Questions to ask in your 50's about Retirement Planning

Retirement planning is not just about finding the money to live. That is important, but as my mother told me, you really don’t need as much money in retirement as they tell you. I believed her. Before settling into a new life as a retiree, there are the practical realities, of course: money, location, health care. Once those are arranged, however, what comes next?

One of the most important areas to plan for when you are planning for retirement is the answer to this question: Do you have a reason to get up in the morning? In addition to this important question, here are some others that you should consider as you move toward a viable retirement plan. The questions are mostly short but hardly simple. There are many others and the hard part is that no one can answer for you. Here are a few:

Purpose Questions:

•               What do I want to do with my time now?

•               What will get me out of bed each morning?

•               Do you have special interests and hobbies? If so, have you included these costs in your monthly expenses?

•               What gives me pleasure?

•               What do I most care about?

•               Can I use my career experience in new ways now?

•               What's been missing from my life?

•               What have I always dreamed about doing?

•               What gives me a sense of purpose?

•               What and who are most important to me?

•               What does an ideal day look like?

Questions about where you will live

•               Do you know the date you plan to retire?

•               Where do you plan on living?

•               Are you staying in your home?

•               Will you be downsizing?

Money Questions

·       Do you have a handle on your monthly living expenses? Can you list them exactly?

·       Do you have an emergency fund?

o   If not what amount of money will you need to set aside to build your cash emergency fund?

·       What is the amount of Social Security benefit you will be receiving?

o   When will it start?

·       What is the total amount of all your retirement savings?

·       Do you know what required minimum distributions are?

·       Do you realise that your investment risk profile needs to be re-evaluated as a retiree?

·       Do you plan on earning income during your early retirement years? If so how will you do this by working part-time, or doing consulting or pursuing an income generating hobby?

Health Questions

•               Are you healthy?

•               Do you have a Chronic Illness or Do you currently have special health issues that need consideration? If so have you planned on how these will be looked after?

•               Do you have long-term disability insurance?

End of Life Planning

•               Do you have life insurance?

•               Do you have a will?

•               Do you know the importance of having a Power of Attorney for medical and financial matters?

If you start your retirement planning process early and take it step by step, making it a priority project, as if your future life depends on it — which it does — you just might be living your dream during your retirement years.

There are a couple of resources that may help you to feel more relaxed about financial planning. The first book by Ralph Warner (founder of Nolo Press): "Get a Life: You don't need a million to retire well."

http://www.powells.com/book/get-a-life-9781413300840/62-0

Money for retirement doesn't matter? Well, not exactly. Warner puts a different spin on how to prepare for retirement by recognising that a sensible savings plan is important, but the real keys to a successful retirement are good health, spiritual life, relationships with family and friends, and having interesting things to do.

Some of the author's main points are: (1) The difference between a happy, fulfilling retirement and "waiting for the undertaker" is not money but quality of life -- family, friends, good health, and meaningful activities that give you a reason to get up in the morning. (2) It's possible to estimate fairly accurately how much money you'll need to live on after you retire, and in most cases, it's nowhere near the "70% of your present income" that the doom-Sayers insist that you need to maintain your present lifestyle. The author tells readers how to access a free set of "retirement calculators" on the Nolo Press web site to assist them in financial planning, and that alone is worth the price of the book. I have linked to the calculators here, but you should still read or buy the book.

The second resource is a book by Harold Pollack and Helaine Olen called "The Index Card: Why personal finance doesn't have to be complicated."

http://www.powells.com/book/index-card-why-personal-finance-doesnt-have-to-be-complicated-9780143130529/62-0

This book will empower you. Personal Finance is marketed to us with wild and entertaining stock-picking shows on Television and by the Big Banks as something that is complicated. As shown in this book it is not complicated. As the title indicates, Olen's and Pollack's answer fits on an Index Card.

1.           Strive to save 10%-20% of your income.

2.           Pay your credit cards off every month (and minimise other debt).

3.          Maximise your 401(k) and other tax-advantaged savings accounts.

4.          Never buy or sell individual stocks.

5.          Buy inexpensive well-diversified indexed mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

6.          Hire a fee-based fiduciary (avoid commission-based financial salespeople).

7.          Wait to buy only as much home as you can afford  (remember homes are usually highly-leveraged investments with high maintenance costs).

