The countdown begins for many kids

 In 2022 many of you will be thinking about retiring, here are some thoughts on this subject to help you make up your mind

I have all the $$$ money $$$ I’ll ever need in retirement...

As long as I die by 4 pm tomorrow.

Warning! I’m retired

I know everything and have plenty of time to talk about it! Approach with caution!

Based on my latest calculations, i can retire five years after i die

Retirement is waking up in the morning with nothing to do, and going to bed having accomplished only half of it.

I retired for health reasons, the company was sick of me, and I was sick of them

Retirement is when you stop working and start working at living

When I first retired, I woke up at 6:00 AM and drove very slowly on the freeway. I was yelled at a lot by all those that I made late for work, but it was fun.

Retirement the pay sucks but the benefits are great.

R elax

E at

T ravel

I ndugle

R ead

E at

Happy Days are here again

RETIREMENT CHECKLIST

9-10:00 NOTHING

10-11:00 (BREAK)

11-12:00 NADA

12-1:00 (LUNCH)

1-2:00 ZIP

2-3:00 ZERO

3-4:00 (BREAK)

4-5:00 ZILCH

RULES TO RELAX BY: RETIRED AND LOVING IT.

1. You get 6 Saturdays and 1 Sunday every week.

2. Bedtime is 3 hours after you fall asleep

3. Formal attire is shoes.

4. We love to count pennies because we have time.

5. A long lunch is... Normal.

6. I never know when my lunch break starts, or my coffee break ends.

7. Am I bored? No way.

 

Second helpings

We love routine and stability; change scares us. I think that all of us at some point in our lives realized that the routine we strived for and had achieved was stifling. Indeed, I went through a period where I became so content with certain arrangements of life that I avoided variety. I was aware that I was in a rut of my own making I knew that I had parked my life in neutral. However, I was comfortable and was not willing to leave my comfort zone. In a battle, comfort tends to win over anxiety, uncertainty and not knowing.

When I think back to what could have been during those years, I almost wish for a magic wand that could give me a partial "do-over." A do-over would not have worked, of course, because I believe that you cannot wish yourself out of a comfortable zone. In most cases, we must have a crisis to help us rethink our position. Once the crisis is realized then we can snap into action and that action may force us out of our comfort zone. This will work for some but not all, many once the crisis is over will retreat to their comfort zone. As you think about retirement think of it as your opportunity to have a second helping of life not as a crisis.

As you face the prospect of getting your second helping at life in retirement, here are some ideas to consider as you move out of your comfort zone and hopefully do not retreat. What was it that kept you living a life that was far less than it could have been? Here are what some people will ask. Everyone’s answer will be different, which is great.

• Why am I afraid of change?

o What are the risks and rewards of making that change and are the risks worth the rewards?

• Why am I afraid of the unknown?

o I was doing OK with the known so what is it the reward of embracing the unknown?

• My family seemed to be prospering but should I start thinking of myself as I move forward? What is the worst thing that could happen if I shake them up? And could they live with it and embrace the change?

• I had to act age-appropriate, didn't I? I had responsibilities, but now I am retired I get to redefine age-appropriate and I have very few responsibilities.

• I have expenses, and my cash flow has to be maintained but if it is not what is the worst thing that could happen, and can I plan for that if it happens?

• Now that I am retired what else can I do?

Retirement planning: never too early

Your retirement is something that you really need to think about.  No matter what age you are and what you are doing for a living you need to worry about your future plans. Having enough money to do the things that you love and want is something that you have to think about.  Figure out what you have to do in order to be a great and successful person no matter what age you are.

Dealing with failure is something that you are going to need to think about.  You have to know that you are the one that is in charge of your life and all the retirement plans that you make. You should make sure that the plans you make are right for you and are going to give you what you need.  There is just no excuse for not doing what you need to when it comes to retiring the correct way.

If you find that you are not sure you have the right things covered in your retirement plans you will want to talk to someone that deals with this.  Making sure that you are checking into your future is one thing that you have to do.  There are so many different companies and agencies that are going to help you with your choices so that you make more money for what you need later on in life.  

Dealing with this type of problem and failing to make the choices that are important to you is something that you have to do.  You need to think about this time in your life so that you are not left out in the cold when you have to retire.  If something were to happen and you need to retire early, you have to make sure that you are going to be taken care of no matter what happens. This is something that you should start doing when you first start working. 

There are so many options that you will have to make the right decisions when it comes to retiring.  You should be aware of everything that you need to do in order to prepare for this step in life.  This is not the time to be lacking in information. You should work hard to make choices for yourself that are going to be right and if you are using your best interests when doing this you will see that you are well taken care of when you finally are able to retire.  

Letting others help you with your retirement plans can be the right choice for you.  They will know what you need to do in order to have what you need and to be a success.  Using all the skills that you have and all the planning can give you peace of mind that you are looking for.  There are plenty of resources out there and finding the right one for your situation is the first good step in making your future better.

