A Look At Major Retirement Concerns

Retirement may mean different things to different people. However, the most commonly held view is that retirement is the time to take things easy as well as for you to enjoy your newfound freedom from work commitments. This is the time for you to indulge in your favorite activities and passions that you didn't always have the time for while you were working.

When it comes to retirement, people seem to share similar concerns about the subject. Here are four of them:

Money and Finances

This is by far the most important concern facing people who are planning to retire. As people now live longer, not only must they be concerned about accumulating enough money to retire comfortably, they must also think about how to make that money last longer - perhaps for another 30 years or so.

Not having enough money during retirement might force would be retiree to continue working well into his/her sunset years. As the most common perception people have about retirement is for one to take things easy and to relax, the thought of having to continue working in order to bring in the money is something that they are not looking forward to.

Aging and Health

Aging and health are often interrelated and are other major concerns for people when they prepare for retirement. With advancing age, people who are retiring are more prone to health issues than people of younger age. As people still want to be active and enjoy their life when they retire, concerns about aging and health issues might curb their ability to do just that.

Independence

Another concern for most people, independence during retirement is about the ability to go about one's daily routine without needing help from others. Directly related to the issues of aging and health above, one should be in a fairly good health in order to be independent.

Loneliness

This is another concern for people, especially for couple that is planning to retire. The lost of a life partner is a major cause for loneliness. And the prospect of having to live alone one day is daunting enough, especially when they have been living together all these years.

In conclusion those are the four major concerns that I've managed to compile for you, my dear readers. These concerns are likely to face people when they retire. When planning for your retirement years, it is very important that you anticipate those concerns early and come up with a plan on how to at least mitigate them. In this way you are more prepared to deal with them when they arise.

Technorati : Aging and health, independent, planning to retire, retirement
Del.icio.us : Aging and health, independent, planning to retire, retirement
Ice Rocket : Aging and health, independent, planning to retire, retirement
Zooomr : Aging and health, independent, planning to retire, retirement
Buzznet : Aging and health, independent, planning to retire, retirement

Powered by Zoundry

You Are Not Yet Ready To Retire - So What Are Your Options?

Welcome back!

In my last posting I discussed about whether you are ready or not to retire. If you are then CONGRATULATION! - all's well and good. If not, don't despair as this is not the end of the world and there are options for you to consider that you can do something about it. And in this posting I'm going to share with you what some of those options are. So enjoy!

Phasing Your Retirement

If you have an income gap to fill in for your retirement (which is the shortfall in income that you need for retirement and what you're capable of achieving when you retire), one way to do it is to phase your retirement. In other words, consider continue working for a few more years, rather than stop working altogether when you reach retirement age. You'll be pleasantly surprised how much working for an additional 2 or 3 years will do to your all important retirement nest egg - which might add up a tidy sum of several hundred thousand dollars to it (Your retirement nest egg will benefit from the addition of those extra years of savings into it while delaying its withdrawal - which is only possible when you still have income coming in). What you're actually doing here is to sacrifice and trade off the first few years of your retirement years by still being in employment for a more meaningful and better retirement later.

So if you prefer this option, discuss with your employer for you to continue working for a few more years. Employers are now more accommodating and you may continue to use your skills, expertise and not forgetting your maturity and experiences to contribute to the organization in exchange for a few more years of income. In fact you may be doing your employer a great favor as more employers nowadays are facing difficulty in finding replacement workers, especially for executive positions and jobs that require years of training. You gain by still being gainfully employed and your employer gains by foregoing the need for increasing training costs for new workers, which in turn translate into better bottom line for the company. A win-win situation for both parties for sure!

What if your employer isn't keen to extend your service? Then, its time to move on and find yourself another employer. And you might find better luck in the health care, teaching, consulting, retails, small businesses as well as customer services as these sectors of employment are known to be more willing to accept senior employees and that include retirees. After all with modern advancement in medicine and health care an average man of 70 years old of today is still considered young and can still contribute and be productive to his/her employer.

