Paul Megan asked:


There are only two types of retirees who would consider retirement employment. One is the person who wants to stay active. The other has no choice.

For many, the cost of living in retirement is becoming too burdensome to think about doing it without income from retirement employment. Two major factors must be considered.

1. According to current life expectancy figures, you could live 20 to 30 years after you retire at 65.

2. The cost of living will more than double during those years, even if inflation averages a modest 3% a year.

To make sure your savings last as long as you do, experts say, you can’t afford to withdraw more than 4% to 5% from your nest egg each year, adjusted annually for the rise in the cost of living. Of course, you’ll also receive income from social security and perhaps a pension.

Everyone’s situation is different. But if you take the time to crunch the numbers on your behalf, you may find that you come up short. And entertaining retirement employment becomes a necessity.

Well, there are two pieces of good news.

First, there’s an explosion of opportunities for retirement employment. Many corporations are looking to bring back retirees on a part-time or consulting basis. Other organizations like Home Depot and Walmart are deliberately recruiting retirees because they know they are hard-working, knowledgeable members of the team who are above average in attendance and competence.

The second piece of good news is that finding and landing good retirement employment is straightforward and easy if you follow the plan laid out in The World’s Fastest Alternative Job Search System. This amazing non-traditional career advancement program can have you talking to prospective employers in a matter of days. And show you how to lock up good retirement employment in as little as two weeks.

What’s more, this exciting program can help you reassess your talents, capabilities and marketable assets. You’ll discover that you’ve accumulated some remarkable skills, both on and off the job. This fundamental reassessment can point you in some exciting new directions. And you’ll learn how to repackage yourself to become an attractive candidate.

So, if it turns out that your money worries can be resolved by retirement employment, you couldn’t have picked a better time to be in the job marketplace. The volume and variety of opportunities is at their peak. And the mounting interest in hiring retirees means the time may be just right for you!



CUELLAR

Wayne Miller asked:


The earlier you start putting money back for retirement, the better your golden years will be. And if you have been faithful in participating in your employers 401K plan, you can start to some serious money begin to build up as you realize the vesting of the employer matching funds and you continue to make your contributions month after month. It can get pretty exciting when you get those statements and you see your retirement fund really start to take shape.

But your career in business can take a lot of twists and turns along the way. And sometimes you change jobs for a lot of reasons. But the question comes up then; What happens to my 401K money if I leave before retirement? The good news is that you do not lose it. The 401K program is federally monitored and once those funds go in there, they are yours if you are vested in them.

But if you move jobs several times during your career which is very common in the modern business marketplace, if you do not take some action, you can end up with retirement money scattered over all of your last jobs which is messy and makes for a nightmare to keep track of. It would be better if you can make your retirement money walk with you so you know where it is and you can keep all of your retirement planning funds in one place so you can take advantage of them all at once when you are ready to retire.

When you first leave your employer to go to another company you are given a couple choices of what to do with your retirement funds. One option is to leave them behind to catch up with them decades later when you are ready to retire. In addition to wanting to keep this important asset with you as you travel from job to job, you have no idea if that employer will even be in business when you are ready to retire. You do not need that kind of uncertainty when it comes to your retirement money.

Another option that is offered to you is to cash out your 401k and withdraw the results. While this may be attractive if you are between jobs, it is really a bad idea. For one thing, the laws governing the 401k call for you to pay a large penalty if you withdraw them before retirement age. Not only that, once you take that money out of your retirement funds, it is gone and your retirement planning will suffer a serious set back.

A very good option that is available to you is to roll your current 401K over to your new employer. Now if you left the last job without a new employer either through termination or leaving to start your own business, that may not be an option. If you are looking for a new job and think you will have one in the next year or so, you can leave your 401k money where it is and transfer it later though. In that way, your 401k continues to accumulate as one fund, not many.

But a third option is to roll the 401k money into a tax sheltered privately owned retirement fund. You own this account and you usually have an investment management company helping you with the investment and protection of that money until it is time for you to retire. This is an outstanding option because that investment company works for you so you call the shots about your retirement money. And if you use this option, you can still start with a new 401k fund at your next employer knowing you have a place to put the funds in the event of another change of jobs. And that puts you in the drivers seat which is a very good feeling when it comes to retirement planning.



