Retirement Money Traps

Trying to figure out how to live on a retirement income is a worthwhile exercise, yet many people overlook some possible money traps. The things we don’t always think of can have an impact on our finances. As you will see, these things are never more important than they are during retirement. Travel. While ‘travel’ is mentioned specifically, it really refers to anything we’d like to do for fun. You’ve already paid your dues working for a boss, now is your chance to do the things you always wanted to do. But that fun can add up, so be sure to figure it into your calculations. Health concerns. Not to sound depressing, but aging is a slow deterioration of the

Do You Have Enough Money For Retirement?

The economy is in a sorry state. Whether that is true where you live right now, or not, there is no doubt that financial markets are constantly rising and falling. The younger you are, the more able you will be to ride out the fluctuations, but youth is still no guarantee of a secure future. For people nearing retirement this can be nerve-wracking. Baby boomers, for example, are going to need their retirement savings and pensions sooner rather than later. Know where you are – Before you can do anything about improving your retirement income, you need to have an idea of where you’re starting from. The more honest and thorough your assessment, the better. Add up all of your

Who needs a digital pension?

Almost everybody needs a digital pension. What the heck is a “digital pension”? – you may ask and you are right in doing so. Let me remind you that we live in a digital era. The Digital Revolution meant the end of the Industrial Age and the beginning of the Computer Age or Information Era. Nowadays, many people tend to think of the Information Age or Digital Era in terms of cell phones, digital music, high definition television, digital cameras, email on the Internet, the Web, and other relatively new products and services that have come into widespread use. The pace of change brought on by such technology has been very rapid. One of the biggest changes that influenced

Are Boomers finally facing the naked reality?

It has been said quite a lot about the baby boomers’ inability to face the reality of aging and retirement. However, there is a survey at the Aging Hipsters – The Baby Boomer Generation, one of the leading boomers sites. The “boomer” survey has one simple question: Will you have enough money when it comes time to retire? Possible answer: No – Maybe – Yes. Not surprisingly, only 27.44%, which means one in four, answered with a sound yes. Almost half of the responders, 42.08% said NO, while the remaining 30.48% is uncertain (maybe). Let me translate to you the meaning of this third of answers: “most likely no but I am embarrassed to admit

To retire or not to retire? This is the question

101 Ways To Retire–Or Not! Active Retirement in the 21st Century from Sue Perlgut on Vimeo.

Baby Boomers: the wealthiest generation or financially retarded?

The other day I had a discussion about my Pension Report (download it if you don’t have it yet) with two young men of my son’s age: early thirties. They were trying to convince me that the report together with upcoming Pension Manual might be useless, since the Baby Boomers — you, the Boomers, as they put it — are the biggest spenders of all times and the highest earners as well. While all that is true, I know for sure that the other half of the equation is also true. Namely, that we, the Baby Boomers are not prepared for our retirement. Read this random quotations from very respectable studies and reports, and you be the judge: The comprehensive study of nearly

Is the Baby Boomers’ pension gap generated by the present financial crisis?

Lately quite often during discussions with my clients about the retirement perspectives of the Baby Boomers I hear a question like this: Is the looming pension crisis of the Baby Boomers related to the recent financial meltdown? My answer is always no, and here is why. The visible signs of the financial crisis we are going through started to show up just at the end of last summer and then during the fall of 2008. (The root causes have been present much earlier, but now we will skip the analysis of the credit crunch…) On the other hand, the signs — the writing on the wall, if you wish — telling about the pension gap threatening the Baby Boomers were obvious for quite a