Learning all that you can to be a great success can make the difference.  Do not get discouraged if you find out that you are not totally taken care of.  As long as you are thinking about these issues and dealing with them right away you should have no concerns about your financial future.  

Work til you drop

Do you expect to retire and live comfortably? Many people in Britain do not. Research from Scottish Widows shows that while higher workplace pension contributions will help narrow the gap between retirement savings, many need to be doing a lot more to ensure a comfortable retirement. 44% of people are not saving the recommended 12% of their salary towards retirement each year.

As a result, many will have to work beyond retirement age. More than half (51%) of Brits now expect to continue working at least part-time past retirement age, and a fifth (18%) say that working beyond the age of 65 will be a necessity rather than a choice. Only a quarter (24%) expect to have completely retired by the time they’re 65

This means that More than three million people expect to work until they die, with another 10 million saying they will work until they are physically unable to do so.

Young people, in particular, are pessimistic about their retirement prospects – only one in 20 (5%) of 18-24-year-olds expecting to retire by the age of 65, and 11% of 25-34-year-olds (11%).

Nearly one in five (18%) people say they’ll work longer than they want to because they worry about their level of saving. Just under a third (32%) of 25– 54-year-olds worry they haven’t been saving enough in their early years, and two-fifths (39%) of people fear running completely out of money in retirement.

The gender pay gap extends into retirement. Women tend to have smaller pensions because they are more likely to have spent time out of the workplace caring for children or relatives and tend to be paid less. As a result, women are more concerned than men about the cost of later life. Just over two-fifths (43%) of women are concerned that they’ll run out of money during retirement, while only a third (34%) of men feel this way.

The old idea that when people around the age of 60 to 65 they gave up work once and from the Scottish Widows clearly shows that working after age 65 is a necessity rather than a choice for too many workers.

One of the good things coming out of Britain is that they instituted an auto-enrolment program for retirement which has been a great success in kick-starting the savings habit for millions. Britain is also increasing the minimum contribution and this should, in the long-term, mean that more people have valuable pension funds to live off as they approach later life. 

Life expectancy continues to rise, and as many work past “retirement age” should still contribute to their pension savings. Today only a third of people who expect to carry on working past retirement age think they will continue to pay into a pension but over time this number is likely to go up.

The above was taken from a story written by Cherry Reynard on 05/04/2018 and published online 

Not everyone needs to save for retirement.

Some Canadians will have enough income to fund their postwork lives without ever setting aside a dime in their own savings accounts. How do you know whether you’re one of them?

The answer hinges on how much you’ll get automatically from the retirement income sources you build up by living and working in Canada

A target to aim for

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) tracks retirement income data across its 34 member countries – and has established a “target replacement rate” for retirement income.

According to the OECD, retirees should aim to have 60 per cent of their gross pre-retirement income once they hang up their lunch buckets or turn in their office keys in order to maintain their standard of living as they age.

Across the OECD, the average gross replacement rate for the worker earning an average income is about 54 per cent.

In Canada, retirees can typically expect to receive guaranteed lifetime income from Old Age Security (OAS), the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), in addition to any other workplace pension income they might also receive.

A focus on retirement income, not retirement savings

Looking at Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand – collectively known as the Anglo-Saxon economies – retirees earning the average income can expect to receive between about one-third (in Britain) to one-half (in Australia) of their working income from guaranteed pensions once they hit retirement.

The OECD calculated these percentages by adding up the income from government and mandatory private pensions (such as CPP in Canada), and comparing it with earnings in member countries.

What if you aren’t earning the average income, but something less – or more? Here’s where the numbers get interesting: If you earn a lot more than the average income before retirement, you can expect to get a lot less, in percentage terms, of guaranteed lifetime pensions in retirement.

If you earn half of the average income, you might have 80 per cent or more of your working income replaced in retirement from mandatory public and private sources that you can’t outlive.

On the other side of the ledger, however, the replacement rate from guaranteed sources drops off significantly: Retirees earning one-and-a-half times the average income might need to replace roughly 75 per cent or more of their preretirement income to hit the recommended target.

Source

So many of us are saving enough, here is some interesting stats from CBC News. They have compiled a number of important figures on retirement and financial planning in Canada. All figures are from Statistics Canada unless otherwise indicated.

Saving with Registered Retirement Savings Plans...

5,953,370 — number of Canadians who contributed to an RRSP in 2011 (down slightly from 5,956,010 in 2010).

24% — percentage of eligible tax filers who contributed to an RRSP in 2011 (down from 26% in 2010).

$34.4 billion — total RRSP contributions in 2011 (up from $33.9 billion in 2010).

$772.5 billion — total amount Canadians were entitled to contribute to RRSPs as of 2011.

$683.6 billion — total unused RRSP contribution room as of 2011 (accumulating since 1991).

