams someday.Retirement planning should never feel like a chore because it is a means to have a great time in the golden years of life.
FUQUA
Jul
27
A Case for “Third Schedule” Retirement Pension Funds in Sierra Leone
Filed Under Insurance | Comments Off
Kortor Kamara asked:
OVERVIEW:
The NASSIT Act, 2001 established a virtual state-monopoly in the NASSIT for the management and investment of pension funds in Sierra Leone. However, as is generally the case with monopolies and especially quasi governmental monopolies in Sierra Leone, we must continue to be vigilant and guard against inefficiencies in management and oversight, politically-driven investments, political interference, nepotism and a blotted bureaucracy which have in the past become hallmarks and recipes precipitating their subsequent failures and demise.
It is thus against this backdrop that the continued viability of the current retirement system remains to be seen especially as we continue to await the second statutory actuarial evaluation report and the failure by the Trust since 2006 to post an annual report encompassing the Trust’s operational performance and audited financial accounts for the fiscal years 2007 and 2008 (NASSIT website: www.nassitsl.org). Management and the Trustees must be reminded that pursuant to Section 16(1) of the NASSIT Act No.5 of 2001, the Trust is by law required to submit and publicly file such annual reports.
LONGEVITY RISK:
Despite the still very low life expectancy rate currently estimated at 41.24 years (CIA World Fact book Report March, 2009) and high infant mortality rate of 154.43 deaths per 1000 live births (UNDP Human Development Report, 2008) in Sierra Leone, the past few years have witnessed positive, though minimal movements in data reflecting a decrease in the nation’s longevity risk. This is borne from a comparative analysis of life expectancy figures of 35.4 years from 1970 to 1975 to 41.0 years in the period from 2000 to 2005 to the current 41.24 years estimated for 2009. Generally, the longevity risk in retirement is the hazard of aging and uncertainty of knowing how long one will live and how long social security retirement benefits, such as provided by the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) can go before one runs out of retirement funds prior to death. The focus of this article is thus how can one minimize the risk of running out of money in retirement through the use of annuities and retirement funds?
The Society of Actuaries in a survey report entitled “Key Findings and Issues: How Americans Understand and Manage their Retirement Risks” identified the following retirement risks viz: outliving assets; loss of spouse; decline in bodily function; healthcare and medical expenses and inflation. These retirement risks are not unique only to Americans as the same basic risks confront retirees in Sierra Leone as they seek to understand and manage their retirement options. Generally the most common retirement risks are categorized as follows:
Longevity Risks Investment Risks Planning Risks
According to the latest published data by NASSIT (NASSIT at a Glance Facts & Figures as at June 2008), the monthly average retirement pension payable currently in Sierra Leone is a paltry SLL108, 504.72 (One hundred and eight thousand five hundred and four Leones and seventy two cents). This amount represents a fraction of retirement income required by employees for basic sustenance in the current economic environment in Sierra Leone, where even a bag of rice costs more than the average monthly retirement provided by NASSIT. A retiree with even a modest family, not to mention our extended family system, would be hard pressed to provide and maintain a household based solely on the pension currently provided by NASSIT.
With a majority of the participants either at average or below average income earnings and hence contributing at the average and below average rates, it stands to reason that most of the scheme participants will not be eligible to receive pensions at even the modest average amount as currently computed by the NASSIT actuaries. Thus, the goal of a comfortable retirement envisaged by the architects of the NASSIT risks becoming a fleeting illusion, unless other new retirement options and vehicles are incorporated into the nation’s retirement and social safety network.
As postulated by Kerry Pechter in her book “Annuities for Dummies”, “many people confidently walk the financial high wire of life without a safety net. Others, especially those who are approaching retirement, feel more secure when a net is there to catch them-just in case the tightrope snaps”. In the Sierra Leonean context however the social protection and safety net is needed by all and not just a few, thus my continued passion in ensuring that the Trust is professionally run and maintains accountability consistent with actuarial, retirement and insurance principles.
REPEAL THE NASSIT MONOPOLY:
For with the inability of the NASSIT to provide the requisite financial safety net, based on the current actuarial projections, it is but prudent that government seeks to break up the NASSIT’s near monopoly over pension fund management in Sierra Leone to allow not only life insurance and annuity companies but more so retirement funds to establish and manage employer-sponsored retirement plans.
The NASSIT model is akin to the Social Security system in the United States which as a hybrid defined contribution and defined benefit plan, establishes and sets a fixed percentage both employees and employers contribute and also defines the benefit formula participants receive at retirement. As a result of conservative projections and outright ill-advised investments with little or no redeemable value-added equity to be realized in some investments even in the long term, the NASSIT cannot be solely relied on by Sierra Leonean workers for their retirement needs.
With the repeal of the NASSIT monopoly, employer sponsored retirement plans and annuities, with an investment and insurance component will be established and marketed to allow employees to save and invest in their own retirement.
THIRD SCHEDULE RETIREMENT FUNDS: What are they?
What I have elected to dub “Third Schedule Retirement Funds” emanates from provisions in the third schedule of the Sierra Leone Income Tax Act, 2000, which provides for the establishment of complying retirement funds with the approval of the National Revenue Authority (NRA) Commissioner.
This little known provision in our tax code already provides the legal and regulatory framework for the establishment of individual retirement accounts managed by these so-called Third Schedule Retirement Funds in Sierra Leone. These are intended to augment and provide other guaranteed income during retirement separate and aside from the NASSIT pension. Moreover, these retirement plans allow employees to save and invest for their own retirement by the employee authorizing the employer to deduct a certain percentage of his/her wages to be invested in the employer-sponsored plan.
Tax incentives and deferrals are usually provided by governments to encourage retirement planning, savings and participation. Amounts contributed by employees into such plans are not taxable resulting in a larger carry home paycheck monthly. Moreover, as an employee benefit, employers also contribute a percentage into their employees’ retirement accounts, with a concomitant tax savings by the employer.
However, the provisions of The First Schedule Part IV of the Income Tax Act, 2000 which requires a 15% withholding from payments on pensions and annuities needs to be repealed as it is regressive and discourages retirement savings. It is also envisaged that employee contributions are on a pre-tax basis so that employees participating in these retirement funds can take advantage of favorable tax brackets and rates. As an example, the tax rate for individuals with incomes over 480,000.00 Leones is 25% per annum while the tax rate for individuals earning over 7,500,000.00 Leones is 40%.
The United States based African-focused reinsurance consultancy company, Saddleback Re, in California managed by the author has over the past few months designed annuities and retirement policies to be introduced in Sierra Leone and managed under the provisions of the Sierra Leone Tax Code. Additional information on these retirement vehicles can be addressed to admin@saddlebackre.com.
ANNUITIES:
Annuities, whether fixed or variable, immediate or deferred are generally retirement tools or vehicles designed to supplement an employee’s retirement income and guarantee pension-like income over the life of the annuitant or beneficiary. These are only issued by insurance companies and have both a hybrid insurance contract and investment features.
An income annuity generally provides for conversion of a large sum of cash into monthly, quarterly or an ann ual payout wherein an insurance company agrees to pay the annuitant or beneficiary an income over a certain period of time.
