Thursday, October 14, 2010

Retirement Strategies 15 October 2010



LET’S MEET – ONLINE


I’m going with the flow – I’m now into Social Media.

Here is my link to my YouTube page http://bit.ly/bKHe9l (you may need to copy and paste)

This is the link to my page on Facebook “The Wise Way to Retire Laughing” http://bit.ly/retirelaughing (you may need to copy and paste) When you get there, just click the LIKE button in the top right hand corner. Thanks

TWO THOUGHTS FOR TODAY

Firstly
"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it
“If you can dream it, you can become it." William Arthur Ward
Secondly
Anyone can compile information.

But you need experience and wisdom to interpret that information to give it value.

PENSION SHORTFALL IS WORLD-WIDE PROBLEM
Too soon we get old. And too late we get smart (old Yiddish proverb).

Thіѕ applies tο mοѕt people аѕ thеу think about retirement рlаnnіng.
One thing уου ѕhουld nοt count οn іѕ the pension; due to changing demographics and increasing health care costs, Canberra won’t be able to pay us all the pension as we now know it.
My suggestion: presume thаt уου′re οn уουr οwn аnd рlаn accordingly.
This identical problem is facing governments around the world.
Riots broke out in Greece when government tried to cut pension, France has increased its retirement age to 62 and Canadians have established an inquiry.
In the USA, close to 35 million Americans are currently receiving government pensions – and an equivalent number who have a self-funded retirement are living on much the same income.
With more and more boomers starting retirement age without adequate superannuation to live 20-25 years of a comfortable lifestyle, one thing is clear : you must take steps to secure your own long term financial security.
If you need my help, contact me – Bernard Kelly – anytime. My email is admin@retirelaughing.com


REINVENT YOURSELF

Seniorscopie.com – from France - published this list of useful websites on 15 September

General support

Susan Levine, aged 60, created a website to focus on health, education but
also entertainment for those "50 and over".

http://www.50somethinginfo.com/
If you want to work
Art Koff, 70 , is the founder of RetiredBrain.com .
This site helps connect seniors to research employment and those employers may want to hire them.

Holistic preparation
Cathy Severson , is the founder of RetirementLifeMatters.com
Her approach is that we must be prepared financially, physically and mentally for retirement.


WORKING LONGER IS GOOD FOR YOU

Working a few years longer doesn't just have financial benefits; there's also the potential for quality-of-life rewards, too.

Here are four key reasons to ponder working longer.

1. Boost your super

From a financial standpoint, working beyond the traditional retirement ages of 65 offers substantial benefits – particularly if you feel that you don’t have enough for 20-25 years of comfortable retirement.

As you’ll have more in super, and your “estate event” is closer, you’ll be able to pay yourself more.

2. Increase Pension Benefit

If you work until 70, the government will pay you a bonus of $25,000.

3. Accrue Health Benefits
Anecdotally, which is supported by academic research, I'll say that seniors I've known who have stayed engaged in their careers, changed their jobs, started a profitable hobby, or volunteer with a non-profit have remained mentally and physically fit longer than those who have retired earlier and used retirement entirely to "play."

4. Find a Job You Love

Staying put in the job you've had for most of your career is bound to yield the highest financial reward, but it may not yield as much in quality-of-life benefits as pursuing a job you love.

Finding a job you love with a passion can help deliver the multiple benefits of everyone’s retirement goals: financial security, wellness, and emotional and spiritual satisfaction.


WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT RETIREMENT, ASK YOURSELF:

FIRST... What kind of "work" would make your heart sing in retirement?

SECOND... How could that "work" bring out the best in you?

THIRD... How could you start doing more of that right now-- instead of waiting until retirement?

acknowledgements
www.johnenelson.com
www.retirementwellbeing.com


MAXIMS OF VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY

I recently saw an interesting article by Mia, who writes a blog “Being a Good Human”.

