Birthday recognition

I am taking a break from the posts on retirement today because this is a special day for a very special person. I want to take the time to wish my love a wonderfull happy birthday. 

Life is short and time passes so quickly but when you came into my life, it changed for the better. I am a more understanding, more patient, and a kinder person because of your influence. You mean everything to me.  Enjoy your day and remember that I love you.
Happy Birthday

Retirement Readiness 2

Today’s generation of workers is losing faith in the current system’s ability to provide retirement income security. Globally, almost half the survey’s respondents (49 percent) believe that future generations of retirees will be worse off than those currently in retirement.

The survey’s findings further illustrate:

1.   With the cost of Social Security becoming a greater concern as people live longer, only seven percent of people globally feel that the government should do nothing because social security provisions will remain perfectly affordable in the future.

2.   Employer-sponsored retirement benefits are vital in helping people financially prepare for retirement. However, only 43 percent of workers say their employer offers a retirement plan that includes an employer contribution and just 27 percent have access to a retirement plan without an employer contribution.

Although the social contract may be in jeopardy, people have a positive mindset about retirement. For many, retirement has become an active stage of life in which people aspire to stay socially connected, participate in their communities and remain economically active. Fifty-seven percent of workers envision some form of transition to retirement in which they continue working as they currently are or work part-time for a while or during their retirement.

Most are planning to do so because they both want and/or need to work. Earning an income later in life provides workers with the opportunity to continue saving and delay drawing down their retirement benefits and savings.

Based on the survey’s findings, many face a financially vulnerable retirement:

1.   Globally, workers expect they will need 68 percent of their current annual income in retirement.

1.   Alarmingly, only a quarter (25 percent) think they will achieve this retirement income and a further 13 percent feel they will achieve around 75 percent of their required income.

2.   Only 13 percent of workers have a written retirement plan while 44 percent say they have a plan, but that it is not written down.

1.   Only 32 percent of workers have a backup plan if they are unable to continue working before their planned retirement age.

3.   Many people are failing to diversify their retirement investments. When asked what financial means, if any, they are currently using or have used to prepare for retirement, people most frequently cite

1.   social security/state provision (46 percent),

2.   savings accounts/money market funds/certificates of deposit (CDs) (38 percent),

3.   a private pension/individual retirement accounts (IRA) (29 percent),

4.   life insurance (24 percent),

5.   investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. (23 percent).

Only 19 percent cite a company-funded defined benefit plan and, even fewer, 16 percent, cite an employee-funded defined contribution plan.

Retirement Readiness 1

The Aegon Center for Longevity and Retirement completed its seventh Annual Aegon Retirement Readiness Survey, The New Social Contract: a blueprint for retirement in the 21st century This report examines retirement insecurities at a time in history in which megatrends are changing how people live, work, age, and retire.

The idea of a ‘social contract’ has been central to retirement systems in many countries around the world and has been since Germany became the first nation in the world to adopt an old-age social insurance program in 1889.

A social contract is an arrangement involving three pillars (or three-legged stool) including governments, employers, and individuals – each with a specific set of expectations and responsibilities. When established these social contracts emphasized government and employer retirement-related benefits and, to a lesser extent, the need for personal savings.

When these retirement systems were created, life expectancies were typically 65 years for most workers, which also happened to be the age of entitlement. Since then, the age of entitlement has remained largely unchanged, but life expectancies have increased significantly in most countries.

Today, due to increases in longevity and population aging, government-sponsored retirement benefits are under severe financial strain. Traditional defined benefit pension plans offered by employers are disappearing and being replaced by employee-funded defined contribution retirement plans.

With these shifts, individuals are expected to take on increasing risk and responsibility for self-funding a greater portion of their retirement. However, many are inadequately equipped to successfully to do so, and many are therefore at risk of not achieving a financially secure retirement.

This report examines the global megatrends shaping retirement and finds:

·       Increases in longevity and population, ageing are megatrends that are placing a growing financial strain on social security safety nets as well as workplace benefits such as defined benefit retirement plans.

·       Technology is changing the way people live and work. Flexible labour markets no longer mean a job-for-life. All of these changes and others impact retirement, which is recognized by some but not all of today’s workers:

·       Globally, the most frequently cited megatrend impacting people’s plans for retirement is the reduction in government benefits (38 percent). The second most frequently cited is increased life expectancy (27 percent), followed by volatility in financial markets (24 percent).

·       Of concern to the researchers is that relatively few survey respondents acknowledge any megatrends as impacting their retirement planning, especially megatrends relating to employment trends, technology and the financial markets

Did you play 36 holes of golf today?

Thanks to George for this old gem. 

It will be a few more months until the golf season is here, but this brings back some memories and hopefully will bring you a smile.

Wife

--"Where the hell have you been? You said you'd be done with golf by noon."

Husband

--"I'm so sorry Honey....but you probably don't want to hear the reason."

Wife --"I want the truth and I want it NOW!"

Husband --"Fine. We finished in under 4 hours; a quick beer in the Clubhouse. I hopped into the car and would have been here by 12 noon but on the way home, I spotted a girl half our age struggling with a flat tire.

I changed it in a jiffy, and next, she's offering me money. Of course, I refuse it, then she tells me she was headed to the bar at the Sheraton and begs me to stop by so she can buy me a beer. She's such a sweetie, I said yes.

Before you know it, one beer turned into three or four, and I guess we were looking pretty good to each other.

Then she tells me she has a room right there at the Sheraton, less than 50 steps from our table. She suggested we get some privacy while pulling me by the hand.

Now I'm in her room...clothes are flying...the talking stopped and we proceeded to have sex in every way imaginable. It must have gone on for hours because before I know it, the clock says 5:30. I jump up, throw my clothes on, run to the car, and here I am. There. You wanted the truth... You got it.

Wife --"Bullshit! You played 36 holes, didn't you?"