According to the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission (SLICOM) 2006 Annual Report, the Life Insurance business sector is serviced by only 3 insurance companies, with a net industry wide premium of 1,323,640,000.00 Leones; with Aureol Insurance Company dominating with a 104% share of the market. Thus annuities which are principally life insurance contracts still have a long way to penetrate the Sierra Leone insurance marketplace.
THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET PROGRAM AS AN ANNUITY:
The Social Safety Net Program currently managed by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security represents a program that should have better been managed as an annuity. During the program’s launching in 2006, President Kabbah stated that “NASSIT has been able to pay back over 5.3 billion towards the establishment of the Social Safety Net Scheme. Additional support to the scheme amounting to 5.0 billion Leones will be made by government”. The program launched by President Kabbah in 2006 with paid up capital of 5.7 billion Leones and additional 5.0 billion investment pledged by government was designed to be administered by NASSIT, without any administrative costs and projected to reach an estimated 16,000 extremely vulnerable households, as a component of the country’s 2005 to 2007 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).
However, since the Social Safety Net pilot adopted a cash transfer scheme the following has been expended, according to Ministry of Employment and Social Security presentation at the Regional Experts Group Meeting on Social Protection in Dakar, June 2008:
Cash: 200,000.00 Leones (US $68.00) per person for six months. The overall cost of the pilot was 3.746 Billion Leones (US $1.270 million ) 16,890 persons were targeted costing 3.396 Billion Leones (US $1.151 million) Administrative costs was 350 million Leones (US $118,644.07) Only 65 out of 156 chiefdoms were covered.
From the above figures the program as managed and supervised by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security clearly lacks long term sustainability, is too short term and lacking an entrepreneurial oriented vision. For with the amount of the initial seed money having been used to purchase annuities for all the participants in the targeted groupings, the benefits of retirement income and savings that annuities provide would have been made available to some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Rather the decisions of transferring management of the program from NASSITT, where the funds would have been better managed and invested to a Ministry program was a recipe for failure.
JEWETT
OVERVIEW:
The NASSIT Act, 2001 established a virtual state-monopoly in the NASSIT for the management and investment of pension funds in Sierra Leone. However, as is generally the case with monopolies and especially quasi governmental monopolies in Sierra Leone, we must continue to be vigilant and guard against inefficiencies in management and oversight, politically-driven investments, political interference, nepotism and a blotted bureaucracy which have in the past become hallmarks and recipes precipitating their subsequent failures and demise.
It is thus against this backdrop that the continued viability of the current retirement system remains to be seen especially as we continue to await the second statutory actuarial evaluation report and the failure by the Trust since 2006 to post an annual report encompassing the Trust’s operational performance and audited financial accounts for the fiscal years 2007 and 2008 (NASSIT website: www.nassitsl.org). Management and the Trustees must be reminded that pursuant to Section 16(1) of the NASSIT Act No.5 of 2001, the Trust is by law required to submit and publicly file such annual reports.
LONGEVITY RISK:
Despite the still very low life expectancy rate currently estimated at 41.24 years (CIA World Fact book Report March, 2009) and high infant mortality rate of 154.43 deaths per 1000 live births (UNDP Human Development Report, 2008) in Sierra Leone, the past few years have witnessed positive, though minimal movements in data reflecting a decrease in the nation’s longevity risk. This is borne from a comparative analysis of life expectancy figures of 35.4 years from 1970 to 1975 to 41.0 years in the period from 2000 to 2005 to the current 41.24 years estimated for 2009. Generally, the longevity risk in retirement is the hazard of aging and uncertainty of knowing how long one will live and how long social security retirement benefits, such as provided by the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) can go before one runs out of retirement funds prior to death. The focus of this article is thus how can one minimize the risk of running out of money in retirement through the use of annuities and retirement funds?
The Society of Actuaries in a survey report entitled “Key Findings and Issues: How Americans Understand and Manage their Retirement Risks” identified the following retirement risks viz: outliving assets; loss of spouse; decline in bodily function; healthcare and medical expenses and inflation. These retirement risks are not unique only to Americans as the same basic risks confront retirees in Sierra Leone as they seek to understand and manage their retirement options. Generally the most common retirement risks are categorized as follows:
Longevity Risks Investment Risks Planning Risks
According to the latest published data by NASSIT (NASSIT at a Glance Facts & Figures as at June 2008), the monthly average retirement pension payable currently in Sierra Leone is a paltry SLL108, 504.72 (One hundred and eight thousand five hundred and four Leones and seventy two cents). This amount represents a fraction of retirement income required by employees for basic sustenance in the current economic environment in Sierra Leone, where even a bag of rice costs more than the average monthly retirement provided by NASSIT. A retiree with even a modest family, not to mention our extended family system, would be hard pressed to provide and maintain a household based solely on the pension currently provided by NASSIT.
With a majority of the participants either at average or below average income earnings and hence contributing at the average and below average rates, it stands to reason that most of the scheme participants will not be eligible to receive pensions at even the modest average amount as currently computed by the NASSIT actuaries. Thus, the goal of a comfortable retirement envisaged by the architects of the NASSIT risks becoming a fleeting illusion, unless other new retirement options and vehicles are incorporated into the nation’s retirement and social safety network.
As postulated by Kerry Pechter in her book “Annuities for Dummies”, “many people confidently walk the financial high wire of life without a safety net. Others, especially those who are approaching retirement, feel more secure when a net is there to catch them-just in case the tightrope snaps”. In the Sierra Leonean context however the social protection and safety net is needed by all and not just a few, thus my continued passion in ensuring that the Trust is professionally run and maintains accountability consistent with actuarial, retirement and insurance principles.
REPEAL THE NASSIT MONOPOLY:
For with the inability of the NASSIT to provide the requisite financial safety net, based on the current actuarial projections, it is but prudent that government seeks to break up the NASSIT’s near monopoly over pension fund management in Sierra Leone to allow not only life insurance and annuity companies but more so retirement funds to establish and manage employer-sponsored retirement plans.
The NASSIT model is akin to the Social Security system in the United States which as a hybrid defined contribution and defined benefit plan, establishes and sets a fixed percentage both employees and employers contribute and also defines the benefit formula participants receive at retirement. As a result of conservative projections and outright ill-advised investments with little or no redeemable value-added equity to be realized in some investments even in the long term, the NASSIT cannot be solely relied on by Sierra Leonean workers for their retirement needs.
With the repeal of the NASSIT monopoly, employer sponsored retirement plans and annuities, with an investment and insurance component will be established and marketed to allow employees to save and invest in their own retirement.
THIRD SCHEDULE RETIREMENT FUNDS: What are they?
What I have elected to dub “Third Schedule Retirement Funds” emanates from provisions in the third schedule of the Sierra Leone Income Tax Act, 2000, which provides for the establishment of complying retirement funds with the approval of the National Revenue Authority (NRA) Commissioner.
This little known provision in our tax code already provides the legal and regulatory framework for the establishment of individual retirement accounts managed by these so-called Third Schedule Retirement Funds in Sierra Leone. These are intended to augment and provide other guaranteed income during retirement separate and aside from the NASSIT pension. Moreover, these retirement plans allow employees to save and invest for their own retirement by the employee authorizing the employer to deduct a certain percentage of his/her wages to be invested in the employer-sponsored plan.