The topic of this particular blog was “The End of Retirement as a Concept”
Her thoughts encapsulate the wisdom of a young person looking decades ahead.
She wrote: “So what happens if the government raises the retirement age to the point where it’s likely that you’ll die before you can retire?
“What happens if the purchasing power of your Superannuation is steadily eaten away by a
sluggish economy and rising prices?
“And assuming you can keep a job, do you just keep working until you die?
“Personally, I am not expecting to ever see a cent from the government for my retirement.
“I’m not even expecting to see any money from my Superannuation.
“After all, it relies on the economy growing steadily for the next 40 years and I have my doubts about that.
“For me, the answer is to become as resilient and self-sufficient as possible.
“Realigning expectations to this reality, getting out of debt, reducing expenses, finding work that I love and will enjoy doing into my old age.
“These are all maxims of voluntary simplicity and I hope they will all serve well to deliver a dignified ‘semi-retirement’.
“The notion that we can all play lawns bowls and jetset around the world during our final years will not last much longer.”
unquote

IS RETIREMENT AN ENTITLEMENT?
Maybe not – after all it’s not based on any mention in the Bible – and when you think about it more closely, retirement is really a very, very recent invention.
Yes, you may want to retire, you may be able to retire or you may be forced to retire, but you are not entitled to retire. There is no law or rule anywhere that declares retirement to be an entitlement.

Retirement really only became possible in the 1950s, when the pension system and increasing life expectancy combined to give workers a chance at “the long holiday at the end of a working life”.

The golden age of retirement, however, was from about 1985 until 2001. During this period, it seemed that everyone over 55 was retiring, traveling and having a blast.

That golden age may have been an anomaly, and we may never see it again.

Today, many of us slide off into retirement in excellent health, intending to maintain our (expensive) lifestyle, but we are woefully underfunded for 20-25 years of a comfortable retirement.

Many workers who retired “early” 10 years ago have been forced to go back to work – either part time or full time--to make ends meet.

And today those who looked forward to retirement are being forced to stay on the job.
But you know what? It may not be a bad thing - because Work gives us a reason to live.

NEW REALITIES AS BOOMERS BEGIN TO TURN 65

The challenges of baby boomers reaching old age, combined with a growing, more diverse population, will drive major changes, challenges and decisions in U.S. families, workplaces and communities, according to NEW REALITIES of an OLDER AMERICA: Challenges, Changes and Questions, a report released today by the Stanford Center on Longevity.
The implications concern the entire society – young and old alike. Even though many of these changes could have been anticipated, the United States has continued to rely on social and economic policies and practices that were designed for a more youthful population.
NEW REALITIES of an OLDER AMERICA frames the critical issues and underscores the urgency of effectively addressing the anticipated challenges with relevant public policies.
NEW REALITIES is a compendium that brings together the latest statistics from a range of sources, including academic research and government statistics; uses clear, engaging graphics; and asks provocative questions about impending changes.

The shift toward an older population has enormous economic, social and political implications for Americans of all ages. Key findings include:
• As people live longer and healthier lives, our culture must create new opportunities for individual and societal contributions across all ages.
• The number of older people (age 65 and over) will double over the next 30 years, from 40 million to 80 million, and the percentage of older people in the population will increase from 13% to 20%.
• By 2032, there will be more people 65 or older than children under 15.
• By the time the youngest baby boomers turn 65 in 2029, 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 or older. The percentage of 85-year-olds will grow even faster.
• If retirement is not delayed there will be fewer and fewer potential workers per retiree. Longer working lives, in contrast, would make use of the most educated older population in the history of the country.
• Without policy and behavioral changes, the fiscal burden on individual workers and taxpayers will skyrocket.
• Unless people work longer, the personal financial burden also will increase as people reach older ages.
• Population aging will affect younger Americans as well. Their economic prospects and future tax burdens depend on how effectively today’s policy makers prepare.
• Suburbs, designed for traditional nuclear families, increasingly will be home to singles and older couples.
• Diversity will increase among older people, with minorities accounting for 60% of the growth among those 65 or older.

