Is That for Real? Fake Artifacts and the Truth

People love to collect things: especially artifacts and other collectables that they deem to either have personal or monetary value. Unfortunately, with the growth of this popular pastime comes the people who are out to take advantage of these people who wish to purchase artifacts for their collections.

These crooks only want to defraud the innocent people of their money while preying on their desire to have something unique and original. Until these people are all caught, it will continue. However, the sad fact is that there will continue to be sideways crooks that will prey on unsuspecting people until the end of time.

So, if you are a collector, take note. If you are looking to purchase any sort of collectable from someone who claims to have something original, make sure you take the time to research the claim before you shell out your hard-earned cash.

How can you be prepared to avoid crooks? Well, it surely is not easy, but here are a few steps you can follow to try to protect yourself, your interests and most of all, your cash:

·       Only buy from a reputable antiques or collectables dealer. These people will have references and contacts in the industry

·       that will prove that they have the goods

·       Never buy from someone who approaches you about buying something unique or rare. Most times these people are trying to

·       take advantage of your interest. Instead, only buy things you have had the time to research in advance.

·       Go with your gut, if you look at something and it seems too good to be true, it of course probably is just that.

·       Do not let your excitement get in the way of your good judgment. You may be excited at the prospect of purchasing a

·       unique artifact, but do not let that cloud your good judgment and make sure you research your purchase before buying,

·       by confirming on historical records, etc.

·       Develop relationships with your dealers and buyers. That way you will build trust and you can be assured that you will   be able to trust these people and know that what they are saying is the truth.

There may come a time when you do get bilked out of your cash and end up losing some of it due to a bad business deal. Do not dwell on that, it can happen to even the savviest of collectors. Instead, brush it off to a hard lesson learned and then get up and try again. 

You will no doubt have the opportunity to purchase many find artifacts and collectables in your life. Some will be amazing, some not so much. In the end, you will have a great collection of artifacts that will make you proud to show off to your friends and family. It will take some time to assemble this amazing collection, but once you do, you will be amazed at the satisfaction you get from it.

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.

The Healthcare Administrator website's list of top 50 ageing blogs for 2016.

This list is published by an Alabama public school health teacher. As you review the list you will see that the majority of the list target professionals in ageing services and businesses rather than old people themselves. Still, you might find some of them useful.  Here are the top five, The entire list is here.

Ageing is something we all have to face in life. Many people are willing to share their own first-hand or second-hand experience with the process of ageing. Below, we have created a detailed list of the top 50 ageing blogs out there.

1. http://www.geripal.org/

The team that runs GeriPal (Geriatrics and Palliative care) takes a very careful approach to ageing. They are focused on creating a community for people who are interested in geriatrics and palliative care. They are very open to news, modern research into the topics of geriatrics and palliative care, as well as the free exchange of ideas about them. If you want to become a contributor to the team, you can contact Eric Widera or Alex Smith.

2. http://www.jhartfound.org/blog/

The John A. Hartford Foundation blog offers a lot of information on how you can improve the lives of elders. It has become their mission to educate the capable members of society on the proper care for elder people, and how to ensure elder people’s needs are met with respect and kindness.

3. http://www.braintoday.com/

Brain Today is a blog that focuses solely on the brain, how it works, and what can happen to it as we age. You can find plenty of information on dementia, MS, and Alzheimer’s there, as well as quirky tests that show how magnificent the brain can get.

4. http://eldercareabcblog.com/

The ABC in the title of the blog stands for About Being Connected. EldercareABCblog is a place where you can learn more about how to care for your loved ones when they need it most. They have vast resources and plenty of articles and blog posts focusing on everything you need to know about the proper care of an ageing parent. As a bonus, if you sign in to their newsletter, you will receive their free e-book Worried About Eldercare Costs: 31 Facts You NEED to Know.

5. http://hospicephysician.wordpress.com/

HospicePhysician is a blog run by a fellowship trained and board certified hospice and palliative physician. On the blog, you can find information about taking care of hospice patients, but also true stories and recounts of life, death, what comes in between, and people’s touching true stories of battling cancer.

