Retirement Strategies - Lifestyle

Bernard Kelly (right) Australia's Retirement Strategiest


RETIREMENT STRATEGIES FOR EMPLOYEES
Lifestyle issue 15 February 2010


A SUCCESSFUL RETIREMENT DEPENDS ON …

Your Health
Your financial wellbeing
Your family and friends
Your zest for living

MULTIPLE SOURCES OF INCOME – INGREDIENTS FOR A COMFORTABLE RETIREMENT

Medical research confirms that mental and physical activities are important to your health in retirement.

This fits neatly with my theory that you should take whatever hobby you have and convert it into a profitable hobby.

Another view is that you should maximise the probability of a comfortable retirement with more than one source of income. If you rely on a single income source – for example either the pension or super – logic tells us that you are at risk.

To develop multiple sources of revenue, search the web for ideas, and engage in lively discussion with friends or colleagues.

I go into this in more detail in the article below.


RETIREMENT PLANNING SHOULD INCLUDE AN INTERNET BUSINESS

Most of your neighbours won’t have enough for a comfortable retirement, but fortunately you will – because you are willing to implement some of my strategies.

In addition to property investments, I now regularly advocate having a profitable hobby – and an internet business certainly can qualify as that.

While most attempts to create an income off the internet will doubtlessly fail, if you write paragraphs about your passionate interests, and combine them into a book, your chances of an internet income will be much better.

You can load your book up onto Clickbank – a depository for e-books. Then electronic retailers search for titles on Clickbank and sell them. If your book retails for $US19.99, the retailer may take $12, Clickbank may take $4, leaving you with $3.99.

The advantage of writing e-books is that you can identify various interest groups, and write just one book that will be relevant to each group, but you lodge it on Clickbank with various titles.

Suppose you had a knowledge of embroidery, and were able to write a short chapter each day for 30 days.

You’re thinking that there are clusters of buyers out there who could be (a) keen embroidery people (b) people who need to relax (c) parents with disturbed teenagers (d) Americans looking for new thoughts on embroidery. Consequently you write for each of these markets, weaving their interests into your chapters.

When the book is complete, your first lodgement could have the title “My Passion is Embroidery”.

The next title – same book of course - could be “How Embroidery Made Me Relax”.

The third title could be “Embroidery for Troubled Youth”.

The fourth title could “Why More Australians Are Turning to Embroidery”.

You may be able to write for ten different groups of buyers in just one book.

The key to a successful internet business is based upon what you enjoy doing. And such a business should be part of your retirement plan.

HOW RETIREMENT CHANGED

Have you noticed how the concept of retirement changed forever when the stock market crashed 18 months ago? And how entrepreneurship has now become an accepted way to enhance an income during our later years?

This reminded me that Charles Darwin (1809-1820) wrote something relevant in his thesis “Survival of the Fittest.”

He said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

And more recently Alvin Toffler said “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

So we now have to “re-learn” what retirement is.


NON-FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR RETIREMENT


In order to create the “best retirement plan” you will need to do more than a lot of number crunching or attempting to manage your self-managed super fund. You also need to identify how you plan to live your life in retirement and also how long should you consider continuing to work before taking retirement.

Here are some key aspects for retirement planning:

• When do I want to retire?
• What would be my life expectancy post retirement?
• What would be my health expectancy?
• What renaissance career I would like to pursue post retirement?
• Would our children be self dependent by then?

Once these questions have been answered adequately, you will have some indications of what funds you will require.

This leads onto financial considerations:

• the target for funds required when you do retire
• Savings to be kept aside from income
• Contributions to various investment vehicles to meet the target
• Indicative funds available at the time of retirement
• Periodic funds’ availability post retirement
• Time period for which these funds would be available

However the most important thing – after clearly defining the needs/wants post retirement – is to START implementing an investment plan.
source – The Sunday Econmic Times (India) 13 December 2009

WOULD YOU RETIRE OVERSEAS?

More Australians are given casual thought to stretching their retirement income by retiring overseas – Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines are the usual possibilities.

However, a lifestyle is more than just white beaches and sipping exotic drinks, so here are some questions that need to be addressed.

Of course, the cost of living there is much cheaper, but what type of living will you do? If you don’t speak the local language, you may never truly become part of your new community. It may limit you to only the expatriate community for friends and social activities. But what if you’re not able to communicate fully with your doctor. In that case, the savings doesn't really help you at all.

And remember, in the tropics there are extreme weather events, and continuous humidity. So you may need to seriously consider the mountains, not the coast, for your home.

And what about your family – especially grandchildren – and friends. It's one thing to miss a school play; it's another to miss your grandchildren's birthdays. Can they visit you easily? Can you visit them easily? So you’ll need to budget for flights two or three times a year.

Finally, look further into your retirement, way down the road, when you or your spouse's health starts to fail.

Your children are back in the Australia, so who will you trust to look after your financial affairs? Who will you trust to look after you if you become ill or incapacitated? Will you have to move back to the Australia? If so, where will you go?