8.          Buy term life insurance, auto-insurance (especially liability), home insurance or renter's insurance, and disability insurance.

9.          Support the social safety net (government programs,  such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and student loans, because 96% of American depend on such programs for financial assistance, even though  40% deny obtaining help from the government.)

10.      Keep doing the first 9.

Some Interesting news stories about retirement

Some of the retirement stories that have caught my interest over the last few days. Some may be of interest to you:

Pensions gender gap twice as wide as pay divide  in the Financial Times Adviser, written By Stephanie Hawthorne, this is a very interesting article. The first line: While men earn 16 per cent more than women on average the average gender pension gap is a staggering 40 per cent in the European Union, according to a report...

Higher retirement age vs lower pensions in Al Jazeera America

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is warning that the money saved is far short of what's needed. It's predicting that the world's six largest pension-saving systems - the United States, UK, Japan, the Netherlands, Canada and Australia - will have a retirement savings gap of $224 trillion by 2050

Should You Take a Lump-Sum Pension Withdrawal? In the Motley Fool

If you're the lucky recipient of a company pension, then as you approach retirement age, you'll have an important decision to make: Should you take the pension in the form of lifetime payments (i.e., an annuity) or as a single lump-sum distribution? The answer depends on several factors. Read on to figure out which option looks best for you.

Older, worried and working? In The Daily Camera written By Dave Gardner

More older Americans are working than ever. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the greatest employment growth will be among those 75 and older over the next ten years, closely followed by those aged 65 to 74. If you fall in this older worker category, why are you still working?

Why Women Need To Get Involved In Planning For Retirement in the Huffington Post, written by Alicia McElhaney 

While women are increasingly involving themselves in saving and investing money, a large gap remains between women and men when it comes to planning for retirement. A 2016 study from the National Institute on Retirement Security showed that women in retirement have substantially less income than men - a roughly 25% wage gap that mirrors the pay gap. (According to the Department of Labor, just 44% of women participate in their employer’s retirement plan.)

A Fun Way to Keep Your Mind Active After Retirement

You have been a hard and dedicated worker your whole life. You worked with your family on the farm or in the family business and then moved on to your career and your own family. In fact, you have worked for so long that it is all you have really known.

You have dreamed of the day when you could hang up your working boots and retire to a life of leisure and possibly travel the world with your spouse. However, you have been retired for awhile now and the travelling thing is fun but tiring. And you cannot sit around the house and just watch soap operas and fishing shows all day.

In short, you want mind stimulation and you would really like to meet new people while you are at it. How can you do that without taking up gambling or playing bridge every day in the park? Well, the best way to do that is by signing up for some continuing education classes.

Continuing education classes can help keep your mind sharp and help you learn a new hobby or subject all the while meeting new people who share the same interests. Many community colleges, recreation centres and universities offer a wide variety of continuing education courses throughout the year.

The easiest way to find these classes is to call up the colleges and recreation centres in your area to find out more about their upcoming class offerings and how you can register. For example, you can take a class to learn how to make jewellery, learn how to sew or knit, learn how to throw pottery or write the next great American novel.

Or, you can take more of an education type course like a Spanish language class or a literature course. The choices are only limited by your imagination and drive to learn.

The best part, you will probably find like-minded people in your courses that you can become friends with. More than likely, they are probably in the same boat as you and are looking for a way to occupy their time in retirement. You can form a friendship with these people and build new relationships. And who does not like having a lot of friends and acquaintances?

The most important thing, it helps you continue to feel like you are doing something productive. You have spent the majority of your life doing things for others: your parents, your spouse, your children and your employers. Now it is your time to take up a hobby that you have always wanted to try but did not have the time for. Why not! You have worked hard your whole life and completely deserve this time.

So pick up the phone and find out more about the upcoming courses in your area. By this time next week, you could be creating the next blockbuster novel or painting a masterpiece that will eventually land in a famous museum. If you dream it, it is possible and continuing education can be the missing piece to make that happen.