Also, rather than stop working completely or continue with full time employment for a few years, you can also do part time job. You'll appreciate how much that extra income will do to your retirement nest egg. Nowadays, many seniors take part-time jobs after retiring, not only to keep busy but also to earn money on the side. Others modify their schedules to keep their jobs, but at a reduced level of involvement.

For some people a sudden transition from a working environment to a non-working life during retirement may pose an emotional burden, which can do more harm than good. This is usually associated with attachment to holding a job for all of one's working life so much so that when one is released from a job, feelings of doubts about one's self worth and capability creep in.

For these people, it is wise to take his/her time to be fully retired(read phased retirement). And by engaging in some form of part time job at the beginning stage of one's retirement years not only raise one's standard of retirement living a notch up later, it also come with an added advantage of giving these potential negative emotions time to dissipate or to subside as one goes longer past retirement age. So as you can see, not only retirement financial planning is important, you should take care of your emotional retirement planning as well.

Use Your Skills, Expertise & Past Experience To Generate Income

Your expertise, skills and work experiences are your valuable assets that can be very profitable to you. Why not use it to your advantage and earn some retirement dollars. You can become consultant in areas where you have the necessary expertise and experience and can start earning your fees by advising others. In the same way you can go into teaching or coaching others based on your skills and experiences acquired while working.

Turn Your Hobby Into Income Producing Venture

If you have a hobby you can turn that too into income for your retirement. You can turn these hobbies and passions into money making hobbies or passions by selling your works or start charging people for services. Two examples of hobbies where you can turn them into money making past-times or ventures (whatever you prefer to call them) are photography and painting. I'm only giving you two examples here, but I'm sure there are many more you can think of.

If you have a passion for writing that could be another source of income for you. You can become a copywriter and write sales copy for advertisers and others from on-line and / or off-line businesses. And there is no better place than the Internet where you can trade your writing skill for money. You can find numerous sites in the Internet, where you can submit your writings and be paid for them. Writers are needed to write products reviews, articles for ezines and by website owners who outsource their jobs to others like you. You can also write your own blogs and monetize it to earn money. Or you can become a ghostwriter and write ebooks and articles for other people. Other related jobs which can bring you money include proof reading assignments and by becoming virtual assistant to other site owners. I hope you can see what I'm trying to show you here. That you are only scratching the surface. The opportunities are unlimited - the sky is virtually the limit here. What you need is a little creativity and imagination and you'll soon be on your way to a profitable second employment - which not only give you the money you need but the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment as well.

Indulge In Profitable Business

If you have been wanting to go into a small business of your own but did not have the chance as you were working prior to your retirement, here's the chance for you to pursue that ambition and make it happen. While there are both on line and off line businesses that you can choose, I would rather recommend an on line business due to its twin appeal of ease of starting and its requirement for only a small investment/capital outlay. With the Internet, starting an on line business is a breeze as you only need a computer and an Internet connection to get started.

There you have got it all - some of the options that are open for you to consider to fill in the gap of income that you require and income that you have.

Technorati : emotional retirement planning, income gap, part time employment, phase retirement, retirement, retirement age, retirement dollars, retirement living, retirement nest egg, second employment, second job
Del.icio.us : emotional retirement planning, income gap, part time employment, phase retirement, retirement, retirement age, retirement living, retirement nest egg, second job
Ice Rocket : emotional retirement planning, income gap, part time employment, phase retirement, retirement, retirement age, retirement living, retirement nest egg, second job
Flickr : emotional retirement planning, income gap, part time employment, phase retirement, retirement, retirement age, retirement living, retirement nest egg, second job
Zooomr : emotional retirement planning, income gap, part time employment, phase retirement, retirement, retirement age, retirement living, retirement nest egg, second job
Buzznet : emotional retirement planning, income gap, part time employment, phase retirement, retirement, retirement age, retirement living, retirement nest egg, second job

Powered by Zoundry

Are You Ready to Retire?