Tax incentives and deferrals are usually provided by governments to encourage retirement planning, savings and participation. Amounts contributed by employees into such plans are not taxable resulting in a larger carry home paycheck monthly. Moreover, as an employee benefit, employers also contribute a percentage into their employees’ retirement accounts, with a concomitant tax savings by the employer.
However, the provisions of The First Schedule Part IV of the Income Tax Act, 2000 which requires a 15% withholding from payments on pensions and annuities needs to be repealed as it is regressive and discourages retirement savings. It is also envisaged that employee contributions are on a pre-tax basis so that employees participating in these retirement funds can take advantage of favorable tax brackets and rates. As an example, the tax rate for individuals with incomes over 480,000.00 Leones is 25% per annum while the tax rate for individuals earning over 7,500,000.00 Leones is 40%.
The United States based African-focused reinsurance consultancy company, Saddleback Re, in California managed by the author has over the past few months designed annuities and retirement policies to be introduced in Sierra Leone and managed under the provisions of the Sierra Leone Tax Code. Additional information on these retirement vehicles can be addressed to admin@saddlebackre.com.
ANNUITIES:
Annuities, whether fixed or variable, immediate or deferred are generally retirement tools or vehicles designed to supplement an employee’s retirement income and guarantee pension-like income over the life of the annuitant or beneficiary. These are only issued by insurance companies and have both a hybrid insurance contract and investment features.
An income annuity generally provides for conversion of a large sum of cash into monthly, quarterly or an ann ual payout wherein an insurance company agrees to pay the annuitant or beneficiary an income over a certain period of time.
According to the Sierra Leone Insurance Commission (SLICOM) 2006 Annual Report, the Life Insurance business sector is serviced by only 3 insurance companies, with a net industry wide premium of 1,323,640,000.00 Leones; with Aureol Insurance Company dominating with a 104% share of the market. Thus annuities which are principally life insurance contracts still have a long way to penetrate the Sierra Leone insurance marketplace.
THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET PROGRAM AS AN ANNUITY:
The Social Safety Net Program currently managed by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security represents a program that should have better been managed as an annuity. During the program’s launching in 2006, President Kabbah stated that “NASSIT has been able to pay back over 5.3 billion towards the establishment of the Social Safety Net Scheme. Additional support to the scheme amounting to 5.0 billion Leones will be made by government”. The program launched by President Kabbah in 2006 with paid up capital of 5.7 billion Leones and additional 5.0 billion investment pledged by government was designed to be administered by NASSIT, without any administrative costs and projected to reach an estimated 16,000 extremely vulnerable households, as a component of the country’s 2005 to 2007 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP).
However, since the Social Safety Net pilot adopted a cash transfer scheme the following has been expended, according to Ministry of Employment and Social Security presentation at the Regional Experts Group Meeting on Social Protection in Dakar, June 2008:
Cash: 200,000.00 Leones (US $68.00) per person for six months. The overall cost of the pilot was 3.746 Billion Leones (US $1.270 million ) 16,890 persons were targeted costing 3.396 Billion Leones (US $1.151 million) Administrative costs was 350 million Leones (US $118,644.07) Only 65 out of 156 chiefdoms were covered.
From the above figures the program as managed and supervised by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security clearly lacks long term sustainability, is too short term and lacking an entrepreneurial oriented vision. For with the amount of the initial seed money having been used to purchase annuities for all the participants in the targeted groupings, the benefits of retirement income and savings that annuities provide would have been made available to some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Rather the decisions of transferring management of the program from NASSITT, where the funds would have been better managed and invested to a Ministry program was a recipe for failure.
JEWETT
Jul
22
Retirement Planning – 2 Options To Consider For Successful Retirement
Filed Under Retirement | Comments Off
Dean Caporella asked:
If you’re coming up to retirement age and worry about maintaining meaning in your life once you exit the work force then don’t.
There are several great options to consider as part of your retirement planning. Today, people are living longer thanks to modern medicine and advances in nutritional research and while this is great in a sense, it means making your retirement planning count much more as your nest egg needs to sustain you for a longer period of time.
The problem is though as a baby boomer, you’re not ready to accept old age. This means as a baby boomer you’re also part of the largest spending group in human history which means you may have been a little extravagant with your money. But that’s the nature of many boomers who refuse to let old age become an obstacle in their quest to enjoy all life has to offer.
So what can you do to give your life more meaning in your retirement years. Let’s take a look at just two options you should consider.
Phased Retirement
This is going to become a “biggie.” Phased retirement is still basically a term but will gather momentum during the next few years as boomers hit retiring age.
Basically, phased retirement will give you the opportunity to continue to work in some capacity past whatever age you decide to retire. There will be a broad range of options available. Here are some of them:
- you could consider a new part-time career
- you could take on seasonal work
- establish a flexible work schedule with your current employer
- stay with your current employer or former business as a consultant
- sell your business but stay on in a part-time basis
- take a year off before returning on a part-time based
The idea of phased retirement is to not only ease one into their golden years but to also maintain security in the shape of income. Yes, there will be tax and pension considerations but phased retirement is still basically at birth stage with many issues to be sorted out.
Join A Community
Going online and becoming part of a thriving community is a choice many smart retirees will make and will form part of retirement planning options.
For example, membership sites online offering everything from health and fitness news, financial news, income opportunities and lifestyle information will become big business in the not too distant future.
Becoming part of one of these online communities is a great way to develop new friendships, not just in your own country but around the world. Forums within these online communities will be a safe and effective way of meeting up with other smart retirees.
RAMIREZ
If you’re coming up to retirement age and worry about maintaining meaning in your life once you exit the work force then don’t.
There are several great options to consider as part of your retirement planning. Today, people are living longer thanks to modern medicine and advances in nutritional research and while this is great in a sense, it means making your retirement planning count much more as your nest egg needs to sustain you for a longer period of time.
The problem is though as a baby boomer, you’re not ready to accept old age. This means as a baby boomer you’re also part of the largest spending group in human history which means you may have been a little extravagant with your money. But that’s the nature of many boomers who refuse to let old age become an obstacle in their quest to enjoy all life has to offer.
So what can you do to give your life more meaning in your retirement years. Let’s take a look at just two options you should consider.
Phased Retirement
This is going to become a “biggie.” Phased retirement is still basically a term but will gather momentum during the next few years as boomers hit retiring age.
Basically, phased retirement will give you the opportunity to continue to work in some capacity past whatever age you decide to retire. There will be a broad range of options available. Here are some of them:
- you could consider a new part-time career
- you could take on seasonal work
- establish a flexible work schedule with your current employer
- stay with your current employer or former business as a consultant
- sell your business but stay on in a part-time basis
- take a year off before returning on a part-time based
The idea of phased retirement is to not only ease one into their golden years but to also maintain security in the shape of income. Yes, there will be tax and pension considerations but phased retirement is still basically at birth stage with many issues to be sorted out.
Join A Community
Going online and becoming part of a thriving community is a choice many smart retirees will make and will form part of retirement planning options.