MONROE

GetRinger asked:


News has quickly spread that Brett Favre has mentioned that he has retired from the game of Football. Now we’ve heard this retirement news before on Brett Favre, so is the statement really true this time? According to an email that ESPN received, Brett Favre’s agent indicated that he is going to retire and he has no regrets playing in New York his last season.

Quick Brett Favre Poll

Do You Think Brett Favre Is Really Retiring?

VOTE YES or VOTE NO

Just Vote Above & Receive a $100 Restaurant Gift Card!

Brett Favre is one of the most popular icons in celebrity / sports news and seems to get attention quite often.  Maybe not as often as other celebrities that appear in the tabloids each day, but this kind of news is sure to get a lot of attention from his fans in the United States and even worldwide. No one knows what kind of impact this will have on the role model.

Celebrities whether they are actors, models, or sports players are typically in the spot light everyday of their live.  It is very important that they are always aware of their decisions and think them through to the fullest because any wrong move that they make, the tabloids, news, and video cameras will be all over them to make a story of it.  Sometimes the act by a famous person doesn’t even have to be that big of news, but the media does sometimes blow the story out of proportion making it more of a gossip issue rather than a true story.  Brett Favre is a classic sports figure, but will this news have any effect on his career or prohibit from others liking him more or less?



CORTEZ

Lin Schreiber asked:


Copyright (c) 2008 Lin Schreiber

The Dow Jones is whipping up and down more rapidly and more frighteningly than the scariest Giga-coaster (that’s giant roller coaster), the media is whipping up a frenzy of hysteria, and politicians are whipping out their index fingers nastily pointing to their opponents as the cause of it all. Your life savings are dwindling, your plans for a cushy retirement are fading, and a restful night’s sleep has become a thing of the past. Not to worry. You can stay calm when chaos and uncertainty is swirling all around you by:

1. Tuning Out. Okay, so it may seem too simple, but what if you just turned off the TV, put your daily newspaper on hold, and stopped checking your portfolio online every 10 minutes? You’ll be amazed at how much better you’ll feel without the steady stream of bad news overwhelming you. And, you don’t have to worry that you’ll miss any “really” bad news, because at least one person you know will call you immediately to find out if you’ve heard.

2. Tuning In. There will never be a better time to start using your IGS (Internal Guidance System). It’s like the GPS you use in your car, only better. Your IGS is that deep inner knowing that’s called a variety of names – hunch, intuition, gut feeling, to name a few. You know what I’m talking about. It’s when you absolutely know that you should (or shouldn’t) do something and you do it anyway. Aren’t you always sorry when you don’t listen? So now is the time to start tuning in. Once you’ve stopped listening to all the external noise, tune in to what you need to do for yourself. It’s probably NOT eating a quart of Ben & Jerry’s every night.

3. Stop Blaming. While it may seem perfectly sane to play the blame game, it’s a total waste of time. So what if you think your broker or the Democrats or the Republicans or your evil Aunt Sophie is responsible for the pickle you find yourself in. Does it really matter at this point? Blaming keeps you stuck in the past. Now’s the time to make some good decisions for your future.

4. Stop Playing the Victim. If you need to go to bed for a day with one or more of those Ben & Jerry’s quarts, do it. But set a tight limit to the amount of time you’re going to wallow. “Oh, woe is me” won’t change anything. It’ll just keep you stuck in the lousy feelings.

5. Accentuating the Positive. Now, more than ever is the time to refocus your attention. Move from dwelling and ruminating and worrying about what you’ve lost, to refocusing your attention on all that you have. A simple, daily act of gratitude will work miracles, not only in the way you feel, but in your life as well.

6. Discovering the Lesson(s). Yes, there are powerful lessons in this financial crisis for all of us, whether you were heavily invested or not. Perhaps, like many women, you’ve been the proverbial ostrich, leaving it up to your spouse or financial planner to build your wealth. You may be relieved that you never invested in the stock market, because you’re still waiting for the knight in shining armor (or Prince Charming) to come and take care of you. Or, you may have accumulated a lot of really cool stuff over the years, but haven’t secured your financial future because you’re not good at math. Find out what the lessons are and then start…

7. Answering the Golden Question. In every situation that you don’t like, ask yourself, “What’s the opportunity here?” I promise you, there’s always an opportunity. It may be time for you to take charge of your money and learn about investing and managing your wealth, and/or time to build your financial future before the Prince shows up, or uncover what you really value and align your life with that. Oh, and the math excuse? Forget about it. You don’t have to be a mathematician to be a good investor. If you take the time to re-evaluate your relationship with money and learn all that you can, you’ll build a secure future.