An Analysis of the Economic Circumstances of Canadian Seniors

An Analysis of the Economic Circumstances of Canadian Seniors

by Richard Shillington of Tristat Resources February 2016

You may have missed this report which came out last year, you can download the entire report here (pdf file), but I think the key findings are important, so I am sharing them below.

The Broadbent Institutes report authored by statistician Richard Shillington, who, for the first time in Canadaanalyseded the retirement savings of near-retirement Canadians ages 55 to 64 without a workplace pension. The results are startling -- and explain why seniors' poverty is set to rise unless action is taken to tackle the retirement savings crisis, including boosting the GIS and expanding CPP

Poverty rates have been rising and recently plateaued for seniors, and savings data show that many Canadians, particularly those without an employer pension plan, have wholly inadequate retirement savings. Poverty trends over the recent past depend critically on which poverty measure one uses. Using the low-income measure (LIM), we see that senior poverty has increased from a low of 3.9 per cent in 1995 to 11.1 per cent, or one in nine, in 2013. The poverty rates for single seniors, particularly women (at nearly 30 per cent), are very high and need to be addressed.

Key findings:

•                  The Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) guarantee levels are falling behind: For single seniors, they have fallen from 76 per cent of median incomes in 1984 to about 60 per cent now. For senior couples, the OAS/GIS maximum benefits have declined from 53 per cent to 40 per cent of median incomes.

•                  Trends in income sources for seniors suggest that poverty rates will increase rather than decline into the future because OAS and GIS benefits are indexed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), while average earnings rise faster than the CPI over extended periods.

•                  The spread between the OAS/GIS guarantee levels and the LIM for 2015—the spread that seniors need to fill using the Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan (CPP/QPP), private pensions and private savings—is about $5,600 for single seniors and $4,700 for couples.

•                  The proportion of the population receiving the GIS is higher for single seniors than couples, and higher for single women (between 44 per cent and 48 per cent) than for single men (between 31 per cent and 37 per cent).

•                  Roughly half (47 per cent) of those aged 55–64 have no accrued employer pension benefits. The vast majority of these Canadians retiring without an employer pension plan have totally inadequate retirement savings. For example, roughly half have savings that represent less than one year’s worth of the resources they need to supplement OAS/GIS and CPP/QPP. Fewer than 20 per cent have enough savings to support the supplemented resources required for at least five years.

•                  The overall median value of retirement assets of those aged 55– 64 with no accrued employer pension benefits is just over $3,000. For those with annual incomes in the range of $25,000–$50,000, the median value is near just $250. For those with incomes in the $50,000–$100,000 range, the median value is only $21,000.

•                  Only a small minority (roughly 15–20 per cent) of middle-income Canadians retiring without an employer pension plan have saved anywhere near enough for retirement. The vast majority of these families with annual incomes of $50,000 and more will be hard pressed to save enough in their remaining period to retirement (less than 10 years) to avoid a significant fall in income.

•                  The seniors’ poverty gap is $2.5 billion in aggregate annually, due to the 719,000 poor seniors (469,000 singles and 250,000 living in an economic family). The average gap per year is $2,400 for single seniors and $5,500 for seniors in a family. A 10 per cent benefit increase in the GIS to address this gap would cost $1,628 million, and would reduce the number of poor seniors by about 149,000.

•                  In the recent election, the Liberal Party promised to increase the GIS by 10 per cent for single seniors. A simulation using Statistics Canada’s Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSD/M) suggests that this would cost $700 million and remove about 85,000 single seniors from the poverty roles, with a reduction in the singles poverty rate of 5.7 percentage points. While this is a reasonable start, clearly more can be done.

These findings raise serious questions about the policy needs for future pension less cohorts, such as the adequacy of benefits from Old Age Security, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the Quebec and Canada pension plans. They also provide an invaluable baseline of evidence that the new federal government must consider as it moves forward to craft policy to address the economic security of Canada’s growing population of