For example, membership sites online offering everything from health and fitness news, financial news, income opportunities and lifestyle information will become big business in the not too distant future.
Becoming part of one of these online communities is a great way to develop new friendships, not just in your own country but around the world. Forums within these online communities will be a safe and effective way of meeting up with other smart retirees.
RAMIREZ
Jul
20
Retirement Finance Planning-Tips For Planning Your Financial Future
Filed Under Retirement Investing | Comments Off
Josh Neumann asked:
Retirement finance planning is one of the most important activities you will ever engage in. Quite simply, if you don’t know where the money is coming from once you’ve finished working, you won’t have a very enjoyable later life.
Various occupations have different retirement ages. There might be several reasons behind a person’s retirement. Retirement surely brings significant changes in the life style of concerned person.
Gone are the days when retirement symbolizes getting older. Retired young and early is current trend.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of their daily lives that they don’t even consider having a retirement plan until it’s too late. This is one of the primary reasons that, according to the social security administration, 95% of people in the world today are either dead or dead broke by the time they hit retirement; a simply lack of planning.
Employers and employees both need to begin planning for this important event. Retirement plan service companies give a variety of choices to help employers and their employees find the best option for them in planning for their retirement.
Retirement planning services companies will help you to map out and achieve your long term goals, and formulate a way to get there. Many of these companies provide seminars to give you more info on the topic.
These agencies all have a lot of experience in planning for retirement, and they should be an essential part of your retirement planning. Each client is presented with a written financial plan and is assisted with the implementation of the selected plan.
For the purpose of pre-retirement planning, a retirement planning services company uses sophisticated planning models, research databases and comprehensive data gathering techniques. Every client receives a financial asset allocation and lifetime income protection plan.
Some retirement planning services help clients with more than 15 years of business experience, in their mid-career planning. They also assist clients in making the right financial and investment decisions, including debt reduction strategies and in projecting future retirement income needs.
Retirement planning service companies are members of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and are registered investment advisors. Retirement plan services have simplified the process of selecting a retirement plan and planning out investment decisions.
Of course, before meeting with these companies to help you, you need to know your retirement goals and what they will cost you, so that you can plan your investing activities accordingly. Very simply, without knowing this info, your meeting times will not be very productive.
While you are figuring out your projected expenses, make use of a retirement planning calculator, which is a device designed specifically to help you figure out how much cash you will need when you are done working. These machines are readily available via the web.
Finally, a very popular plan you might want to consider is the Pinchot Plan for Retirement. While the specifics are far out of the scope of this article, this is a very popular plan that more and more peopele are utilizing nowadays, and you certainly would be wise to at least consider it. Hopefully these retirement and finance planning tips will help you achieve your goals for your golden years, and live the life of your dreams.
HARDESTY
Retirement finance planning is one of the most important activities you will ever engage in. Quite simply, if you don’t know where the money is coming from once you’ve finished working, you won’t have a very enjoyable later life.
Various occupations have different retirement ages. There might be several reasons behind a person’s retirement. Retirement surely brings significant changes in the life style of concerned person.
Gone are the days when retirement symbolizes getting older. Retired young and early is current trend.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of their daily lives that they don’t even consider having a retirement plan until it’s too late. This is one of the primary reasons that, according to the social security administration, 95% of people in the world today are either dead or dead broke by the time they hit retirement; a simply lack of planning.
Employers and employees both need to begin planning for this important event. Retirement plan service companies give a variety of choices to help employers and their employees find the best option for them in planning for their retirement.
Retirement planning services companies will help you to map out and achieve your long term goals, and formulate a way to get there. Many of these companies provide seminars to give you more info on the topic.
These agencies all have a lot of experience in planning for retirement, and they should be an essential part of your retirement planning. Each client is presented with a written financial plan and is assisted with the implementation of the selected plan.
For the purpose of pre-retirement planning, a retirement planning services company uses sophisticated planning models, research databases and comprehensive data gathering techniques. Every client receives a financial asset allocation and lifetime income protection plan.
Some retirement planning services help clients with more than 15 years of business experience, in their mid-career planning. They also assist clients in making the right financial and investment decisions, including debt reduction strategies and in projecting future retirement income needs.
Retirement planning service companies are members of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and are registered investment advisors. Retirement plan services have simplified the process of selecting a retirement plan and planning out investment decisions.
Of course, before meeting with these companies to help you, you need to know your retirement goals and what they will cost you, so that you can plan your investing activities accordingly. Very simply, without knowing this info, your meeting times will not be very productive.
While you are figuring out your projected expenses, make use of a retirement planning calculator, which is a device designed specifically to help you figure out how much cash you will need when you are done working. These machines are readily available via the web.
Finally, a very popular plan you might want to consider is the Pinchot Plan for Retirement. While the specifics are far out of the scope of this article, this is a very popular plan that more and more peopele are utilizing nowadays, and you certainly would be wise to at least consider it. Hopefully these retirement and finance planning tips will help you achieve your goals for your golden years, and live the life of your dreams.
HARDESTY
Jul
17
Is the Stock Market Doomed When Baby Boomers Retire?
Filed Under Retirement | Comments Off
Cathy Pareto asked:
Will your equities suffer when the baby boom generation decides to retire? There were 77
million baby boomers born between 1947 and 1964, that’s roughly 4.5 million a year. Many
financial experts agree that the boomers, aggressively saving for retirement, are partly
responsible for the surge in equity investments over the last several years. And some
doomsayers are predicting the boomers will drain the equity markets of their capital once they
retire. Should you worry? Are your equity portfolios at risk? It’s highly unlikely for many reasons.
As baby boomers near retirement, they will undoubtedly shift strategies, transitioning from the accumulation phase and into the capital preservation phase of their lives. I do not discount the rationale that as boomers retire, there will be some divestment from the stock market. In fact, it is expected, and sound for retirees to shift a portion of their investments from stocks to fixed income for capital preservation.
However, a portion of fixed income is not equivalent to “all” or “most” of their investments, as some of the doomsayers predict. Retired Boomers will likely live longer lives than the generation before them, have more active lifestyles during retirement, and may continue part time work or secondary careers “post retirement”. Numerous studies have been conducted on retiree distribution rates, all of which indicate that a healthy allocation to a diversified portfolio stocks is essential for ensuring the retiree does not outlive his cash. Therefore, all of these factors combined imply that the boomers will continue to own a substantial amount of equities during
retirement.
Furthermore, who is to say that boomers are not already allocated to some degree in fixed
income instruments? The assumption of the doomsayers is that boomers have little or no
exposure to fixed income currently, thus creating a monumental shift from equities when the work
years end. Many boomers have already begun the process of shifting some of their equities to
bonds.
Perhaps the greatest fallacy in the argument that boomers will induce a stock market collapse is
the idea that there will be a mass exodus of stock investors during a short time frame. This is a flawed presumption on two levels.
One, the span of time between the oldest boomer and the youngest boomer is eighteen years.
So, assuming all the boomers retired at age 65, that would have the first boomers retiring in
2012 and the last of the boomers retiring in 2029, hardly a short term.
