Retirement Strategies 15 January 2011

Retirement Planning involves your
health, financial security, family &
friends and your zest for living

which is why my very successful
investment strategy utilises off-
the-plan investment properties







TODAY’S INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

"Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along."

-- George Herbert



INVESTMENT STRATEGIES I DON’T RECOMMEND

Many of us, when addressing a future retirement, adopt these strategies - Worry and/or Hope.

However

• Worry is not preparation, and
• Hope is not a good strategy.


If you dream of 20-25 years of comfortable retirement, let me help you explore your options – realistically.

Contact me: Bernard Kelly anytime. My email is admin@retirelaughing.com

FOR YOUR FINANCIAL PLANNER

If you are into debating financial strategies with a financial planner, this book “Unveiling The Retirement Myth” by Jim C. Otar 2009 will provide you with arrows for your quiver.

Otar analyses the financial outcome for anyone starting retirement in any year since 1900 so this book is about the pension phase: it’s not about the accumulation phase.

To summarise – a successful financial retirement (if your super is invested in the stock market) is all about luck i.e. in which year you retire, and nothing else.

Capitalism means that many companies will fail to grow, and will limit their dividends, and the stock market is too volatile so that a pensioner relying on the stock market risk will always be exposed to considerable risk.

The only control that an investor has is the withdrawal rate, says Otar, and this itself will determine portfolio longevity.

His research shows that asset allocation and asset selection during the accumulation phase, as advised by the financial planning industry, are totally irrelevant.


DEVELOP AN ENCORE CAREER

This article was written by Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants. Lisa is a scientific communication consultant and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2007).

Here are Lisa’s Seven Practical Steps to Change Your Professional Image and create an encore career for yourself.

1. Identify and join the professional society that covers an emerging new discipline.

There are professional societies out there for every career, and in many cases more than one.

Joining one shows you are serious about the new field, and signing up for their mailing lists will provide lots of good information about the new area.

2. Earn a certification or take some classes.

This allows you to build your credibility, learn the vocabulary of your new field, make connections with other professionals, and delve in more deeply to find out which aspects of the field are most interesting and relevant to your future career path. It shows potential employers you are serious about moving into this new field.


3. Attend local chapter meetings of the professional society, or start a local chapter if one does not exist.

This is a great way to find out the most current information in the field, from those who are doing it on a regular basis, as well as what is going on in your local area. If no chapter exists in your area, what better reason to contact the local experts than that you are organizing a meeting on a topic of interest to them?


4. Make a conscious effort to expand your network.

Actively seek out people who are working in your new field. Invite them to coffee or lunch, or ask if you can call and talk to them for 15 minutes. Ask them how they got into the field, how they recommend someone with your background make the transition, and what they wish they had known when they got started.


5. Get some hands-on experience.


If you can’t find paying work in your new field, volunteer to take on a small project for one of your contacts in that field. Again, this will give you a real accomplishment to put on your resume, serving as proof of your expertise and interest in the new area.

6. Practice presenting yourself.

It is important to think of yourself not as “an organic chemist who can do some computations”, but as a computational chemist. You must see yourself in the new role, and present yourself that way to others. Remember that this is next stage in your career growth, and not a failure or abandonment of your former career.

7. Rethink your references.

In addition to re-writing your resume to emphasize your skills in the new field, you also need to identify people who can speak about your expertise and accomplishments in the new area. Now that you have transformed yourself, you need to make sure others see you that way too.

HOME MAKE-OVER

A survey conducted by AARP in the United States reveals that 33% of American boomers already begun work in their homes to make living easier for seniors to prepare for their old age.

The work most commonly made in this regard are the removal of steps at the entrance, installation of door handles more practical (in particular, replace door knobs difficult to turn a person with osteoarthritis by handles who drop or hinged doors).

Electrical outlets are placed above in order to be accessible to persons having difficulty bending or in wheelchairs.

The bathrooms are also the subject of development work: handles near toilets, bathtubs and showers, installation of bathtubs with a door for easy access, etc. ...

Some older, very farsighted, have even sell the dwelling in which they had spent their working lives to buy a smaller house and better equipped. It seems that older Americans are increasingly likely to be able to consider this type of sacrifice in order to calmly consider their entrance into old age.

