Facts women and retirement

Here are 18 facts from the Transamerica survey about women in retirement:

1. Only 12% of women are "very confident" in their ability to retire fully with a comfortable lifestyle.
2. About 53% of women plan to retire after 65 or do not plan to retire at all.
3. About 54% of women plan to work after they retire -- 11% plan to work full-time and 43% part-time.
4. Women could struggle to ensure they are, in fact, prepared to work in retirement. While 63% said they are staying healthy, only 57% are focused on performing well at their current job and 46% are keeping their job skills up to date.
5. Roughly 64% do not have a backup plan for retirement income if forced into retirement sooner than they expected.
6. Paying off debt is a financial priority for almost 68% of women. Only 51% of women cite saving for retirement as a priority.
7. About 73% are saving for retirement through a workplace plan and/or outside of work in an IRA, mutual fund, bank account, etc. Women started saving for retirement at 27, on average.
8. About 45% of women expect their primary source of retirement income to come from savings and investments such as 401(k), 401(b) and IRA accounts, while 30% expect to rely on Social Security.
9. However, 81% of women are concerned that Social Security won't be there for them when they are ready to retire.
10. Roughly 47% of Baby Boomer women said they know a great deal or quite a bit about Social Security benefits.
11. About 66% of women are offered a 401(k) or similar employee-funded retirement plan, but 28% of women work part-time and are less likely to have workplace retirement benefits.
12. About 77% of women who are offered an employee-funded plan participate in the plan. They contribute, on average, 7% of their salary to the savings plan.
13. Women believe they will need to save $500,000, on average, in order to feel financially secure in retirement -- but about 55% said they "guessed" to land on that figure.
14. Women's total household retirement accounts are $42,000 (estimated median).
15. Women's emergency savings are just $2,000, though.
16. Just 28% of women are aware of the Saver's Credit, a special tax break to low- and moderate-income taxpayers who are saving for retirement.
17. One in three women use a professional financial adviser to help manage their retirement savings and investments.
18. Only 26% of women consider their long-term health when making lifestyle decisions.

Thoughts can become tipping points

Thoughts become tipping points and are the key to our future. If we think we can, we will, if we think we cannot we will not. Our ideas are the answer. You can do whatever you set your mind to, whatever you want, you can have it. Just imagine it, believe it, and move towards it. And with tenacity, tilting points will be reached, significant mass produced, and the most unusual serendipities established. 

The environment you now live in was designed this way, and through "thought" you preserve the festival. You are a continuous creating device; a manifesting master. You are pure "purpose." 

And for now, it's still practically a secret: Your very ideas are the solution. 

Can you focus?

Whatever you focus on, you will experience.

So, when you talk about "what is" or "what was," even if you're just explaining to a friendly ear, you project more of the same into the future. 

If you ask more than you give thanks, you'll believe less in your own power.

And if you insist that it's hard and that you're lonely, you'll find that it is and you are.

Or, you can choose to focus on what you like, what you love, and how very photogenic you are

List of associations helping seniors in BC

I was thinking it might be a good exercise and perhaps some fun to prepare a list of associations that help seniors, in BC. I started to put together a list and realized that it was close to Mission Impossible. Helping seniors is a growing business and there are many organizations and businesses that proport to held or advocate on behalf of seniors. Far too many to list and to make sense of in the time that I wanted to allocate to this task.  Here are a few of the organizations I found with a little information on them from the web.

The Office of the Seniors Advocate monitors and analyzes seniors’ services and issues in B.C. and makes recommendations to government and service providers to address systemic issues. The OSA was established in 2014 and is the first office of its kind in Canada.

COSCO BC - Seniors’ Health and Wellness Institute The COSCO Health and Wellness Institute provides free workshops to senior groups throughout BC. We currently have 41 workshops available for presentation by trained facilitators which provide practical information but are not intended to provide specific legal, medical or financial advice.

COSCOBC.org  Established in 1950, the Council of Senior Citizens’ Organization (COSCO) is an umbrella organization made up of many seniors’ organizations and individual associate members.   Registered under the Societies Act since 1981, COSCO has grown and now represents approximately 80,000 seniors in British Columbia.

COSCO is run by volunteers, with activities coordinated through an elected Board of Directors.

COSCO BC Connects people with the help they need. Community, social or government services.

The following organizations, and many others, are part of the Council of Senior Citizen Organizations in British Columbia (COSCO). This umbrella organization brings together over 75 senior organizations operating in the province, in addition to individual members who facilitate the process. COSCO is privately run by a board of directors and aims to improve the programs and advocacy efforts targeting seniors in the province.

           

The Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT)            

The Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT) is a corporation sole established under the Public Guardian and Trustee Act.

          

Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre and Registry            

Nidus Personal Planning Resource Centre and Registry is a non-government, charitable society.