Second, the argument neglects to account for the mass migration into the stock market during
the same period of time. Gen Xers and Echo Boomers (boomers’ children) will fill the void. From 1965 to 1999 there were 140 million babies born, roughly 4 million a year. Assume again that all individuals will retire at age 65. So, those born in 1965 would be only 47 when the first boomers retire in 2012 (leaving at least 18 years of savings/equity investing; and those born in 1999 will be 30 by the time the last set of boomers retires in 2029 (leaving another 35 years of savings/equity investing). Furthermore, The U.S. Census Bureau expects the domestic
population to grow from 275 to 400 million in the next 50 years.
So what’s the lesson here? The lesson is that there will always be opinions about what the
market is going to do, whether it’s predicting the appropriate time to sell or buy a stock or the timing the mass exodus of the boomers from the market—none of it is worth a dime. Remember,
that people make careers out of creating “spin” (just turn on CNBC or Bloomberg News for a
day). The sky is not falling and the boomers will not collapse the markets when they retire—they simply can’t afford to!
ROWELL
Will your equities suffer when the baby boom generation decides to retire? There were 77
million baby boomers born between 1947 and 1964, that’s roughly 4.5 million a year. Many
financial experts agree that the boomers, aggressively saving for retirement, are partly
responsible for the surge in equity investments over the last several years. And some
doomsayers are predicting the boomers will drain the equity markets of their capital once they
retire. Should you worry? Are your equity portfolios at risk? It’s highly unlikely for many reasons.
As baby boomers near retirement, they will undoubtedly shift strategies, transitioning from the accumulation phase and into the capital preservation phase of their lives. I do not discount the rationale that as boomers retire, there will be some divestment from the stock market. In fact, it is expected, and sound for retirees to shift a portion of their investments from stocks to fixed income for capital preservation.
However, a portion of fixed income is not equivalent to “all” or “most” of their investments, as some of the doomsayers predict. Retired Boomers will likely live longer lives than the generation before them, have more active lifestyles during retirement, and may continue part time work or secondary careers “post retirement”. Numerous studies have been conducted on retiree distribution rates, all of which indicate that a healthy allocation to a diversified portfolio stocks is essential for ensuring the retiree does not outlive his cash. Therefore, all of these factors combined imply that the boomers will continue to own a substantial amount of equities during
retirement.
Furthermore, who is to say that boomers are not already allocated to some degree in fixed
income instruments? The assumption of the doomsayers is that boomers have little or no
exposure to fixed income currently, thus creating a monumental shift from equities when the work
years end. Many boomers have already begun the process of shifting some of their equities to
bonds.
Perhaps the greatest fallacy in the argument that boomers will induce a stock market collapse is
the idea that there will be a mass exodus of stock investors during a short time frame. This is a flawed presumption on two levels.
One, the span of time between the oldest boomer and the youngest boomer is eighteen years.
So, assuming all the boomers retired at age 65, that would have the first boomers retiring in
2012 and the last of the boomers retiring in 2029, hardly a short term.
Second, the argument neglects to account for the mass migration into the stock market during
the same period of time. Gen Xers and Echo Boomers (boomers’ children) will fill the void. From 1965 to 1999 there were 140 million babies born, roughly 4 million a year. Assume again that all individuals will retire at age 65. So, those born in 1965 would be only 47 when the first boomers retire in 2012 (leaving at least 18 years of savings/equity investing; and those born in 1999 will be 30 by the time the last set of boomers retires in 2029 (leaving another 35 years of savings/equity investing). Furthermore, The U.S. Census Bureau expects the domestic
population to grow from 275 to 400 million in the next 50 years.
So what’s the lesson here? The lesson is that there will always be opinions about what the
market is going to do, whether it’s predicting the appropriate time to sell or buy a stock or the timing the mass exodus of the boomers from the market—none of it is worth a dime. Remember,
that people make careers out of creating “spin” (just turn on CNBC or Bloomberg News for a
day). The sky is not falling and the boomers will not collapse the markets when they retire—they simply can’t afford to!
ROWELL
Jul
16
Top 10 Useful Ideas to Plan for your Retirement
Filed Under Investing | Comments Off
Pnreddy asked:
What’s your age now? In some point in your life, have you ever thought of retiring from what you are doing right now? Is the idea of retirement ever occurs to you? Or, are you open to the truth that everything has an end? Well, if you’ve spent your most silent moment pondering about all these things, then you are somehow ready for a retirement.
So if you are on your 30s and the thought of retirement already occurred to you, then don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong with that. After all, it is better to think of your future as early as possible.
So what is retirement planning all about? What are and aren’t involved in the retirement planning? There are essentially top ten useful moves to take when preparing for retirement.
Step 1: Finances? Review Everything about It
Reviewing your finances is obviously the most primary thing to do during retirement planning. This is essentially for the reason that if you know where you are or what status in life you belong, you will certainly know where you are heading. Just think about this as your plan for studying.
If you think you have the budget to support your studies, then you know that you can study. So in terms of retirement, it is a rule to set your budget first before you consider an eventual retirement. It may take time though, particularly if you find yourself up to elbows in debt. If this is the case, then it’s clear that you are not yet ready for it.
Step 2: Set Goals and Priorities and Think about Them
When thinking about your future living, you should start setting goals and priorities. It is our goals that motivate us to do something for our own benefit, but it is our actions in fact that bring out the results. In either case, developing goals and priorities in life is very much required.
So to begin, ask yourself as to how you want to spend your time after retiring from work. Where do you want to live? What do you want to do? What about your family? How do they fit into your retirement plans? Knowing the answers to these questions will somehow make you feel ready and comfortable to kick back and continue living. It will help you realize what you need in terms of money and health.
Step 3: Consider and Develop a Healthy Lifestyle
Another perfect thing to do after your retirement is to develop a healthy lifestyle. It is now time to think about your health. After all, you are aging and that means you need to take care much of your health to continue living.
A sense of commitment is also required to maintain a healthy life. Just be active and pay much attention and dedication to your goal of becoming healthier. You will be surprised to wake up one day with the best posture and health possible.
Step 4: Learn About Retirement Plans
As you may know, there are a number of retirement plans available on the market these days. However, not all of these retirement plans may suit your requirements. So to start figuring out which of the available plans is best for you, consider first your employer’s retirement plan. If possible, try to talk to your Human Resource representative about your employer’s retirement plan.
Know whether your employer provides a pension or not. Then ask for a summary description of the plan, as well as an explanation for everything that is involved. Lastly, find out what you can contribute and try to inquire about vesting and the like.
Step 5: Review Your Benefit Statement
So you’ve decided on what plan to take. It is now time to review your benefit statement. This statement is provided to you by your employer periodically and it is where you can find your total advantages along with the amount that is owned by you. Review this statement to make sure that everything is going smoothly. In case you found certain areas that require to be questioned, talk to your benefits administrator as soon as possible.
Step 6: Open an IRA
IRA is one of the most common retirement plans in the world. It is often given to those who are married if they or their spouse has earned income. Well, there are two types of IRA. The first is the traditional IRA and the other is the Roth IRA. Both of these types has its own requirements and standards, and each has its own function.