Can you give your retirement a grade?

I read an interesting post that asked this question: If you were to give the retirement life you have been living to this point a grade – like back in school – would you be looking at an “A” for excellent or a “C” for average or (hopefully not) an “F” for failure?

This is a tough question to ask as there are a lot of variables, would you give yourself a pass or a fall. If I was asked this when I retired 11 years ago, I would have given myself a Fail, today I give myself a Pass. I failed for the first few years of retirement because I did not plan for it. I retired on the spur of the moment. The reasons at the time seemed good, but within a few months, I wanted to be back at work. So, I went back, part-time for a couple of years, full time for a couple of more, then back to part-time and finally I eased into retirement.  It’s not always easy to live the retirement of our dreams. I think the bottom line is are you happy with your second act, or is there room for improvement? And if there is room for improvement what can you do to improve?

Before assigning a grade to my retirement or yours there are a few questions worthy of consideration:

1.    Do you find meaning in your life? Retirement planning and retirement itself is not just about finding the money. When we are working, we identify with our job/career or position. What is your net worth when you are no longer that person? We need a reason to get out of bed in the morning, what is yours? If you can’t find worthwhile endeavours beyond the job retirement can feel empty. It becomes difficult to motivate yourself to get out of bed each morning – what is the purpose? But if you have reasons, motivations, passions that excite you each day can offer a new opportunity. In retirement, you are the captain of your own ship, you don’t have to stick to the same sea that led you here. You are free to try new things, cut loose and do what feels good. Finding meaning in retirement is very personal and no two paths are exactly the same. How would you rate your current situation?

2.    Do you have plans for the future? We all need goals they help us stay motivated, give us a reason to get up in the morning. Goals help you find your passion, whatever it is. Your passion could be travelling, or learning, reading or writing, painting or singing. What goals have you set for yourself for tomorrow? Next month? Next year?

3.    What would you change about your situation? Retirement allows us to improve our situation, and to perhaps set out on new adventures. Are there areas requiring attention to realise the best life possible? Can you fine-tune your lifestyle to increase the likelihood of living a fulfilling life? If you have identified some areas that require attention, what is holding you back from starting to fix them?

4.    What are the best things about being retired? Life is not easy, we can feel overwhelmed by money problems, health issues, or just sheer boredom. Some of my friends call me an optimist I typically see the glass half full. Many years ago, I found that that worrying had no effect on the issues I was facing. If I had control, I could take action, if the situation was out of my control, I could only react to what was happening.  Why not face the future like Frank Sinatra who sang “The best is yet to come”?

5.    What are your plans to continue learning? Learning is second nature to humans, we have a deep desire to learn. Education and learning are not the same things. We learn through, reading, travelling going to seminars, taking classes, watching TV, listening to the radio, or just talking to people. Put that mind to work. Keep yourself engaged and challenged. You are never done learning.

6.    Are you happy? At the end of the day when you glance into the mirror, what do you see? Retirement is about finding the right balance, between all of the conflicting calls on your time. Whatever path you discover, whatever steps and missteps you take, wherever your journey leads you if when it is all said and done you should feel positive about how your time is being spent. If you don’t take steps to change, if you do, feel free to do more of the same!

Each of us has the power to influence the quality of our retired life. It took me about 9 years to move from failing retirement to passing retirement. With planning my hope is that you take a shorter period of time to feel good about your retirement. Why settle for average when you can be excellent. When you think about it, now that you are retired is there a worthier focus for your attention?

Will you be able to retire? Short answer NO

We are moving to a time when most workers will not retire, according to a report in Canadian Dimensions by Peter Fleming. Peter Fleming’s new book The Death of Homo Economicus (Pluto Press) will be published later this year 

Whether we like it or not, we are going back to the pre-Bismarckian world, where work had no formal stopping point.

WHEN Otto von Bismarck introduced the first pension for workers over 70 in 1889, the life expectancy of a Prussian was 45.

By 1935, when America set up its Social Security system, the official pension age was 65—three years beyond the lifespan of the typical American. State-sponsored retirement was designed to be a brief sunset to life, for a few hardy souls.