These questions aren’t meant to scare you, or even talk you out of retiring to your dream destination. They are simply meant to remind you that there are more things to think about than white beaches, cheaper beer, and lower doctor bills. Retirement isn't all about saving money, it's also about living your life, with your family and friends enjoying the good times.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_BeDell

ENCORE CAREER – BECOME A COMEDIAN

Retirement is not all it's cracked up to be.

Ask Joe Larkin of Joliet, Chicago, who retired in 2002.

At first, he was thrilled by his liberation from the daily grind. Sleeping late, chewing the fat with his buddies, haunting bingo halls and driving slow during rush hour gave him a satisfying little thrill.

After a while, he started getting itchy. He grew increasingly bored and grumpy, driving his wife, Lynne, around the bend.

At 68, he certainly wasn't ready to throw in the proverbial towel. With Lynne's blessings, he started nosing around for something to do.

His first attempt at finding something meaningful was a job mowing the grass in a 20-acre park.
But Larkin preferred more razzle-dazzle in his work.

"My debut as a comedian was last fall before Christmas; I did it on a whim," Larkin said. "I talked about my long hair and beard and bell bottoms. I explained that I wasn't really a hippy, that I dressed that way for the weed. If you walk around looking like a hippy you'll eventually be offered some weed."

Larkin gets a major buzz out of surprising his audience. In real life, he's a mild-mannered gent, soft-spoken and genteel. He's also a loving grandpa. In fact, he and his wife are raising two of their grandchildren, Ryan, 14, and Brianna, 12.

But when it comes to comedy, all bets are off as "Gramps" shocks his audience with quips about bodily functions, smoking weed and getting down and dirty.

A high-energy individual with many talents and interests, Larkin is the quintessential Renaissance Man. Though comedy is a demanding mistress, Larkin is hooked.

With the support of his wife, who attends his shows, relentlessly cheering him on, Larkin is prepared for any eventuality in the fickle world of show biz. And he's optimistic about his future.

"I think everyone who does stand-up comedy thinks they'll be a star," he said. "The average lifespan is 73, so I'm going to have to get moving."

Source Rose Panieri writing in The Plainfield Sun 23 August 2009

RETIREMENT IS NOT AN END TO PRODUCTIVE WORK OR PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION.

I saw this piece about a new product offering – “New Horizons” - on a website of Career Partners International – an international management consulting firm that has big firms as clients.

As it is so succinct, I thought I’d share it with you in full:

quote

Retirement is a time to develop a new, personally healthy and constructive lifestyle that may not be available during one’s full-time career or occupation. The New Horizons program has been defined around core materials developed by Richard P. Johnson, Ph.D, a nationally recognized speaker, lecturer, and expert in the field of retirement and adult development. Instructional materials are available in print and online, and include corresponding exercises that help participants face realities and recognize hidden opportunities.

The New Horizons program is designed around empowering individuals to be the best that they can be in their mature years. Participants begin with a 99-item assessment instrument that covers 20 separate lifestyle and attitudinal factors. The assessment provides a clear, well-ordered and scaled overview of how each participant compares to others in similar life circumstances with respect to their personal growth toward retirement. In-depth program materials then guide participants through these key areas of focus:

• Career and work – Discovering your ideal work, work benefits and work options
• Health and wellness – Examining personal health practices, vitality, and wellness attitudes
• Finances and insurance – Testing knowledge of finances, financial planning, and financial confidence
• Family and relationships – Considering flexibility options, the need to provide caregiving for aging parents or adult children, and grandparenting
• Leisure and social – Uncovering your preferences for leisure, residence, travel, and hobbies
• Personal development – Exploring your life meaning and opportunities for education and volunteering
• Legal and legacy – Ensuring that wills, estates, trusts, power-of-attorney, healthcare administration and other documents are in place to protect you and your family

Unquote

source http://www.cpiworld.com/new-horizons/

HOST A WORK-PLACE SEMINAR

You probably know many people who need my experience and expertise right now.

Here’s the deal – you invite a few people to a lunch or after-work seminar, and I’ll present Retirement Strategies for Employees.

I’ll pay you $150 for your expenses, and a further $1000 for every participant who has me share an investment property with them.

About Bernard Kelly:

Bernard Kelly BEcon MBA CRPC Australia’s Retirement Strategist, is a highly sought-after advisor, retirement authority, thought-leader, author and radio commentator because he makes the complicated and mundane topics of investing and retirement fun! Bernard has over 20 years experience providing families with financial thought. He is the author of Live Your Dreams in Retirement, Property Investing for Couples, Goolwa by Breakfast and Raising Decent Kids into Substantial Wealth and publishes a fortnightly newsletter that reaches thousands of subscribers worldwide.

19 Prospect Street, Box Hill 3128 Australia. Tel 61-3-9899 8577 mobile 0414 778 518