So you should communicate and ask for help from the financial institution you are considering, to figure out if the IRA is perfect for you. If you found that you are eligible to open an IRA, then wait for nothing. Open it as soon as you possibly can. Once you have opened it then start contributing to the maximum amount allowed each year.
Step 7: Look at Your Social Security Statement and Review It
It is usual that every year, you will receive a Social Security Statement that stresses a record of your earnings that have been labeled as Social Security taxes paid. This statement generally comes about three months before your birthday. Well, if you receive this statement, review it carefully. Ensure that it presents an estimate of the benefits that you and your family might receive from those earnings.
If you have certain questions, then there’s no other better way you can do than to contact the Social Security System. Simply ask for help directly through them. I’m sure that they are willing to answer all your queries.
Step 8: Assess Your Life Insurance
When you retire, you may or may not need a life insurance. Although you have the choice, it is always a better idea to do your homework first to identify what particular kinds of benefits is attached to it. This is particularly applicable to those who have families who would be left without other means of income if you were to retire from life.
Also note that a life insurance policy can also be used to pay the taxes on your inherited IRAs or perhaps other retirement funds that have been set in your properties.
Step 9: Think About Long Term Care Insurance
Many of those who have considered retirement think about long term care insurance. They consider this option knowing that it will help them support their living. Of course, no one likes to live and being left in a nursing home, which is but a strong possibility when a person gets older. Long term care insurance may also be useful in case you will be affected by a major illness which can possibly wipe out your retirement savings. It is for this reason in fact that long term care insurance is needed.
Step 10: Talk to Your Spouse and Family about Your Retirement Plan
As expected, this would be the last step to take when considering a retirement planning. This is particularly significant knowing that your family can be affected by whatever decision you may make. So if possible, talk to your spouse and family about your retirement plan, and ensure that they understand about your plan and that your plan can help you support them. Just make them aware about it. That’s simply it!
So everything has been said. Well, these above mentioned ideas may not guarantee that you will be ready for that big retirement of yours. But in any case, these will somehow give you an idea on how to prepare. So noting all of these is still worth the effort.
PEEBLES
What’s your age now? In some point in your life, have you ever thought of retiring from what you are doing right now? Is the idea of retirement ever occurs to you? Or, are you open to the truth that everything has an end? Well, if you’ve spent your most silent moment pondering about all these things, then you are somehow ready for a retirement.
So if you are on your 30s and the thought of retirement already occurred to you, then don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong with that. After all, it is better to think of your future as early as possible.
So what is retirement planning all about? What are and aren’t involved in the retirement planning? There are essentially top ten useful moves to take when preparing for retirement.
Step 1: Finances? Review Everything about It
Reviewing your finances is obviously the most primary thing to do during retirement planning. This is essentially for the reason that if you know where you are or what status in life you belong, you will certainly know where you are heading. Just think about this as your plan for studying.
If you think you have the budget to support your studies, then you know that you can study. So in terms of retirement, it is a rule to set your budget first before you consider an eventual retirement. It may take time though, particularly if you find yourself up to elbows in debt. If this is the case, then it’s clear that you are not yet ready for it.
Step 2: Set Goals and Priorities and Think about Them
When thinking about your future living, you should start setting goals and priorities. It is our goals that motivate us to do something for our own benefit, but it is our actions in fact that bring out the results. In either case, developing goals and priorities in life is very much required.
So to begin, ask yourself as to how you want to spend your time after retiring from work. Where do you want to live? What do you want to do? What about your family? How do they fit into your retirement plans? Knowing the answers to these questions will somehow make you feel ready and comfortable to kick back and continue living. It will help you realize what you need in terms of money and health.
Step 3: Consider and Develop a Healthy Lifestyle
Another perfect thing to do after your retirement is to develop a healthy lifestyle. It is now time to think about your health. After all, you are aging and that means you need to take care much of your health to continue living.
A sense of commitment is also required to maintain a healthy life. Just be active and pay much attention and dedication to your goal of becoming healthier. You will be surprised to wake up one day with the best posture and health possible.
Step 4: Learn About Retirement Plans
As you may know, there are a number of retirement plans available on the market these days. However, not all of these retirement plans may suit your requirements. So to start figuring out which of the available plans is best for you, consider first your employer’s retirement plan. If possible, try to talk to your Human Resource representative about your employer’s retirement plan.
Know whether your employer provides a pension or not. Then ask for a summary description of the plan, as well as an explanation for everything that is involved. Lastly, find out what you can contribute and try to inquire about vesting and the like.
Step 5: Review Your Benefit Statement
So you’ve decided on what plan to take. It is now time to review your benefit statement. This statement is provided to you by your employer periodically and it is where you can find your total advantages along with the amount that is owned by you. Review this statement to make sure that everything is going smoothly. In case you found certain areas that require to be questioned, talk to your benefits administrator as soon as possible.
Step 6: Open an IRA
IRA is one of the most common retirement plans in the world. It is often given to those who are married if they or their spouse has earned income. Well, there are two types of IRA. The first is the traditional IRA and the other is the Roth IRA. Both of these types has its own requirements and standards, and each has its own function.
So you should communicate and ask for help from the financial institution you are considering, to figure out if the IRA is perfect for you. If you found that you are eligible to open an IRA, then wait for nothing. Open it as soon as you possibly can. Once you have opened it then start contributing to the maximum amount allowed each year.
Step 7: Look at Your Social Security Statement and Review It
It is usual that every year, you will receive a Social Security Statement that stresses a record of your earnings that have been labeled as Social Security taxes paid. This statement generally comes about three months before your birthday. Well, if you receive this statement, review it carefully. Ensure that it presents an estimate of the benefits that you and your family might receive from those earnings.
If you have certain questions, then there’s no other better way you can do than to contact the Social Security System. Simply ask for help directly through them. I’m sure that they are willing to answer all your queries.
Step 8: Assess Your Life Insurance
When you retire, you may or may not need a life insurance. Although you have the choice, it is always a better idea to do your homework first to identify what particular kinds of benefits is attached to it. This is particularly applicable to those who have families who would be left without other means of income if you were to retire from life.
Also note that a life insurance policy can also be used to pay the taxes on your inherited IRAs or perhaps other retirement funds that have been set in your properties.
Step 9: Think About Long Term Care Insurance
Many of those who have considered retirement think about long term care insurance. They consider this option knowing that it will help them support their living. Of course, no one likes to live and being left in a nursing home, which is but a strong possibility when a person gets older. Long term care insurance may also be useful in case you will be affected by a major illness which can possibly wipe out your retirement savings. It is for this reason in fact that long term care insurance is needed.
Step 10: Talk to Your Spouse and Family about Your Retirement Plan
As expected, this would be the last step to take when considering a retirement planning. This is particularly significant knowing that your family can be affected by whatever decision you may make. So if possible, talk to your spouse and family about your retirement plan, and ensure that they understand about your plan and that your plan can help you support them. Just make them aware about it. That’s simply it!
So everything has been said. Well, these above mentioned ideas may not guarantee that you will be ready for that big retirement of yours. But in any case, these will somehow give you an idea on how to prepare. So noting all of these is still worth the effort.