Today most of us retire earlier and live longer. After spending most of our adult life in paid employment we move to our hare-earned retirement. Above all, time to relax.

Sadly, this probably won’t be your future … unless you’re independently wealthy. What can only be described as the “battle over work” in the neoliberal era in relation to pay and conditions has just opened another front. Retirement. And things are beginning to get nasty.

Retirement was once considered the jewel in the crown of any civilised society. Discrediting the idea that it’s acceptable for the elderly to toil late into their twilight years was one of the great achievements of the 20th century. It wasn’t just about morality, of course. There was also an economic rationale. But giving people the chance to rest after 45 years of hard slog was deemed the decent thing to do.

Today all societies have an ageing population. But not all of them are willing to shove a frail 75-year-old back into a cut-throat service economy. That’s a specialism of societies that have embraced the utter madness of neoclassical economics, such as Canada the UK and the US.

The danger now is we will have a generation who really can’t afford to retire. This idea is ideological. It’s not that there isn’t enough money to fund proper healthcare or pensions. There is. Remember the vast bank bailouts? Quantitative easing? It’s just that the cash is being directed elsewhere

Scrapping the right to retire fits perfectly with the ideology of work that the neocons adore so much. If your life and your job are supposed to be indistinguishable, a notion that the Chicago School of Economics perfected with “human capital theory”, then there isn’t really any place for retirement. Such “unproductive time” is economically irrational, an anomaly that econometric models won’t process.

Now the free-market think tank hacks decide to speak up. Don’t many people over 65 actually love working? Isn’t the whole idea of retirement totally ageist? Sure, if people want to work past retirement age, that’s great. The trouble is that many soon won’t have any choice in the matter

While some undoubtedly enjoy working well into their later years, research shows that a secure retirement is very good for you. A German study, for example, found that retirees tend to exercise more, quit smoking and get better sleep compared to those who continue to work. As a result, hospital visits drop.

There’s clearly a lot of intergenerational resentment towards retirees at the moment. The perception is that they’ve pulled the ladder up on the millennials who are struggling in low-paid jobs, will never own a house and are laden with awful student debts – and even reports that they’re better off than workers. The disgruntlement is understandable. But it also plays into the hands of those trying to end retirement, a divide and conquers tactic that has been remarkably effective in allowing some draconian policies to flourish.

What we really need is an intergenerational alliance to be forged around the issue. Any attempt to protect the right to retire (with a pension) will also have to address the dire developments in the employment sector that are seriously disadvantaging younger people and now creeping into jobs held by 40-somethings too.

Are Priorities Shifting Among Retirees?

A recent survey from the National Council on Aging (NCOA), UnitedHealthcare and USA TODAY shows seniors' perspectives on ageing and what concerns them has involved to include the importance of seniors connections with community and family to maintain a strong quality of life. 

The survey findings are interesting:
For the second year in a row, the survey found that, overall, seniors are optimistic about ageing and about their future. That’s great news because we know that positivity and happiness are related to better health.

Seniors also say that connections with their community and their family are most important to their quality of life. The most optimistic seniors are more likely to be taking steps to actively manage their health. For instance, 64% of optimistic seniors set one or more specific goals to manage their health in the past 12 months, compared with 47%of the overall senior population.

At the same time, we see that the majority of senior’s report at least two chronic conditions, yet feel their health is "normal." For boomers, these findings point to the importance of being proactive about your health and planning for health challenges down the road.

While the majority of seniors agree that the community, they live in is responsive to their needs, many – particularly low-income seniors and those with three or more chronic health conditions – lack confidence that their community is doing enough to prepare for the needs of the growing senior population.

For instance, we found that seniors nationally believe their city or town should invest more in transportation, followed by affordable health care services and senior housing. Furthermore, we found that today’s seniors rate the quality of community services such as health care and public safety higher than transportation and job opportunities for seniors.

We found that while most seniors report they are able to pay their current monthly expenses, many expressed concern about the financial impact of living longer. Two-thirds of seniors believe it to be “very easy” or “somewhat easy” to pay their monthly living expenses – consistent with the results of our 2012 survey more than half are “somewhat” to “very concerned” about whether their savings and income will be sufficient to last them for the rest of their life.