If you have planned for your retirement, follow the plan religiously and constantly reviewing and adjusting it from time to time, chances are you are ready for your retirement when the time for you to retire arrives.

If you have not, then you have some work cut out for you to do before you're ready to retire the life you desire, which obviously is a lifestyle better than or at least equal to your pre-retirement years. If you are from this group you should revisit and reassess your financial situation while taking into consideration the time left before you are due to retire. This means you have to take stock of your current assets (including savings from your 401(k), pensions, social security etc.) and investments and from there determine the amount you have to save monthly until you are due to retire. This will be your projected nest egg, from which you can derive your income in the future while in retirement by withdrawing a fix amount every month for the next 30 years or so. And experts recommend that you withdraw not more than 4% from your nest egg each year for you to last the stipulated time.

As a rule of thumb you'll need between 70% and 80% of your pre-retirement income to live the same lifestyle post retirement. And this is the same amount that you must be able to withdraw from your projected nest egg every month which you have already determined earlier. If you're not meeting this then the shortfall is the amount that you'll have to find ways to fill in as additional income. And if you're still unsure how to work out the figures do not worry as any basic retirement calculator will be able to do the job for you. A retirement calculator will make your job easier in calculating your retirement target under various financial scenarios and is a very useful tool to have. You can get your free retirement calculator NOW!

In my next post I'll share with you the various options available for you to fill in the gap between what you need for your retirement years and what you're able to provide currently.

Technorati : 401(k), additional income, investments, nest egg, pensions, post retirement, pre-retirement income, retirement, retirement calculator, retirement target, savings, social security
Del.icio.us : 401(k), additional income, investments, nest egg, pensions, post retirement, pre-retirement income, retirement, retirement calculator, retirement target, savings, social security
Flickr : 401(k), additional income, investments, nest egg, pensions, post retirement, pre-retirement income, retirement, retirement calculator, retirement target, savings, social security

Powered by Zoundry

Blogging For Retirees

First off what is a blog?

Simply stated, blog is actually an on line diary or journal that is published in the World Wide Web where the writer would keep a running account of events. Or, in the words of one famous and successful Internet Marketer "a blog is really just an on line journal that displays a series of posts, displayed in chronological order. These posts are typically written in a conversational, informal tone, and don't contain any overt advertising messages".

The most common forms of blogs are personal and business blogs. Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as politics, travels, fashions and therefore classified as political blogs, travel blogs and fashion blogs and so on and so forth. Your blog is your means of expressing yourself to the world. It is a very powerful way of branding yourself and a very effective means of building a relationship with your readers.

OK, What to blog on?

There are countless topics out there to blog on. You can write a blog on any subjects. However, choose a topic that you have a passion for as your theme. You will be more motivated to write on something you are passionate about and will less easily to give up when you find yourself run out of ideas. As an example, retirement is the theme for this blog and I write on anything that touches on this topic. To me retirement means having the freedom not to work while being financially free to do anything I want. Retirement has thus become my passion. And if you think you are not good at anything to write about, think again. Everybody is good at something and so are you. You just have to think long and hard about it and the idea will come. Perhaps, you can use your knowledge and skills you gained while you were working and before you retired to write a blog on.

What if you cannot write?

Writing a blog is not like writing a book. Here there is no format to follow, no particular rules to obey. What you need is common sense. As an online diary, treat it as such and just write what you want.

Why blogging is good for you?

As a retiree, you now have all the time in the world to do your things. You're no longer bound by your work before retirement. No more time schedule to follow. And what better way to keep you occupied and mentally active than by writing your own blog on something you have knowledge and passionate about. A research done by a well-known brain researcher has revealed that those who are retired but stopped being physically or mentally active would tend to age faster than those who are still active. Reading and writing are two simple activities that you can do in order to exercise the brain and keep you mentally active and sharp during retirement.