PEEBLES
Jul
15
Is Early Retirement A Fantasy?
Filed Under Personal Finance | Comments Off
Cindy Heller asked:
When life or working conditions become difficult, many people fantasize about early retirement as a form of escape. Early retirement can be a reality if you have taken steps early enough to prepare for this. If you have the foresight and the discipline to set aside savings from your employment income and invested them wisely, perhaps you stand a good chance to do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it. For people who enjoy their work, mandatory requirement to retire at a certain age may not be looked forward to. They dread the day when they will need to stop going to work as part of a regular routine, fraternizing with their colleagues and basically keeping themselves productively occupied. Another group of people are content with their previous life stage as employees and look forward to transitioning to their next stage of retirement. In summary, different people take to retirement in different ways.
A minority of people start saving for their retirement from their first paycheck. Many people do not start saving for retirement until it is a little too late. Those who started early with saving and investing for retirement, usually can look forward to comfortable retirement. For those who are unprepared, they may survive their retirement out of sheer luck – inheritance from parents who may have passed away or funds from an insurance payout due to the early death of one’s spouse. For everyone else who is unprepared, life will be pretty hard during their retirement. They will have to severely limit their choices in terms of quality of accommodation, activities like travel and potentially even the types of food consumed.
Do Not Daydream About Your Retirement; Prepare For It
If you wish to enjoy the flexibility to do whatever you wish upon your retirement, you need to prepare for it by saving and investing wisely according to a financial plan. You can choose to wake up whenever you wish. You may decide to spend time with your friends and neighbors. You can spend time with your grandchildren and watch them grow up. You may wish to work in the garden or take long naps. You can catch up on your favorite TV programs or movies. In fact, your leisure choices are limitless. The key proviso is that you have the financial means to do so. So put in place a retirement plan as early as possible.
There are some who dread retirement, since they miss the sense of order in their day from employment. They do not have any particular hobbies or interests. They may not socialize easily. They just do not know what to do with themselves with all the time they have from retirement. Some of them may take on another job post-retirement. A job that may not demand much in terms of skills or physical strength. These people are contented to work as long as they can and do not look forward to their retirement.
Retirement Jobs Are Increasingly Becoming Available
The issue of retirement jobs may seem really odd to some, but the reality is that not everyone can afford to retire. In developed countries, the two issues of a shrinking population arising from fewer babies being born and an ageing population living beyond the previous lifespan estimates have meant that retirees who need jobs can usually find them. Since more people can expect to live longer, they need to take this extended longevity into their retirement financial planning. For some this may be a little too late, so they will grudgingly have to consider working longer. Many governments around the world have been systematically raising the mandatory retirement age over the last few decades.
Opportunities For Retirement Jobs In Consulting
Many professionals today can develop new careers in retirement by offering their services as consultants in the fields in which they have expertise and from which they retired. This allows them to stay in the workforce without the pressures of day to day job demands. Most will work on a part time basis and others will work as contractors, working only when there is work, leaving plenty of time for hobbies and other interests.
Those lucky enough to have lucrative part-time consulting retirement jobs have the luxury of working productively for short durations at a time, while having the flexibility to spend the rest of their time on other activities like hobbies and social service. Many retirees who elect to work usually do so with a strong work ethic. Businesses may benefit substantially from offering these charged-up, motivated and active retirees.
There is a great span of retirement jobs available for the retiree who is seeking suitable work. Some may be simple and undemanding work at retail stores like fast food joints and cafes right up to high-end consultancy positions. If retirement jobs give retirees some sense of purpose along with other tangible benefits, then society at large benefits too. National welfare systems do not end up being over-burdened.
RANDOLPH
When life or working conditions become difficult, many people fantasize about early retirement as a form of escape. Early retirement can be a reality if you have taken steps early enough to prepare for this. If you have the foresight and the discipline to set aside savings from your employment income and invested them wisely, perhaps you stand a good chance to do whatever you want to do whenever you want to do it. For people who enjoy their work, mandatory requirement to retire at a certain age may not be looked forward to. They dread the day when they will need to stop going to work as part of a regular routine, fraternizing with their colleagues and basically keeping themselves productively occupied. Another group of people are content with their previous life stage as employees and look forward to transitioning to their next stage of retirement. In summary, different people take to retirement in different ways.
A minority of people start saving for their retirement from their first paycheck. Many people do not start saving for retirement until it is a little too late. Those who started early with saving and investing for retirement, usually can look forward to comfortable retirement. For those who are unprepared, they may survive their retirement out of sheer luck – inheritance from parents who may have passed away or funds from an insurance payout due to the early death of one’s spouse. For everyone else who is unprepared, life will be pretty hard during their retirement. They will have to severely limit their choices in terms of quality of accommodation, activities like travel and potentially even the types of food consumed.
Do Not Daydream About Your Retirement; Prepare For It
If you wish to enjoy the flexibility to do whatever you wish upon your retirement, you need to prepare for it by saving and investing wisely according to a financial plan. You can choose to wake up whenever you wish. You may decide to spend time with your friends and neighbors. You can spend time with your grandchildren and watch them grow up. You may wish to work in the garden or take long naps. You can catch up on your favorite TV programs or movies. In fact, your leisure choices are limitless. The key proviso is that you have the financial means to do so. So put in place a retirement plan as early as possible.
There are some who dread retirement, since they miss the sense of order in their day from employment. They do not have any particular hobbies or interests. They may not socialize easily. They just do not know what to do with themselves with all the time they have from retirement. Some of them may take on another job post-retirement. A job that may not demand much in terms of skills or physical strength. These people are contented to work as long as they can and do not look forward to their retirement.
Retirement Jobs Are Increasingly Becoming Available
The issue of retirement jobs may seem really odd to some, but the reality is that not everyone can afford to retire. In developed countries, the two issues of a shrinking population arising from fewer babies being born and an ageing population living beyond the previous lifespan estimates have meant that retirees who need jobs can usually find them. Since more people can expect to live longer, they need to take this extended longevity into their retirement financial planning. For some this may be a little too late, so they will grudgingly have to consider working longer. Many governments around the world have been systematically raising the mandatory retirement age over the last few decades.
Opportunities For Retirement Jobs In Consulting
Many professionals today can develop new careers in retirement by offering their services as consultants in the fields in which they have expertise and from which they retired. This allows them to stay in the workforce without the pressures of day to day job demands. Most will work on a part time basis and others will work as contractors, working only when there is work, leaving plenty of time for hobbies and other interests.
Those lucky enough to have lucrative part-time consulting retirement jobs have the luxury of working productively for short durations at a time, while having the flexibility to spend the rest of their time on other activities like hobbies and social service. Many retirees who elect to work usually do so with a strong work ethic. Businesses may benefit substantially from offering these charged-up, motivated and active retirees.
There is a great span of retirement jobs available for the retiree who is seeking suitable work. Some may be simple and undemanding work at retail stores like fast food joints and cafes right up to high-end consultancy positions. If retirement jobs give retirees some sense of purpose along with other tangible benefits, then society at large benefits too. National welfare systems do not end up being over-burdened.
