|
|
 When you’re planning for your retirement, not long from now, it’s easy to over-plan, to shortchange the present, driven by fear of the future. Of course the period of time that we remain nonworking, supported only by our assets appears to loom long and threatening, and often the panic that this inspires is well exploited by investing advisors who delight in selling financial advice to sell as much commission-earning retirement investments as possible, whether it would be the best thing for you or not. Anyone who has done even a little basic reading-up about retirement savings, would easily have heard of something called the 4% spend-down rate. This is the part of your nest egg, your capital, that they believe you could safely deplete each year without really getting yourself into any danger. What this means is, that if you have $1 million put by for your retirement, that you could safely spend 4% or $40,000 out of that each year, and add on a little for inflation too.
The way this goes wrong, is in how you keep planning your retirement years in exactly the way you plan your productive family-raising years. Once you’re retired, and your children have mostly moved out and are on their own, would you really need as much each year as you did in your years of vigour? What people would actually need to do is not spend in the same way each year of their retirement. People as soon as they’re retired, are still relatively young, and really could use a little bit extra money. They could start off by drawing about 6% of their nest eggs each year in the initial years. And over the following 20 years, that could come down by half, which is what people naturally like to do anyway. If you calculated inflation and spending in the traditional 4% way, you would have to reckon that a couple with about $1 million as retirement investments on their retirement day, figuring 3% in inflation each year, need more than $100,000 a year when they turned 80. What kind of 80-year-old couple ever needs that kind of money? Continue Reading »
 Comes a time in your life that you don’t have to set the alarm anymore or worry about over sleeping and not getting to work on time. You can let everyone know by sending out retirement announcements and even having a party to celebrate the occasion. A variety of retirement announcements are available online offering whimsical original sayings and customized to your exact specifications. Some online retailers of retirement announcements also offer free shipping with a minimum order or other bonus accessories. If you are planning a retirement party, you may also want to have some decorations and party ware in addition to thank you notes to tell everyone how much you appreciate them coming to your get together and/or for their special gifts. You can have all of these items personalized as well, or you can purchase stock items and blank thank you cards. Whichever you choose it will serve the purpose just fine.
You can choose everything from the color and texture of the paper to the type of script used in your retirement announcements. Photos are also a nice addition and can reflect personal as well as professional achievements that the retiree accomplished during his working life. You can add a great amount of creativity and personal taste to your retirement announcements; everyone will know by first glance that its all about you, as it should be.
Retirement is a significant life event, and should not pass by without some sort of fanfare. There are so many ideas for retirement announcements, just like baby and wedding announcements that you can easily get overwhelmed. Consult with your printer about any questions or concerns you may have to help you make a decision.
A fun idea for retirement announcements could include photos of the person at a younger age and at retirement age, and can be combined with a couple of humorous lines to make everyone laugh. These retirement announcements also make nice gifts and are an extra special way to remember someone. Items like these should be part of the family collection and handed down with other pictures and memorabilia. Continue Reading »
 There’s a new kind of retirement community in Boston, Massachusetts that just might revolutionize the way we approach senior living. Many seniors dread the day when they’ll have to sell their homes and move into some sort of assisted living or artificial retirement community. They love the neighborhoods where they live, and their first choice would be to remain there. But until now, that has not been possible for many. Extended families do not care for their aging relatives as they once did, and that makes it very hard for people who need help with shopping and other basic needs to stay at home.
Some experts in the field argue that seniors are better off in well managed communities, independent or assisted living, where they have meals in a common dining room three times a day, housekeeping at least weekly, many activities on site, transportation to doctor’s appointments, and regularly scheduled outings for shopping and other cultural activities. This is, of course, better than staying at home along, and going without food, human contact and basic medical care.
Many chafe in the confines of these highly organized facilities that often run on a shoestring budget, with underpaid staff, and rigid requirements about what can and cannot be done to fulfill many government guidelines and to make the place livable for a large number of people. Often they promise more on tours for prospective residents than they actually deliver.