Change (good and bad) is inevitable in life. Some you choose, some – like the current financial crisis – is thrown at you. If you allow yourself to be swept along in all the negativity and hysteria, you’ll just be reacting to everything that comes along and you’ll feel yanked and pulled and fearful. If, however, you take charge and become pro-active, you can remain calm amidst the storm. And, you’ll sleep a whole lot better, too!



FUCHS

Nicholas asked:


Will there be a charge to transfer my money? If I just take the money out of my retirement, will the tax on it be normal tax, or a different rate?
It’s from one company to another.

GROSS

krisclifton asked:


I own my own company and I am the only one. I need to the most beneficial product (s) for my retirement.

BECKHAM

Paul Hata asked:


We all know that there is a growing need in this country to take our retirements into our own hands if we want the funds necessary to have any quality of life upon retirement. The problem is that most of us have no idea where to begin when it comes to financial retirement planning or investing.

The sad news is that for most of our lives retirement was something that was taken care of if we put in an honest lifetime of work. However, the climate has changed and the retirement funds that many of us have labored to pay for the vast majority of our lives are slipping away.

The good news is that this need has not gone unnoticed by the powers that be and while they aren’t offering solutions for the funds we’ve already invested or in salvaging what is left of the failing system, they are empowering people to take some control for their personal retirements by offering investment options and strategies that provide tax benefits along the way in order to reward you for your efforts.

The four common types of retirement plans include 401(K) plans, Keough Plans, IRAs (individual retirement accounts), and qualifying pension or profit sharing plans offered by corporations.

In most retirement plans, the contributions to those plans are tax deductible and taxes aren’t paid on these plans until the funds are received and retirement payment begins. You should be careful of your investments and guard them well as there are often hefty penalties involved when you take funds out of your retirement funds before you actually retire.

These of course are not the only types of investments you can make for your golden years and it never hurts to have more eggs in many baskets. The more the merrier in most cases. My personal preference for investing is real estate.

This is an investment that you can actually see and reach out and touch. It is also an investment that often gets overlooked when planning for retirement, though when you consider it is an excellent choice. Property values are much lower today than they will be ten, twenty, or fifty years from now.

This means the sooner you buy the property the more it will be worth (in theory) when you retire. The thing to remember is that property investing, like other types of investing, requires some degree of risk. You need to learn as much as you can about the process and discuss your interest with a financial advisor before you make any major decisions concerning your retirement investments.

There are more traditional investment methods you may want to consider as well. Mutual funds and the stock market are great ways to invest your money, build a decent portfolio, and increase your net worth. This type of investing also carries some degree of risk and isn’t always considered financial retirement planning but more along the lines of simple financial planning.

The thing to remember is that it is always good to have a plan. For this reason, I strongly encourage you to engage the services of a good financial planner. He or she can help you navigate the tricky language that is involved in many transactions, set realistic and obtainable retirement goals according to your needs as well as your means, and offer excellent advice and guidance on other investment ventures you may wish to pursue. In other words, a good financial planner can help you plan for your retirement.

When it comes to the world of finance, many of us are far from experts. We seek legal advice from attorneys, tax advice from accountants, and medical advice from doctors yet very few of us go to financial planners when planning our financial retirement.

In many ways it makes little sense to approach our futures so carelessly and yet this is not something that our parents and grandparents would have done so there is no precedence for doing so.

The problem is that money is such a limited commodity in this world, we are living longer than ever before, and we are enjoying much more mobility in our golden years than in times long past. We now need expert advice and guidance in order to insure that we are in the best possible position when the time comes to face our own retirements.



FERNANDEZ

asked:


I am planning to open a retirement plan but what are the advantages and disadvantages of opening a retirement plan and what is the best company to open an account with?

GUAJARDO

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

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