           

The New Vista Society            

The New Vista Society is a non-profit society and registered charity dedicated to providing care, support and housing for seniors.

           

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives           

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada's leading progressive voices in public policy debates.         

           

BC Network for Aging Research           

Our goal to provide opportunities for these researchers to collaborate in generating innovative aging research.

            

BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support            

An online resource for advocates, people on welfare, and community groups and individuals involved in anti-poverty work.         

           

British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre           

The British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC) is a non-profit, public interest law office. Its creation in 1981 reflected the fundamental belief that it should not only be the rich and powerful that are represented before our courts
            

BC Health Coalition           

The BC Health Coalition champions the protection and expansion of a universal public health care system. We are a democratic, inclusive and consensus-based network of individuals and organizations that span the province of British Columbia.

BC Forum  British Columbia Federation of Retired Union members            

BC FORUM, established in 1995, is the recognized voice of senior trade unionists in British Columbia and is a registered non-profit society dedicated to representing the interests and well-being of retired union members (and active union members age 50 and over), their families and spouses, and to continue into retirement the relationship, they have enjoyed with the trade union movement.

           

B.C. Retired Teachers' Association           

The BCRTA is committed to improving pension, medical and dental benefits for its members.

            

BCIT Retirees' Association           

This website is mainly for the enjoyment and use of BCITRA members, but comments are welcome from those interested in our aims and activities, or in the concerns and welfare of seniors.

            

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives           

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada's leading progressive voices in public policy debates.

            

British Columbia Government Retired Employees Association           

BCGREA promotes the welfare of all persons receiving a superannuation allowance under the Pension (Public Service) Act of British Columbia      

           

British Columbia Pensioners' and Seniors' Organization            

B.C. Pensioners' and Seniors' Organization is a non-partisan organization instituted in 1932 for the purpose if identifying and supporting issues of importance to seniors.

         

The British Columbia Old Age Pensioners’ Organization

The BCOPA is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to providing support to pensioners and to address issues that affect senior citizens in BC. The organization is particularly useful in helping retirees retain their pensions. The BCOPA also provides help and support to access Medicare and Pharmacare in the province. The BCOPA additionally offers seniors help with regards to taxation, housing and social programs. The organization is also politically active and promotes issues important to the wellbeing on seniors in the province, such as ensuring equality in consultation and improving health services. The BCOPA has numerous branches scattered throughout the province.

The Seniors Citizens Association of British Columbia

The SCABC is an organization “for and by” senior citizens of British Columbia. The entity aims to protect the rights of seniors and rally for social programs and welfare support that improve the living conditions of senior citizens in the province. The SCABC promotes the pensioner movement in the province in association with pensioner organizations

SeniorsBC.ca The SeniorsBC website provides information on programs and services for seniors offered by the B.C. and federal governments and non-profit organizations. The website includes information on health, finances, benefits, housing, transportation, tips for healthy living and other topics of importance to seniors. The website also includes online versions of this guide (the BC Seniors’ Guide) in English, French, Chinese and Punjabi, as well as the BC Elders’ Guide, which has been culturally adapted for First Nations and Aboriginal older adults.

SeniorsofBC.com is the website of the Senior Citizens Association of BC. We are an umbrella organization for and about seniors in British Columbia.

(a)          To stimulate public interest in the welfare of the Senior Citizens of Canada.  To advocate for pensions and a social security entitlement that provides the means to ensure housing and living conditions that meet the seniors’ needs for comfort and security.

(b)         To protect the rights and interest of pensioners under the Old Age Security and Assistance Acts.

http://seniorsfirstbc.ca/ Seniors First BC is a community-based, non-profit organization incorporated as a society in 1994 as the BC Coalition to Eliminate Abuse of Seniors. Following an extensive needs assessment to establish the first Elder Law Clinic in BC, we changed our name in 2008 to the BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support.

Alliance for a National Seniors Strategy  Close to 17% of Canada’s population is 65 or older. By 2031, Statistics Canada projects that one in four Canadians will be seniors.

With Canada’s population ageing, maintaining the status quo for seniors' health care is not an option. Our health care system was designed a half-century ago, and it has not kept pace with the issues of the elderly in Canada. Today, seniors need better solutions, services and support.

We need more voices to be heard if we want a national seniors strategy. We need the voices of today’s seniors, as well as the voices of tomorrow’s seniors. You can be part of the journey to a new system of care for all of Canada’s seniors. Help make change happen.

National Pensioners Federation  National Pensioners Federation is a national, not for profit, non-partisan non-sectarian organization of 350 seniors’ chapters, clubs, groups, organizations and individual supporters across Canada with a collective membership of 1,000,000 seniors and retirees devoted entirely to the welfare and best interests of ageing Canadians. Our mission is to stimulate public interest in the welfare of ageing Canadians. Our goal is to help seniors and retirees have a life of dignity, independence and financial security.