22.7 million — number of Canadians with RRSP contribution room in 2011.

$2,830 — median RRSP contribution in Canada in 2011 (up from $2,790 in 2010).

$4,750 — highest median RRSP contribution in 2011 (Nunavut).

$2,310 — lowest median RRSP contribution in 2011 (Manitoba).

$775 billion — the total value of assets in Canadian RRSPs in 2011 (down from in $782 billion in 2010), according to Investor Economics.

$22,970 — maximum allowable RRSP contribution per person for the 2012 tax year.

$301,478 — amount in an RRSP at age 65 if a person started contributing $2,000 every year from age 25 (assuming five per cent compound annual growth and 1.5 per cent inflation), according to the Fiscal Agents investment calculator.

$158,888 — amount in an RRSP at age 65 if a person started contributing $2,000 every year from age 35 (assuming five per cent compound annual growth and 1.5 per cent inflation), according to Fiscal Agents.

$75,080 — amount in an RRSP at age 65 if a person started contributing $2,000 every year from age 45 (assuming five per cent compound annual growth and 1.5 per cent inflation), according to Fiscal Agents.

...or Tax Free Savings Accounts

$73.9 billion — value of tax-free savings accounts in Canada as of June 2012 (up from $54.4 billion the year earlier), according to to data from the consulting firm Investor Economics.

10 million — number of TFSAs in Canada as of June 2012 (up from 8.56 million the year earlier), according to Investor Economics.

$7,400 — average account holding for TFSA as of June 2012 (up from $6,354 the year earlier), according to Investor Economics.

$5,500 — annual contribution limit for 2013, an increase from the $5,000 annual limit that has been in place since the accounts were created in 2009.

$25,500 — The maximum amount you can put into a TFSA during 2013 if you've never contributed before and were 18 or older in 2009

Survey Says: Millennials are saving more

As millennial Americans have experienced the effects of the Great Recession of 2008, a strong majority (80%) say it has taught them they have to save “now” to “survive” economic problems down the road. Despite this generation's reported lesson, 45 percent are not saving for retirement, while slightly more than half (55%) are saving. 

The savings picture varies by gender with 61 percent of men and 50 percent of women reporting that they are saving. This difference in saving rates may hinge on the fact that the median annual household income reported by millennial men is $77,000 versus $56,000 for women. 

For college-educated millennials, median annual household income is reported to be $83,000 for men and $63,000 for women. About half of all millennials report they are “satisfied” with their savings at this point in their lives, but the gender discrepancy is pronounced, with 58 percent of men feeling satisfied, versus 41 percent of women. These findings are part of the 2014Wells Fargo Millennial Study (PDF)*, conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Wells Fargo, released today at a Women’s Institute For A Secure Retirement (WISER^®) forum in Washington, DC. 

“The silver lining of the recession that started over five years ago is that a majority of millennials get that saving is a necessity and even equate it with ‘surviving’ tough times. But millennial women are starting out their working lives making far less than men and, as a consequence, are saving less and feeling less contentment at the start of their working lives,” said Karen Wimbish, director of Retail Retirement at Wells Fargo.

The Pressure of Debt
Millennials are struggling under the pressure of debt, with 42 percent saying "it is their biggest financial concern currently.” Four in ten say their debt is "overwhelming" versus 23 percent of baby boomers. Forty-five percent of millennial women feel “overwhelmed” by debt, versus 33 percent of millennial men. Perhaps due to big debt obligations, over half of the millennials (56%) say they are “living paycheck to paycheck,” regardless of gender.

What Kind of Debt?
When asked to rank their number one financial concern after paying day-to-day bills, millennials cite paying off student loans (29%) as their top concern, whereas boomers cite saving for retirement (44%). When asked to estimate certain categories of debt as a percentage of monthly pay, millennials report their debt breaks down, on average, as follows: credit card debt, 16 percent; mortgage debt, 15 percent; student loan debt, 12 percent; auto debt, 9 percent; and medical debt, 5 percent. Among all millennials, 47 percent are allocating 50 percent or more of their paychecks to these types of debt.

“People have to closely examine what they are spending their money on and figure out the best way to comfortably manage debt and savings levels,” said Wimbish.

Retirement and Saving 
The progress in accumulating investable assets proves to be another area of difference between the genders, with college-educated millennial men reporting median household investable assets of $58,500 and college-educated millennial women reporting median household investable assets of $31,400.

Of those millennials who have started saving, almost half (46%) are saving between 1-5 percent of their income for retirement; 31 percent are saving 6-10 percent; 18 percent are saving more than 10 percent. The percentage of income saved by men and women greatly varies, with half of women (53%) saving between 1-5 percent versus 39 percent of men. The percentages of men and women who are saving at the 6-10 percent level are both about a third; however, over a quarter of millennial men (26%) are saving at a rate greater than 10 percent versus only 9 percent of women.