RANDOLPH
Jul
9
x924t asked:
Mickey Mantle Retirement and Plaque Day from Yankee Stadum! Joe DiMaggio is among the many famous Yankess in attendance!
WISEMAN
Jul
9
How To Make Money Online By Staying Motivated
Filed Under Retirement Myths | Comments Off
Carael Knight asked:
The trick to getting through the slow times is motivation. If you want to make money online, you must keep yourself motivated to work. Here are some tips on how to stay focused and motivated:
1) Listen to success stories about how others “make money online.” If you hear about how well other people are doing, you will want to join them. This can be a healthy competition.
2) Share your success stories and your failures. Sometimes typing out a mistake and getting feedback on it can help you see exactly where you went wrong. A mistake learned from is a mistake that will not be repeated.
3) Set daily goals. You must do something in order to make money online. Perhaps you need to place a certain number of ads or write a certain number of blog posts. If you write down your goals and hold yourself to them, you will be on the right road to it.
4) Keep bills near your workspace. If you can see the stack of bills while you are working, you will realize that you need to work instead of surf the web.
5) Get a corkboard for special purchases. Somewhere near your workspace get a corkboard and draw a line down the middle of it. Print out a picture of some special purchase and pin it to the board. When you make enough money to purchase the item move it to the other side of the board.
6) Take responsibility for your own professional development. If you are going to be a business owner, you need to learn what that means. You need to know the movers and shakers who make money online and network with them. If they offer advice, get it. If they run blogs, read them. Spend some time each day learning how to make more money.
7) And last but not least, rest and relax. Do not fall into the trap of being a workaholic. People who work from home usually end up working a lot more hours than they mean to. Set a schedule and stick to it unless some time sensitive emergency happens. You are working from home and trying to do this to maximize your time with you family. Make sure you enjoy that time. Also, it will be easier to focus and learn if you are well rested.
A lot of people dream of being their own boss and many people want to do it. They develop a product or service that by all rights should be successful but it isn’t. When people get frustrated, they quit. If you quit, you are guaranteed to not make money online.
Staying motivated while ignoring the naysayers
Not every brick and mortar business adventure works out. Businesses close all the time, even ones that work in traditional and high demand areas. An online businessperson can fall into the same pitfalls that a traditional brick and mortar businessperson can fall into. Just because someone else failed does not mean you will especially if you know the tricks on how to make money online.
When you work your idea that will “make money online” for you, you need to make sure your idea is relevant. Do not offer something obsolete. You also need sound guidance. Without the right guidance, nearly everyone will be doomed to failure.
Other people can make money online, why can’t you? You do not need a business degree. You do not need a fancy advisory board. All you need is a little effort, a lot of desire, a computer, internet access and a bit of creativity. Let the “Negative Nellies” continue to work for someone else. Let them make their manager’s bonuses bigger. You can work for yourself and enjoy reaping all of the rewards of being your own boss.
There are a lot of people who will tell you that it is impossible to make money online or it is impossible to make enough money online to support a family.
Ignore those naysayers!
The truth of the matter is that right now, there are thousands of people who make money online.
Those “Negative Nellies” are probably people who tried to be their own bosses and failed to make money online. The question is: why did they fail? How much effort did they put toward their business? Some people think that the internet will just hand them cash. If you want to make money online, you will have to work but you will not have to work as hard as you may think. If the negative people did not market themselves and their service properly then yes, they did fail.
RUIZ
The trick to getting through the slow times is motivation. If you want to make money online, you must keep yourself motivated to work. Here are some tips on how to stay focused and motivated:
1) Listen to success stories about how others “make money online.” If you hear about how well other people are doing, you will want to join them. This can be a healthy competition.
2) Share your success stories and your failures. Sometimes typing out a mistake and getting feedback on it can help you see exactly where you went wrong. A mistake learned from is a mistake that will not be repeated.
3) Set daily goals. You must do something in order to make money online. Perhaps you need to place a certain number of ads or write a certain number of blog posts. If you write down your goals and hold yourself to them, you will be on the right road to it.
4) Keep bills near your workspace. If you can see the stack of bills while you are working, you will realize that you need to work instead of surf the web.
5) Get a corkboard for special purchases. Somewhere near your workspace get a corkboard and draw a line down the middle of it. Print out a picture of some special purchase and pin it to the board. When you make enough money to purchase the item move it to the other side of the board.
6) Take responsibility for your own professional development. If you are going to be a business owner, you need to learn what that means. You need to know the movers and shakers who make money online and network with them. If they offer advice, get it. If they run blogs, read them. Spend some time each day learning how to make more money.
7) And last but not least, rest and relax. Do not fall into the trap of being a workaholic. People who work from home usually end up working a lot more hours than they mean to. Set a schedule and stick to it unless some time sensitive emergency happens. You are working from home and trying to do this to maximize your time with you family. Make sure you enjoy that time. Also, it will be easier to focus and learn if you are well rested.
A lot of people dream of being their own boss and many people want to do it. They develop a product or service that by all rights should be successful but it isn’t. When people get frustrated, they quit. If you quit, you are guaranteed to not make money online.
Staying motivated while ignoring the naysayers
Not every brick and mortar business adventure works out. Businesses close all the time, even ones that work in traditional and high demand areas. An online businessperson can fall into the same pitfalls that a traditional brick and mortar businessperson can fall into. Just because someone else failed does not mean you will especially if you know the tricks on how to make money online.
When you work your idea that will “make money online” for you, you need to make sure your idea is relevant. Do not offer something obsolete. You also need sound guidance. Without the right guidance, nearly everyone will be doomed to failure.
Other people can make money online, why can’t you? You do not need a business degree. You do not need a fancy advisory board. All you need is a little effort, a lot of desire, a computer, internet access and a bit of creativity. Let the “Negative Nellies” continue to work for someone else. Let them make their manager’s bonuses bigger. You can work for yourself and enjoy reaping all of the rewards of being your own boss.
There are a lot of people who will tell you that it is impossible to make money online or it is impossible to make enough money online to support a family.
Ignore those naysayers!
The truth of the matter is that right now, there are thousands of people who make money online.
Those “Negative Nellies” are probably people who tried to be their own bosses and failed to make money online. The question is: why did they fail? How much effort did they put toward their business? Some people think that the internet will just hand them cash. If you want to make money online, you will have to work but you will not have to work as hard as you may think. If the negative people did not market themselves and their service properly then yes, they did fail.
RUIZ
Jul
1
When you have a retirement account, is it fixed interest to ensure you earn money for retirement?
Filed Under Retirement | 3 Comments
The Chef- Dishin Out the Answers asked:
Sorry, might be a stupid question, but I’m 17, and don’t know anything about that. I know that you can put part of your retirement investments into more risky funds, but isn’t some of it (probably most of it), put somewhere where you WILL make money, since lots of people cannot take a risk with that type of thing???
Please elaborate!!!
Thank you!
SEVERSON
Sorry, might be a stupid question, but I’m 17, and don’t know anything about that. I know that you can put part of your retirement investments into more risky funds, but isn’t some of it (probably most of it), put somewhere where you WILL make money, since lots of people cannot take a risk with that type of thing???
Please elaborate!!!
Thank you!
SEVERSON