The survey also highlights just how retirement economics are changing. Nearly half of retired seniors report having access to pensions, and among seniors that are not yet retired, nearly two-thirds say they will have access to savings and investments and more than 40% plan to rely on Social Security as their primary source of retirement income.

As seniors age, they may require assistance from a caregiver. While on average seniors report, they could afford 22 months of part-time home care from a licensed aide, low-income seniors indicate they could only afford five months, and seniors with three or more chronic health conditions say they could sustain the expense for one year

Overwhelmingly, seniors feel confident about their golden years when asked about the quality of life in the future, nearly 90% of seniors state they are confident in their ability to maintain a high quality of life throughout their senior years, compared to a tad more than 80% of adults ages 18-59.

The results of the survey tell us is that seniors cite connections with community and family as most important to achieving a high quality of life. One-fifth say spending time with friends and family will be the best part of their bonus years, and more than 4 in 10 seniors say seeing their children and grandchildren grow up is the most exciting prospect of living a longer life.

Eighty-seven percent of seniors indicate that technology is important in their ability to stay in touch with family and friends. We also see this connection in terms of their expectations for housing – more than half of seniors we surveyed indicated that living close to friends and family was most important.

Most seniors expect their health to stay the same in the next five to 10 years. This contrasts with published data illustrating that seniors are living longer but sicker, with higher rates of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

Many seniors are not investing in activities that are important to help manage their health for the long term, including maintaining a healthy diet, getting regular exercise and seeing their Primary Care Physician a minimum of once a year

Although both seniors and adults ages 18-59 share the belief that "there’s no such thing as getting old" because "age is a state of mind," nearly one-fifth of adults ages 18-59 believe "being old" means becoming wiser and only less than one-tenth of those ages 60 and older agree.

When asked what their primary source of retirement income will be, nearly half of adults ages 18-59 expect to rely most heavily on savings and investments and just 23 percent said they plan to rely on Social Security. On the other side of the coin, forty-one percent of seniors that had not yet retired planned to rely on Social Security, and only 30 percent indicated they would rely on savings and investment

What does retirement mean?

We can use the dictionary definition of Retirement and we see many different views but the main thrust of the definition is the withdrawal from work due to age.  If one is older and in poor health, the reasons for withdrawing from work is not seen as the illness but is seen as retiring early.

Retirement is defined as seclusion or privacy, or withdrawal from work due to age.

An example of retirement is going into a back bedroom and taking a nap.

An example of retirement is a 65-year-old person deciding to permanently leave his job.

Retiring or being retired; specif., withdrawal from work, business, etc. because of age

privacy; seclusion

a place of privacy or seclusion

of, having to do with, or for retirement or retired persons: a retirement community

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.

Retirement noun

a. Withdrawal from one's occupation or position, especially upon reaching a certain age.

b. The age at which one withdraws from work or activity: On reaching retirement, he took up woodworking.

The act of retiring or the state of being retired: the retirement of debt.

Privacy or seclusion: in the retirement of your own home.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition Copyright © 2013 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Retirement Noun

An act of retiring; withdrawal.

(uncountable) The state of being retired; seclusion.

The portion of one's life after retiring from one's career.

Origin: From French, from retirer (“withdraw", often used reflexively “retire"), from re- + tirer (“draw, tear away") + English suffix -ment (movement, placement). English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

retirement - Legal Definition

The voluntary termination of employment upon reaching a certain age

The Old Age Pension came from Germany. Germany became the first nation in the world to adopt an old-age social insurance program in 1889, designed by Germany's Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. The idea was first put forward, at Bismarck's behest, in 1881 by Germany's Emperor, William the First, in a ground-breaking letter to the German Parliament. William wrote: ". . .those who are disabled from work by age and invalidity have a well-grounded claim to care from the state."

The German system provided contributory retirement benefits and disability benefits as well. Participation was mandatory and contributions were taken from the employee, the employer and the government. Coupled with the workers' compensation program established in 1884 and the "sickness" insurance enacted the year before, this gave the Germans a comprehensive system of income security based on social insurance principles. (They would add unemployment insurance in 1927, making their system complete.)