Seven in ten (72%) millennials are confident they will be able to save enough to create the lifestyle they want in the future, but millennial women are far less confident than their male counterparts, with 63 percent expressing confidence versus 80 percent of men.

Of the four in ten millennials who are not saving yet, 84 percent say they are not doing so because they “do not have enough money to save right now,” with no difference between the genders. Perhaps as a way to lock down a savings discipline, over half of both boomers (56%) and millennials (55%) favor a mandatory retirement savings policy.

“Millennial men are earning more, saving greater percentages of their income and report having more accumulated assets. Women are lagging behind men in their savings efforts, and this could explain why they feel less satisfied with their overall financial situation,” added Wimbish.

Three-quarters of millennials are confident they have the knowledge to address any financial problems in the next ten years, with 70 percent of millennial women agreeing with this versus 84 percent of millennial men. While their confidence is high, when it comes to estimating their retirement needs, 40 percent of millennials say they have “no idea” what that amount will be. Nearly a third (31%), say they will need under $1 million while 15 percent say they will need $1 million to $2 million. For boomers, more than half (54%) say they “can’t estimate” how much they will need in retirement. Twelve percent say they will need $500,000 to $1 million, and 12 percent say $1 million to $2 million.

Advice to Others Starting Out In Their Careers 
Since debt is a top financial concern for most millennials, the most important financial advice they would impart to someone starting out is: “Don’t spend more than you earn” (33%), followed by “Get educated about your personal finances” (17%), and “Start saving for retirement now” (16%). This contrasts with boomers, 43 percent of whom would tell those starting out today to start saving for retirement now.

Whom Do They Trust for Financial Advice? 
When millennials were asked whom they trust for credible information to help them make financial decisions, a majority cited “family” (57%), followed by “financial institutions” (54%) and “personal finance experts/personalities” (50%). Boomers cite “personal finance experts/personalities” as their first choice (57%), followed by “financial institutions” (45%) and then followed by “family” (40%) as their last choice for financial advice.

While over half of millennials (55%) don’t think they have enough money to have a financial advisor, 16 percent are using a paid professional, up from 8 percent a year ago. Similar to last year, 59 percent of millennials who do not use a paid advisor say they would prefer a “seasoned advisor” with years of experience, but there was a slight rise this year (from 20% to 26%) among those who want an advisor closer to their age, who can potentially better understand their financial goals.

About the Survey
The 2014 Wells Fargo Millennial study was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of the Wells Fargo Wealth, Brokerage, and Retirement (WBR) team between April 15 and May 2, 2014. Survey respondents included 1,639 millennials between the ages of 22 and 33, as well as 1,529 baby boomers between the ages of 49 and 59. Oversample completes were collected for millennials and baby boomers in the Charlotte (134 millennials, 151 boomers), Minneapolis (156 millennials, 157 boomers), Atlanta (157 millennials, 160 boomers) and NYC (150 millennials, 158 boomers) markets. Results were weighted, as needed, to represent the most recent U.S. Census data based on: age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income.

Retirement planning on a low income

Real wages have fallen way below the cost of living. Telling low income people to save more is ridiculous in this economy. People don't have enough money to survive without going into debt, and how are they supposed to be somehow socking money away? 

Acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin points out two realities she hopes women consider when planning for retirement. First, women make less money than men on average; when they stop working, their monthly Social Security checks are smaller, too.


Also, women tend to live longer than men. Colvin encourages women to estimate their own life expectancy with the SSA's calculator, and find out more about their benefits. Doing so, she says, often makes women realize they can outlive their savings — and that retirement benefits alone won't be enough.

The average amount of benefits in 2014 is a little over $17,000 per year for men and a little over $13,000 per year for women. One of the reasons that women are likely to have lower lifetime benefits is because they often have lower lifetime earnings than men. They are more likely than men to take time out of the workforce to care for family members. And of course we still have the issue of gender inequality [in wages].

“ Many women will say they don't have the ability to save, and what I say is that they cannot afford not to save." Notice that Ms. Colvin does not say where women would get the money to save. 

Most of us realize that Social Security was never intended to be the primary source of retirement. It was to be one of three legs on a stool, consisting of private pensions, savings and Social Security. And we know now that many of the private pensions have been reduced. Some women work in jobs where they really don't have a private pension, and of course many women — particularly low-income wage earners — find themselves just not saving as much as they should in order to ensure that they are able to have a decent income during retirement. 

This is true, so here are a few suggestions of help or ways to help women and other low income earners save for their retirement. 

One of the things we try to focus on is encouraging people , even at very young ages, to begin to save. Another way is to increase the amount of money paid into retirement plans and to take advantage of employer matching. So where there is an opportunity for the employer match, try to maximize that.


The most important thing is you need to spend below your means. Maybe it's giving up soda, or giving up cigarettes. ... And then each time they get a raise, don't take that raise. Put it into a 401(k). They haven't gotten used to spending it. It's there. And it will grow.