A group of creative thinkers in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood have come up with a very appealing alternative. They’ve formed an organization called Beacon Hill Village where seniors (anybody from age 50 on up) can become members for about $750 per year for a couple or $550 a year per person, and low-income members pay just $100 a year, the balance being paid through fund-raising. And what do they get for this. All kinds of things. Continue Reading »
 My parents are getting on in years, and I’m worried about them staying home by themselves all the time. Because I live two states away and frequently travel on business, I’m not able to provide any personalized care myself. Plus, I don’t think my folks are quite ready for a full-service nursing home at this point. They’re still very active in many respects, so that’s why I’ve been checking out assisted living facilities instead.
Assisted living facilities serve as something of a compromise between complete independence and a nursing home. These places are able to give residents help with some of the day-to-day tasks that seniors can no longer easily handle on their own, but don’t get into the full medical assistance found in nursing homes. So staff members can come in and help Mom and Dad with chores like bathing, dressing, and doing laundry, while stopping short of administering real health care. That’s actually perfect, though, since my parents don’t have any serious medical issues to speak of.
Since I don’t have any experience with assisted living facilities, I’ve been looking online for some free information. I’ve come across a couple of comprehensive guides and have been reading through those to get an idea of the features that all the best assisted living facilities have in common. Furthermore, I want to find a trusted facility either near my home so I can regularly drop in on Mom and Dad, or near their current home so they can stay in the community they’ve lived in for a majority of their lives. This has been kind of a lot for me to digest in such a short period of time, but the sooner I get my folks settled, the sooner my mind will be at ease.
If I strike out on the Internet searches, another way to get leads on nearby assisted living facilities is through a referral service. These referral services basically serve as consultants to help place potential residents in affordable retirement communities based on wants, needs, and budget. I think it would be great to sit down and talk to an expert about the whole situation prior to making a decision, because I’m sure all of us will have a bunch of questions that we want to ask first. Continue Reading »
 Each individual has a risk tolerance that should not be ignored. Any good stock broker or financial planner knows this, and they should make the effort to help you determine what your risk tolerance is. Then, they should work with you to find investments that do not exceed your risk tolerance.
Determining your risk tolerance involves several different things. First, you need to know how much money you have to invest, and what your investment and financial goals are (long-term, short-term, aggresive, etc.) For instance, if you plan to retire in ten years, and you’ve not saved a single penny towards that end, you need to have a high risk tolerance, because you will need to do some aggressive, risky, investing in order to reach your financial goal in a short period of time.
Conversely, if you are in your early twenties and you want to start investing for your retirement, your risk tolerance will be low. You can afford to watch your money grow, slowly, over time – No big rush. Realize, of course, that your need for a high risk tolerance or your need for a low risk tolerance really has no bearing on how you feel about risk. Again, there is a lot in determining your tolerance. Continue Reading »
 Are you thinking about the future? This is a crucial question to consider, regardless of your age. When it comes to retirement, none of us want to be left with hardly anything to get by on. The fact of the matter is we all want to live comfortably and not have to worry about how we’re buying groceries for this week. This is why you need to plan ahead of time. In what way do you intend to set aside extra money? Will your job take care of you after you’ve put in those twenty years? But what about the termination issue? Maybe that large company will dump you after an eighteen year run. This could throw your entire retirement plan out the window. Then you’re basically left with nothing. How will you survive if this occurs? Maybe it’s time you started thinking outside of the box. Have you ever considered investing in the stock market? A great number of people do this and are able to produce enough capital for their retirement.
What do you know about investing in the stock market? Do you see random infomercials regarding this issue? It seems like most ads make the stock market appear glamorous and wonderful. All you will ever do is earn, earn, and keep on earning. Soon you will be a billionaire with a house in the Hamptons and a private helicopter. Does this sound ideal? Well sure it does. However, investing in the stock market is not always as simple and easy as it looks. Continue Reading »
|
Related Products & Reviews
|