Germany was one of the models America looked to in designing its own Social Security plan; and the myth is that America adopted age 65 as the age for retirement benefits because this was the age adopted by Germany when they created their program. In fact, Germany initially set age 70 as the retirement age and it was not until 27 years later (in 1916) that the age was lowered to 65.

Bismarck was motivated to introduce social insurance in Germany both in order to promote the well-being of workers in order to keep the German economy operating at maximum efficiency and to stave off calls for more radical socialist alternatives.

Today the face of retirement Is changing. We live longer, in the 1920’s the life span in Canada for men 59 and for women 61. There were very few people that made it to 65, so the Old Age Security was only for those who lived longer. In the 1960’s we had a life expectancy for men of 69 and for women 76. We worked until we were 65 and then retired, and died about four years later. Retirement was seen by many as a time waiting for the end. Today we have a life expectancy of 77 for men and 82 for women. So, the realities of retirement have changed, we are no longer sitting around waiting for the end. 

Many of us are in good health and we want to be active.  Many of my friends are working. The difference is that they are working doing more of what they love and not what they have to do. I and my friends are early boomers, which means that what we do, the majority of boomers will do as they reach our age. So, a trend that is starting is that more people will work, albeit part time when they retire.

In retirement, it is important to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Although money is important, retirement is about more than just money. Today, retirement is about being happy. Today, as you plan for retirement think differently. Think about life and what life means to you when you are retired. It's not easy, and it may require some soul searching so you can determine your priorities. When thinking about retirement you need to think about what you are going to do with your time, how you are going to maintain your health and who is going to be part of your retirement in terms of friends, family and other social groups.

Retirement today is busier and full of more choice because we are living longer and we are healthier than are parents and grandparents. Your success at retirement is really dependent on you and the choices you make. The more you plan and think ahead, the more likely you are to enjoy a happy retirement. After all, retirement today will last more than 20 years, and hopefully will be the best years of your life.

Waiting in line

While I was waiting in line that was not moving at my local supermarket and the person in front of me turned to me and said, "I have a big trolley for only one item, don't you think?"

I looked and he had only one item in the cart, it was a small jar of hot sauce. I wasn't sure what to say but he continued, " I can't hold an item and walk with my crutches as my back is so bad." He went on to explain his medical problem. He had one crutch and he was using the trolley for support. I said I had been in that situation when I had my hip operation.

We talked for a while as the line did not move. He told me that he was 79 years old and he had worked all of his life at hard labouring jobs as a self-employed contractor, He explained the hard lifting he had done when he was younger was now catching up with him. He told me he needed to continue to work, as he needed to but he only did the small jobs that did not take a physical toll on him. 

It was a pleasant conversation but it made me think about how many other seniors were in his position. He did not say it, but I suspect that as a self-employed person, he did not set up a Registered Retirement Saving Plan, nor would he have contributed to his Canada Pension until he was required to and I suspect he paid the minimum amount. So at almost 80, he is in a situation where he has to work even though he is physically in pain.

As we move through the three stages retirement, we need less money. In the initial stage about the first ten years, we have hopefully, our health, and energy and we use that energy to travel, to volunteer, to work part time. As we move into the second stage of retirement the second 10 years, we slow down, and our energy is reduced and we do not travel as much and we become more homebound, either because of physical illness or just lack of energy. The man I talked to was in what would normally be his second stage of retirement, but because of circumstance he was not yet fully retired.

When we get out and about and listen we find some interesting stories.

Baby Boomers and Retirement Communities

"Old age" was never in the vocabulary of the boomer retirees. They live under a creed of despising the aging process throughout their history. Born as activists questioning everything, they combat inevitable aging and dispose antiquated retirement concepts embraced by their parents. Instead, boomers give more attention on how they are going to lace up rollerblades, download in their iPod's, or skate into sophisticated, hip energetic adult communities. They called this as lifestyle communities created all over the country to cater to their whim. 

The previous architecture director of Del Webb Corporation, Bill Parks foresees that the approaching great numbers of boomers retirees would delight and bewilder many developers. For a less period of time, adult communities will be springing up meeting the needs of active adults. 