Retirement Index (France)

France loses five places in this year’s Global Retirement Index, pushing it to the 15th place. With an increase in tax pressures and old-age dependency, the French economy has also suffered losses in purchasing power. This is reflected in the Finances in Retirement sub-index where France dropped from the 46th position to the 58th. In  addition, the income gap has widened and unemployment remains at 9.3% from 2013 to 2014, which moves  France to the 28th place in the Material Wellbeing sub-index. 

However, France manages to maintain its spot on the podium for the Health sub-index, with a special mention to  its high life expectancy and social security system especially favorable to retirees. France also maintains 9th position for Quality of Life, which reflects government policy towards the environment.

Taking Your Retirement Around the World

One of the most common dreams many people have for their retirement years is to travel.  So often when you are in the middle of building a career and raising a family, your travel consists of trips to Orlando for Disney World or doing something focused on the kids.  So when you get to that phase of life where your children are grown up and it’s just you and your spouse, now you can focus on trips that are for just you two going places you to go and doing things you want to do.

So if you feel that you will be taking your travel life to a new level when you reach retirement age, there is plenty you can do to get ready.  Obviously, you will need to focus your savings and financial preparations so you have an ample budget for travel when the time arrives.  The last thing you want is to come up on the time when your dream of traveling together can be a reality only to find that you did not set aside the budget for it.

One way you can do that is to take advantage of the years between when the kids all move out and are done with college and the beginning of you retirement years.  This can be as much as a ten to fifteen year time span when both of you can work to payoff bills and build that retirement nest egg.  If your basic retirement fund for you to live on is healthy and you are meeting your financial retirement goals, to take one of the spouse’s salary and put it all aside for future travel can result is a very healthy budget to get out and see the world in your golden years together.

It might feel like it’s a little self indulgent for you to set aside so much money for you and your spouse to have travel adventures late in life.  Well, you have been a good citizen, a good dad or mom, a good worker and in every respect done the right things all these years.  So nobody would deny you the joy of really enjoying the thing you love the most when you do reach your retirement years together.

You can afford a few “training trips” in the years coming up on retirement from time to time to begin to retool your travel skills.  If you have been in your career a long time, you may have sufficient vacation that you can take an extra week a year just for adult travel and still have plenty to go see the kids and do all the family stuff that you must do and you enjoy so much.

It will be during these training trips that you will hone your ability to stay on the road longer each time out.  Traveling for long periods of time is a developed skill.  You will need to learn how to pack, how to manage your international paperwork if international travel is in your plans and how to handle jet lag as well.  These are “travelers skills” that you can be developing leading up to that big moment when both partners are able to retire full time and really start getting out there and seeing the world.

Another adjustment and financial resource that can put some additional funding into your travel funds is your house.  Many people sell their homes late in life when you don’t need so much space to raise kids and you no longer have the desire or take great joy in taking care of a yard and managing the upkeep on a home.  If you know you are going to make this big change of lifestyle away from the home bound mom and dad and toward the world travelers you want to be, you can be preparing the house for sale in the last few years before you retire.  

Because you know well in advance that you have a new life of adventure and fun ahead in your retirement years, you can use the last few years before both of you stop working to get ready.  Then once your retirement is official and you walk out of the retirement party at work, you can walk right onto the jet way and take off on a brand new life of fun and adventure seeing the world together during your retirement years.

Moving forward

I ran across this self help advice a while back and thought the advice good but the lead up to the advice is rather silly. The writer states that "Hundreds of years ago, seafaring Viking explorers had an intriguing practice. When they arrived on the shores of a new land, they would unload all of their supplies, then burn the ships."  That way, they had no option other than to move forward into the great unknown, meeting life head on." 

While a good story this is not true, Viking explorers were smart people, and they were not just explorers but they came to snatch and run. Not snatch and then twiddle their thumbs on the beach loaded down with loot they have no way of moving. These guys weren't stupid. They were vastly outnumbered in England, Scotland and Ireland when the raids started. If they’d stuck around with no method of retreat, the locals would have ganged up and killed them dead. . 

The exploration story may have been mixed up with the death rituals of Viking communities where the dead were burnt or buried in their daily clothes, and are usually buried along with his or her personal belongings. Sometimes the dead were buried lying in a boat or a wagon. Archaeologists assume that this means that a form of transportation was deemed necessary for the dead to travel to the next world. 

For the living, it is important and it can be tempting at times to spend a lot of energy creating safety, back-up plans, security measures & insurance against the unknown.

But at the end of the day, the bigger focus should be: what steps did you take to ensure success? Prepare and protect yourself, then move forward and it is easier if you have a plan.

Spending more time on planning out your success will bring more victory than planning for failure.

You have ONE short and precious life. Would you rather spend your time on the sidelines or dive into the game of a thrilling adventure? If you are retired or close to it, part of your plan should be to look back over your life's goals and see what you still want to accomplish, and then plan to move ahead on those goals. 