“These unprecedented demographic developments require urgent action. A deep understanding of the issues is required in order for societies to deal effectively with new realities,” said Laura L. Carstensen PhD, director of the Center on Longevity. “In less than one century, life expectancy increased by an average of 30 years in developed regions of the world. NEW REALITIES of an OLDER AMERICA shows how this added longevity signifies both a remarkable achievement and a great challenge.”
acknowldegments: Stanford Center on Longevity research spotlights trends, challenges and implications of population aging 29 July 2010

PROFITABLE HOBBY – online surveys

Sarah Jenner is a 32 year old married mother of three children, living in a working class suburb in the south west of Sydney.

Her husband Barry was a factory hand, and when they run into financial troubles a few years ago, Sarah turned to the internet to find a second income.

She had heard that “a friend of a friend” was earning extra cash on the internet by doing paid surveys online and apparently was earning anything from $10 to $300 per survey.

How could she participate and earn some extra money?

GENUINE INDUSTRY

The online survey industry is new, but rapidly expanding. Major corporations find that the low cost of online research is a key driver for its adoption.

Online surveys are 15 to 20 percent cheaper to conduct than face-to-face surveys, and cost about the same as telephone surveys.

However telephone surveys are dying due to falling response rates in recent years.

Other advantages of online surveys are fast turnaround and the potential to open up new research methodologies as this style of research is based on conversations as opposed to questions and answers.
MANY ARE SCAMS

Sarah found hundreds of different survey companies on the internet, after spending a few weeks registering with literally hundreds of survey sites and spending money on registration fees (money that she could ill afford to waste) it dawned on her that most of the companies that she was filling in surveys for were just scams.

They had no intention of paying her, and when she got halfway through the survey they told her that she didn't qualify for the survey.

All they seemed to want was the registration fee.

Sarah joined just about every survey company out there at some time or another including the free ones. Initially all she got was plenty of points, rewards and entry to competitions but very little in the way of money.

She found them mostly very time consuming for very little income return.
However, she did find that with a lot of trial and error, wasted money and time that a few of the paid survey sites were in fact very good value and shone head and shoulders above the rest.
She stuck with about eight of the good sites and the dollars started to flow in and her bills began to get paid. Due to all the daily chores of a mother and housewife initially she was only able to put in a few hours each day, but to her surprise after a short time the cheques started to roll in.
After a few more weeks and a few more hours here and there, she was averaging $400-$500 extra income per week.
Her hard work & patience was starting to pay off.

Soon she was putting in 20 hours a week and the income grew to an average earnings of $1200 -- $1500 cash per week.

She began to make more money that her husband, so he quit the factory to work with her, taking care of the domestic chores.

THERE IS A LIMIT

But due to the limited number of hours in a week, they realised that – while you can have a comfortable lifestyle completing surveys, there is finite limit to how much money you can earn this way.

They wanted to have a normal family life, having weekends off, going for holidays etc, but they were on a treadmill.

They glimpsed a solution when they realised that there were a lot of fully automated internet businesses out there that could earn money for them 24 hours every day of the week.
Which eventually led them to their second internet income.
INTERNET INCOME

Today, Sarah’s profitable hobby has emerged as a viable work-from-home business.
She will tell you – for free – about the best survey sites, and you can sign up to them off her website.
This way she earns a fee from each of the survey companies for every registration.
Additionally, now that she has your email address, she has built a database of like minded people, and she emails them every few weeks with a special offer. This additional income stream is known as “affiliate marketing”.

Sarah can also continue to do the surveys herself, so now she has three sources of income.

MOVING FORWARD
Sarah says she’s not a millionaire, doesn’t drive an expensive car, doesn’t have a luxury boat or live in a huge house.

However she is naturally pleased that she has been able to create a fully automated on-line business that generates income 24X7.

Sarah’s website is http://www.fastmoneyaustralia.com.au/


LET’S MEET - PERTH

I’ll be in Perth (Claremont Showgrounds) 9-12 November for WAMEX. Let me know if you would like to catch up for a chat.

I’d be happy to visit you at home in the evening – after the expo closes.


PAY FOR A CONSULTATION

Some kind people want to pay me for this service.

Feel free to go to my membership site www.retirementstrategies.net.au and pay $110 for a full membership


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


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