Blogging can also become you source of income as you can use it as marketing tools to promote your business, products and services. Today, many of the better-known Internet marketers have their own blogs which they use to keep customers informed of what's happening. Many marketers use a blog as a way to promote their upcoming product launches and to dialog with their visitors.

How to profit from your blog?

You can monetize and earn money from it, which in the long term when you're really good at it can be your source of income. Already there are large numbers of bloggers out there who are earning full time from their blogs.

Want to know how to do this?

Check out Tay's blog where she writes about how you can make money blogging, optimize your blog for search engines, generate traffic, promote your blog, and much more. She is currently holding a contest where you can win a free month of advertising on her blog. Take a look at this post for details.

Technorati : Retirees, blogging for a living, financial freedom, internet marketing, online income, online money, retirement, retirement living

Powered by Zoundry

New Jersey Couple Claims $48 Million Jackpot

How's this for your dream Retirement Plan. A word of caution here - don't bank on it as your source of retirement income though. Studies have shown that those who do not have the necessary prosperity consciousness to go with it will eventually surrender it back. However, who doesn't want to have a cool $48 million as his/her retirement present- as what this lucky retired couple found out. Enjoy your viewing!

The Unconventional Financial Planning For Retirement

Now that I've got your attention on the subject matter, let me go over what is meant by the Conventional Financial Planning first. I'm throwing away all the financial jargon here and try to explain it as simple as I possibly can. The Conventional Financial Planning is the normal and the well-accepted route of Financial Planning process. Simply put, the process begins by first determining the kind of post retirement life that you want - which is your retirement goals and objectives and from there determine the amount of your nest egg. This nest egg is your source of income during your retirement life and from which you withdraw a fix amount monthly to suite your intended lifestyle. These monthly withdrawals should cover all your monthly living expenses for the duration of your expected retirement life. As an example lets say that you are an average male American of 65 and you have just retired. From the statistic available, a 65-year-old American man today has a life expectancy of 16.4-years, has about 50/50 chance of living to 85 and a 25% chance of still being around at 91(please refer to my previous posting on Life Expectancy and Retirement). That means you might live another 15 - 30 years after quitting work. To be on the safe side however, you have to at least plan on living for another 30 years and factor that into your Normal Retirement Planning.

For the sake of simplicity however, it is the accepted norm that you will require 70% - 80% of your pre-retirement income to enjoy the same lifestyle - post retirement. It would however be prudent to exceed this norm a little bit as my research revealed that though you'll incur less expenses for some e.g. no more commuting to and from work, you'll likely incur more on health and medical expenses. Also you'll need to set aside some unexpected and emergency expenses as well as some capital expenditure that you'll undertake. It could be a house or car purchase or whatever that will be.

Having decided how you want to live your retirement life and figuring out the amount of nest egg that will make it possible, the next obvious step is to determine how are you going to achieve that goals and objectives. You do this by determining the assets you have and how much your current income exceed your current expenses and save or invest a predetermined portion of that surpluses into your retirement nest egg. The long and short of the process is that you can use a number of ways or a combination of savings and investment vehicles to achieve your goals of achieving the required retirement nest egg. You may have to adjust down your expenses here if you find your current surpluses is short of what you need to save or invest every month. And Now that is what I call the conventional way to Retirement Planning.

Now instead of the Conventional Retirement Planning already mentioned, there's another way to do it. The unconventional way is in using empowering information and implementing certain strategies to achieve financial abundance and independence that you desire. This could be your shortcut to your dream retirement life. I won't go into details what the info and strategies are as you can download and get all the 10 strategies outlined in this special report from my blog here for you to judge it for yourself. You can get your FREE report here. Let me warn you that the information in this special report is so powerful and potentially life-changing that if implemented correctly will enable you retire early. This special report is valued at $97 retail but you can GET IT FREE by clicking on the golden key above. And for those who are already retired or about to retire you may find this unconventional retirement planning especially appealing to you. Here's the link again to get that special report for free. Click here.