How can you live your daring adventure today?

Ideas and resources for the Sandwich generation (Boomers) 1

The Sandwich Generation refers to Baby Boomers who are sandwiched between taking care of aging parents and their own children.  However, that doesn't speak to the situation that many people are now facing; taking care of 3 generations:

A.   Aging Parents, Children and Grandchildren

B.   Children, (Aging) Parents and Aging Grandparents

This 3 generational situation has been aptly referred to as the Club Sandwich Generation. Currently there are 3.3 million families with four generations (children, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents) still alive, but by 2030 this will rise to 4.2 million. This will no doubt accentuate these two HUGE problems facing the Club Sandwich Generation even more:  

1.   How can they find enough time to juggle the needs of 3 generations?

2.   How can they financially help out 3 generations without jeopardizing their own financial situations?

According to MetLife Mature Market Institute:

• 62% of grandparents have provided financial support to grandchildren in the past five     years, averaging $8,289, primarily for investments and education.

 According to Forbes Magazine:

•  Nearly 60% Of parents provide financial support to adult children.

 What can you do? 

Read up and get information that will prepare you for this aspect of your upcoming planning for retirement. Here is a good place to start: So here’s a look at some of the best content from around the ‘net from Senior Homes Blog.

1. MomatLast.com talks about the inevitability that many of today’s parents will eventually find themselves caught in the middle, offering four ways to start preparing yourself now.
2. Members of the Sandwich Generation face the very real possibility of burnout every day. Caregiving Clubshares seven ways you can beat burn-out.
3. Brighter Life has an insightful post on the common challenges facing Sandwich Gen-ers. Stress, financial struggles, time management and more–along with some strategies for overcoming those issues.
4. Everything Elder Law has an informative post on what it means to be part of the Sandwich Generation, including some startling facts and statistics.
5. Teenagers are challenging enough to parent, let alone try to juggle managing teenage angst while handling the struggles of caring for aging parents. Qualicareoffers up 10 guidelines for caring for teens and aging parents at the same time.
6. Sherri Snelling of the Caregiving Club and Diana Waugh, a RN and author of the book “I Was Thinking – Unlocking the door to successful conversations with loved ones with cognitive loss” weigh in with some insights on the juggling act–and the importance of open communication–at Blog Talk Radio.
7. The demographic is shifting, and the Sandwich Generation is under more pressure than ever. Leading industry expert Anthony Cirillo weighs in atAbout.com.
8. 8. Here are three expert tips on coping with being sandwiched in the middle of two generations from HuffPo author Ellen Dolgen.
9. 9. Should the Sandwich Generation really be called “The Pretzel Generation”?Because Hope Matters thinks so. Find out why!
10. Anthony Cirillo features a video on his personal blog, Who Moved My Dentures?, regarding the shifting demands and pressures of the Sandwich Generation from Boomers to Gen X-ers.

Continue the list here at Senior Homes Blog

More on life expectancy in retirement

 While retirement gives new freedom and more unstructured time, how we use that time may influence our life expectancy. A new review explored how people change their lifestyle habits when they stop working, and found that the personal situation of the retiree greatly influences whether someone becomes more or less healthy. If we are aware of the influences, perhaps we can take steps to stay healthy rather than fall into bad habits, which decrease our health and our life expectancy.

Dutch researchers found that retirement was linked with changes in alcohol consumption and the amount of time spent exercising, but its effects on smoking and eating habits remained unclear.

The results also revealed that people who retired involuntarily tended to drink more alcohol than non-retired employees, while those who stopped working voluntarily did not change the amount they drank. 

"Retirement is marked by major changes that affect healthy lifestyles in favorable and unfavorable ways," said study author Else Zantinge, a researcher at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands.

"The pre-retirement period may well offer a suitable opportunity for preventive action," she said.

The findings are published online Oct. 21 in the European Journal of Public Health.
Lifestyle changes

In the review, the researchers analyzed data from 20 studies published between 2001 and 2013 that examined the lifestyle habits of people before and after they retired and compared them with men and women who remained employed. The studies were done in Europe, Australia and the United States — places where retirement age and the socioeconomic climate may vary.

The analysis looked at how retirement affected four lifestyle changes —smoking, drinking, eating and exercising.

The findings showed that retirement is associated with both positive and negative changes in lifestyle. But to understand its health impact, it's important to focus on the personal situation and context of each retiree, Zantinge said.

Factors such as income level, health status, social support, how strenuous or stressful your job was before retirement, and your reasons for retiring can all make a difference in your lifestyle choices after you stop working.

For example, the results suggest that whether a person stops working voluntarily or if the choice is forced upon him or her, influences whether or not they started drinking more upon retiring.