(USA Today, "Boomers settle in to age in place", 21/12/2010)

WHY WE ARE ILL-PREPARED FOR RETIREMENT


It has occurred to me that while retirement is mainly a personal pursuit, and has nothing to do with a prior career (because the exchange of labour for wages has been terminated) most of us still feel that we have some on-going entitlement.

However ,retirement is contingent on having workable retirement plans in place years in advance.
The government pension and the health care card will only give a small measure of comfort to those of us who lack financial security.

Which is why I advocate additional streams of income – either investment properties and/or profitable hobbies.

I can help you explore your options for a profitable hobby, with my new manual “37 Case Studies of Profitable Hobbies” priced at $19.75.

You can buy it here

http://www.retirelaughing.com.au/blog/make-money-with-my-hobby/


RETIREMENT PLANNING ADVICE – FROM YOUR DOG

By Steve Vernon, Money for Life, CBS - MoneyWatch.com

Many readers may want to work in their retirement years to make ends meet and to stay engaged with life. If you’re considering this possibility, you might want to review this post on how maintain yourself in longevity.

Tip #1: Live within your means. Dogs are content with whatever living circumstances they have, and they don’t complain if they don’t have as much now compared to prior years. Dogs are good at balancing the magic formula for retirement security: I > E, or income greater than expenses.

Tip # 2: Phased retirement or downshifting is a more natural life transition. They continue to get as much activity as their aging bodies allow; they gradually decrease their activities and dog duties in their later years. Humans should consider phased retirement or downshifting as well, for a whole host of reasons including financial well-being and improved health and longevity.

Tip #3: Get daily exercise, preferably with a walk. Dogs appreciate a daily walk and thrive on getting out and stretching their legs. Rusty understands that regular exercise is critical to maintaining your health and to reducing the odds of the expensive, chronic diseases in your later years. And walking 30 to 45 minutes every day is one of the best forms of exercise.

Tip #4: Remain cheery and optimistic, don’t hold grudges, and be forgiving. These are common characteristics of dogs; if dogs were human, we’d say they have a “positive mental attitude” which, by the way, can improve your physical health and longevity. Studies of centenarians have shown that consistent personal characteristics are resiliency and resourcefulness.

Tip #5: Maintain good contacts with family and friends. Dogs are always happy to see you — they wag their tail and dance around a little to greet you. As a result, you’re more than happy to take care of their needs. In our later years, we may become increasingly reliant on family and friends to help with day-to-day household tasks and maybe even long-term care. So we’ll need to think about how we can wag our tails and dance a little — figuratively speaking — whenever we see our family and friends.

PROFITABLE HOBBY – COOKING

Do you have a love for cooking...and are people are always ranting and raving about your food?
You have all the qualities to create a personal chef business. Just market yourself to people who are sick and need to have their meals prepared for themselves and family.

Within a few days of startup, you are likely to have one or two clients.

You will find a cluster of potential clients in private hospitals near where you live.

A profile of a typical client that you will attract is a woman who has had surgery and needs meals prepared for her family. Her husband can probably only cook sausages and the kids want mum back in the kitchen yesterday!


You will be able to reach potential clients by leaving a brochure at the kiosk just inside the door of the hospital.

Test the market. She’ll know that the weekly shopping for her family is around $150, so your professional fees to prepare meals could well appear to be modest if you charge $150 plus groceries.

Make your minimum contract two weeks and when you get two or three clients simultaneously you will be able to be in production mode. Perhaps she will hire you to cook for her family everyday for three weeks.

You will be able to prepare the meals over the weekend at home then deliver the week's meals on Monday. Your local $2 shop has the inexpensive food containers you’ll need.
You’ll soon be making $2,000 per month!


PROFITABLE HOBBIES

You can now buy my manual “37 case studies of Profitable Hobbies for immediate application” at
http://www.retirelaughing.com.au/blog/make-money-with-my-hobby/



At $19.75, it’s excellent value if you think you’ll be needing an additional source of income at some stage.


HERE’S MY BLOG

My blog is at www.retirelaughing.com/blog

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About Bernard Kelly:




Bernard Kelly BEcon MBA CRPC Australia’s Retirement Strategist®, is a highly sought-after property 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


“expect to reap an extra $449,999* when you’ll really be needing it”.