There are over 1,200 adult communities all over the country and some are on the stages of planning. The underlying purpose of building such communities remains constant. To give a place for empty nesters to rationalize after their kids leave them. The location, ambiance, size, and amenities are great, too far from what had already existed. 

Home builders consider this as a very big trend. The senior housing councils for the National Association of Home Builders, Jeff Jenkins, announced that after the first set of age-qualified boomers availed more than 55 communities, it staggered the impacts since 2001. Boomers aged 55 years old and above accounted for about 1/5 (207,000) of the 1.1 million purchases of new homes in 2003. The adult active market accounted for approximately 51 billion dollars of sales in new homes. This is the main reason why adult communities are springing up in all places. 

The generation of World War II in fact invented the retirement standard of living in various ways. They outlived their work and accumulated significant wealth to enjoy their golden years. Their prospective places are Florida, California and Arizona due to its sunny weather with a handy golf course and pool and a country club or community center where they could establish their new social functions. 

However, the boomers have a different viewpoint according to the CEO and founder of ICAA (International Council on Active Aging) Colin Milner. ICAA is an adult active advocacy organization in British Columbia, particularly Vancouver.  

Baby boomers have acquired so many life experiences that will soon be reflected in their adult communities. The only difference is that they have adopted what they have learned. Take for example fitness issues. Boomers parents didn't incorporate fitness in their lifestyle considering it as a boring routine. So, the entire exercise trend was started by the baby boomers. It is not a turnoff for them because they have accessed it throughout their lives. Therefore, adopting it in their adult communities as a part of their lifestyle is not a big deal. Developers are creating adult communities reflecting their rich baby boomers history.

The major difference between the retirement villages of the first generation and adult active communities is location. Numerous surveys reveal surprising results. 2 out of 3 boomers wanted to live 100 miles away from where they lived and worked. The reason that motivated boomers to moving further does not mainly lie on the type of weather. But they chase their friends and family who have transferred in that location.

The phenomenon called as stay-at-home caught some developers off guard. They never realized that one day the resort-style adult communities near main urban centers will become lesser in demand. The Midwest and Northwest location was once the best seller. During the mid-90s one half of such communities are situated in Sunbelt. Washington D.C is not a very popular retirement location however there are dozens of adult active communities available wherein some people never believe it is possible. Today, three fourths of these communities are not within Sunbelt anymore. The price ranges 150,000 dollars and above for a town home having two bedrooms and two baths.

The boomers generation has been separated from its Me Generation. For ill or good, the history's largest generation changes the faces of everything on the path they once lived. They exchange health care from entertainment, investing from childbirth, and education from fitness. It will hold no surprise that boomer retirees will reinvent the entire retirement village.  Boomers regardless of their age still continue to make changes. 

Be Prepared for Your Death

When babies are born, their families rejoice and are quite overjoyed. Their parents are always there to guide them and attend to their needs. As they grow old, they are capable of doing things on their own, and some of them even choose to leave their homes for greener pastures. When they finally find a good job, they can take care of all their expenses.

Life is full of surprises, and it is very much unpredictable. Many people die every day; are you prepared for it? You can't say that you'll die at this age because who knows, after an hour or a second you may die.

As babies are born in this world, they come with a cost. Their parents have to pay for their hospital bills and other medications. And when people finally rest in peace, their families will still have to spend money for their funeral. 

When a person dies, his or her family is sad because they lost a loved one. And sometimes, the burden is even more felt if they don't have enough money to spend for the funeral. This is one reason why a person should be prepared for death.

Although a lot of people are scared by the thought of death, you shouldn't be that way. You should be prepared and start living a good life for other people to remember you. Baby boomers should start preparing for this event because for the next years to come, for they will be the ones to face this reality.

The years 1946 to 1964 were also the years of increased births. During these years, baby boomers were born. The US government is expecting the death rate to increase between the current years and will continue until 2035. It can reach as high as 3.5 million annually, an increase of about 50% of the death rate in the US alone.

As baby boomers reach their timeline, they are about to face the final fact of life. All living things must end, and man is no exception. Because of the new technology in the medical profession, many baby boomers' lives were extended or postponed. But now, it's inevitable.