The review found that people who retired involuntarily were more likely to increase their alcohol consumption, and the researchers speculated this could be because they found it harder to adjust to not working, and felt more stressed about it due to having less control over the decision. Employees who retired voluntarily did not change their drinking habits.

Retirement tips

The results also found people tend to do slightly more leisure-time exercise after retirement, particularly more moderately intense physical activity. Having more free time each day likely gave some people a chance to improve their golf swing, tennis game or yoga practice, the researchers said.

Working out or getting involved in a sport may also increase the amount of time spent around other people, reducing feelings of social isolation that may occur when work is no longer a regular part of your day. 

Although some retirees enjoyed a boost in their activity levels, the increase did not make up for the loss of work-related physical activity, especially for those who previously worked in physically demanding occupations, according to the study.

The researchers concluded that there were too few studies to draw firm conclusions about how smoking habits and diet differ before and after retirement. And there was also too little information to determine whether retirement affected the health of men and women differently.

"The best time to educate retirees about preventive health strategies is before they retire," Zantinge said.That way people have enough time to make plans to adopt a healthier lifestyle, she said.

She advised retirees to be aware of how the changes in a person's personal situation can have consequences on their lifestyle when they quit working. For example, people retiring from a physically active job should be thinking ahead about ways to stay active after retirement, to avoid possibly gaining weight.

The problem with pensions: symptoms and cures

This is an interesting perspective and one that should raise some discussion. The article was written by Jacquie McNish in 2013a for the full article go here. It is always interesting to see what those who serve the 1% believe. The issues as presented here are we are living too long, we don't have enough invested because of the market collapse in 2008, there are too many boomers retiring, and many of us do not have good or any pension plans.

The cures suggested are simple,  shared risk pension plans that  are allowed to suspend benefits when the plan is in trouble, make people work longer by raising the retirement age, reform pension management structure to implement more shared risk plans into the mix, expand the Canada Pension plan for workers who earn between $30.000 and $100,000, pooling the savings of defined contribution plans. Some interesting ideas were presented

THE SYMPTOMS
Longevity: We are living too long. When Grand Trunk Railway introduced Canada’s first workplace pension in 1874, the retirement age was 70 and average life expectancy 55, meaning the average worker was dead for 15 years before they could collect a pension. Today the average Canadian worker is retiring at 63 and life expectancy is almost 80 years. As life expectancy rises, workers’retirement years will soon exceed their career years, meaning they will be spending far more than anticipated.

Investment volatility: In an era of threadbare interest rates, pension funds have shifted most of their assets from bonds to stock market investments to generate returns needed to foot the pension bill. The strategy exposes funds to the increasingly volatile whims of the market. In the wake of the dot.com collapse in 1991 and financial crisis of 2008, the average Canadian pension plan in Canada is about 12 per cent short of assets needed to pay their pension bills.

Lax pension management: Bonds currently pay investors a real rate of about 1 per cent, but a large number of pension plans continue to project they will earn annual returns of 4 per cent. 

Many funds also rely on outdated mortality tables, which means they are assuming retirees will die sooner than expected. Added up, these practices mean funds have not saved enough for plan members.

Demographics: We are on the verge of the largest workplace exodus in history with more than seven million workers, 42 per cent of the Canadian work force, set to retire over the next 20 years. 

Many have not saved enough for retirement. For those who have pension plans, the exodus means there may be as many workers as there are retirees, a ratio that may leave younger workers with a much smaller pension pie than their predecessors.

Inflexible pension plans: When defined benefit pension plans gained popularity after the Second World War, they were sold as guarantees. Under these DB plans, workers and employers pay set amounts into a fund that promises a fixed pension cheque. As a result of rising longevity, investment uncertainty and demographic pressures, guarantees are increasingly unsustainable.

Pension inequity: Only 40 per cent of Canadian workers have pensions. The remaining majority must choose from a disappointing menu of registered retirement savings plans and other investment options to save for retirement. Canadians have such meagre savings that an estimated 30 per cent of modest- to high-income earners will experience a significant drop in their standard of living.

THE CURES
Shared-risk pensions: Introduced by the Dutch in the mid-2000s and adopted by New Brunswick and Rhode Island, shared-risk plans are based on a model of flexible benefits that can be paid or temporarily suspended depending on the health of the pension plan. If demographic and investment setbacks trigger pension fund short falls, plans suspend such perks as pension cost-of-living adjustments until a surplus is restored.

Later Retirements: Remember Freedom 55? It’s history. Federal laws and some provincial
reforms are pushing the retirement age to 67. The longer people live, the greater the chance of further retirement delays to ensure enough is saved to keep retirees above the poverty line.

Stricter pension management: Reforms in New Brunswick, the Netherlands and other
jurisdictions have made it much more difficult for pension fund managers to overexaggerate
investment forecasts and underestimate mortality rates. Under the shared-risk model, funds are also subject to much stricter solvency rules that require plan sponsors to quickly restore funding shortfalls.

Greater pension equity: There is a large menu of reforms that have been proposed by leading experts and provincial task forces to address the needs of Canadian workers without pensions. One is to expand the Canada Pension Plan for the most vulnerable, workers without pensions who earn between $30,000 to $100,000. This group stands to suffer significant income drops in retirement.

Other proposals include pooling the savings of defined contribution plans within organizations or under independent supervision to give plans more leverage to lower fees and shield members from longevity and investment risks. 

Quebec recently proposed a supplemental and mandatory pension plan that would not start paying benefits until the age of 75. The plan is designed to bridge the gap for retirees that are expected to outlive their savings.

What are the concerns of the rich when they retire?

Jackson National Life Insurance Company(R) (Jackson), a leading provider of retirement solutions and educational resources for industry professionals and consumers, today released the results of the 2013 Jackson Investor Education Survey, a new study which gauged the opinions of pre-retirees (men and women investors between the ages of 45 and 65) with more than $200,000 in investable assets, on key topics relating to retirement, investing and financial education. 

Since most of us are not in this group, I thought it might be interesting to see what this group has as concerns and I suspect that their concerns are the same as those who do not have the same amount invested.

The survey, completed with the help of a third-party provider, polled more than 500 investors in this specific demographic on a variety of different topics focused on financial education. Results revealed that a surprisingly small number of responding investors, only 17.8 percent of men and 10.7 percent of women, said they felt they had the financial education needed to make important investing decisions.

Additional key findings from the 2013 Jackson Investor Education Survey include:

-- The top financial concern among 74 percent of women and nearly 76 percent of men respondents was "saving enough money for retirement."

-- More than 42 percent of men and 55 percent of women who responded said they do not have enough financial knowledge to feel confident making investing decisions.

--An additional 33.7 percent of women and nearly 40 percent of men who responded reported that while they have a solid level of knowledge about financial products, terms and methods, they would still benefit from professional advice to assist in making appropriate investing decisions.

-- Nearly half of the men (49.7 percent) who responded reported having "plenty of investing confidence," compared to 35 percent of women.

-- The majority of those surveyed don't believe Social Security will be a significant portion of their retirement income when they retire, with nearly 67 percent of men and 64 percent of women saying they think Social Security will be a small supplement to their retirement income, not a significant source of income. Even worse, more than 17 percent of women and nearly 14 percent of men who responded said Social Security would "not even be enough to purchase a pack of gum" when they retire.

Matt Gonring, vice president of corporate communications for Jackson, said that the identification of key constraints for investors in obtaining relevant financial education is an important first step in helping the financial services industry make a positive impact on investors' confidence in years to come.

"While there is no 'magic bullet' to solving the investor education challenge, I think that the responses we received can provide valuable insights in our industry, whether you are an investor, advisor or a member of a financial institution," said Gonring. "The extreme variety of responses we received from those surveyed, both in terms of the wide range of obstacles and in the way men and women perceive the issues surrounding retirement, saving and financial education, highlight the necessity for outside-the-box thinking, customized strategies and creative solutions to meet the diverse educational needs of individual investors."

Allison Pearson, assistant vice president of the National Sales Desk for Jackson National Life Distributors LLC, Jackson's distribution arm, added that the overall aim of the survey and the direction of the responses received serve as important complements to the company's ongoing commitment to preparing investors and advisors for the future through education.

"To help drive our educational strategy, we created a survey to take the temperature of this specific group of investors post-recession to see how the crisis affected their decision-making, and more importantly, what they need to take steps toward improving their confidence and knowledge moving forward," said Pearson. "In the results, the surveyed investors told us loud and clear that they want help and guidance. 

In fact, nearly 44 percent of women and 42 percent of men surveyed said that having an advisor whom they trust and who really 'gets' them would make the most positive impact on their financial outlook."

Another theme of the 2013 Jackson Investor Education Survey showed time as the top obstacle to achieving financial or investing confidence, with 44 percent of women and nearly 26 percent of men surveyed saying time was the biggest hurdle. 

In addition, nearly 12 percent of women and 9 percent of men surveyed said they did have investing confidence, but lost it after the financial crisis in 2008. 

On a positive note, nearly 57 percent of both men and women surveyed said they are in good financial shape and don't have any major obstacle to achieving financial success.

"Unfortunately, that means more than 40 percent of those we surveyed do not consider themselves in good financial shape," said Pearson. "Clearly the surveyed investors know the task ahead of them in saving and planning for their retirement is an important one. The Jackson survey gives us more information to target exactly what educational materials these investors need and is another example of Jackson's commitment to education and helping advisors work toward reaching investors' retirement goals."

The 2013 Jackson Investor Education Survey Executive Summary, which highlights the research with insights from both investor and advisor perspectives, is published on the Center for Financial Insight. The Center is Jackson's thought leadership community designed to provide information for the public on a wide range of financial and investing topics, including retirement.