Perhaps, families of baby boomers are not yet ready. Even the entire population may not be ready to face massive deaths of baby boomers. Not one is interested, but their lives are slipping through even if they don't want it that way.

Seldom can you find couples talking about death? In fact, statistics have shown that many people don't have the courage to speak about their death. They find it hard to discuss matters about death on a more personal level. But death is an occurrence that all people must face and deal with.

The family of the baby boomers should be prepared to make the final arrangements. And this has nothing to do with hotel reservations. The final arrangements pertain to the funeral, cremation or cemetery burial of their loved ones.

Baby boomers probably know that by now, and they are preparing for their final trip. They came into the world and their generation was highly noted in history because of their large number. And now, they will again make a history, only now, they would be parting this world.

Most Boomers want to be prepared. Typical examples are insurance plans and educational plans. Final arrangements are now widely acceptable in the society. In fact, there are those who plan for their burial.

You have to overcome your fear. And baby boomers are quite known to be strong individuals. So there is no need to be scared now that you're in the last stages of your battle in life.   
If you've made your final arrangements, then you're family and loved ones will not have many problems during the funeral. They will be able to spend the remaining hours by your side until you're finally taken to your final destination. 

When baby boomers were still in their youth, they didn't want to grow old. Funny right, but guess what, a lot of the baby boomers are now ageing. And now that they're old, they can't do anything about it. The last thing they can do is to prepare for the coming of death.    

Does working full or part time play a role in retirement?

Working Americans expect to retire at age 66, up from 63 in 2002, according to a recent Gallup poll. But most retirees don't stay on the job nearly that long. The average retirement age among retirees is 62, Gallup found. So why is this important?  According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), life expectancy for American women increased to 81.2 years and 76.4 years for men in 2012, reports Medical News Today. 

When you consider that in the 1930s, life expectancy was age 62 for women and 58 for men, it’s plain to see that our retirement years are growing to be an ever-larger percentage of the total years of our lives.

A June 2015 Government Accountability Office analysis found that that average Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 have accrued about $104,000 in retirement savings. Sound like a lot? Not when you realise that sum would translate into a $310 monthly payment if your money were invested in a lifetime annuity.

I have seen it recommended that by the time, you reach 60, you should have six times your salary saved – that’s $360,000 if you make $60,000 per year.

Unfortunately, the average sixty something has an estimated median of $172,000 in the bank. Not nearly enough. At this point, it’s hard to save enough to make up for the shortfall. Instead, look at your assets. What can be monetized at some point to help sustain you?

As you try to figure out where your income will come from, when you retire, don’t forget Social Security or in Canada Old Age Security and Canada Pension. Most seniors find these to be a significant source of monthly income. In the United States, the 2016 estimated average monthly benefit for a retired worker is of $1,341 per month; yours could be more or less. In Canada, the estimated average monthly income from Canada Pension and Old Age Security can range from about $1,100 to $1,500 a month.

In Canada, if you only have these Old Age Security, which is about $568 a month, as a source of income, you may be eligible for a Guaranteed Income Supplement, which may bring your monthly income up to about $1,400

In the United States, if you plan on drawing Social Security you can currently earn up to $15,720 per year without any reduction in your monthly Social Security benefits. You might want to keep that magic figure in mind when you go in search of part-time employment opportunities. There is no such limitation in Canada, although if you earn over $72,809 a year, the government will start to claw back your Old Age Security income.

Many retirees need to have additional income, some need the job to give them a sense of self-worth. For whatever reason, work part time or full time is part of the retirement reality. There are websites like Seniorjobbank.org that let you search current job listings with businesses specifically looking for older works, and AARP.org has a job search section with job hunting tips and a list of companies seeking employees.

Some companies top-ranked companies on the lists of the best part-time employer for retirees include: Barnes & Noble, FedEx, JCPenney, JPMorgan, Chase, Costco, Lands’ End, Lowe’s, Nordstrom, Publix, REI, Starbucks, Target, Trader Joe’s, U-Haul, UPS, Wegmans, Whole Foods Market and YMCA.