The Best Life
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Boomerater™ Report: Tips to Raise Your Spirits
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThe Boomerater™ Report is our weekly collaboration with Boomerater. Boomerater is the online resource for baby boomers, covering everything from finding financial advisors to great travel ideas. The site also contains forums where boomers can ask questions and exchange first-hand experiences with each other.
In our weekly report, we post a Best Life question of the week on Boomerater in which we are looking to hear your advice and tips. This week we want to know if the Obama administration’s financial stimulus package and other financial initiatives have helped you or caused you to change anything you do. Go to Boomerater.com to share your thoughts, and in the next report we will feature some of the best responses.
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Retirement Mutual Funds: An Endangered Species?
Continue reading… 6 CommentsThe retirement-fund business is reeling from huge mutual-fund losses and investor withdrawals. Fund executives point to overall market declines to defend their performance. They have logical explanations for the big losses suffered by one of their "safest" product classes--target-date mutual funds, which are designed as age-appropriate portfolios to help investors achieve their retirement goals. But a growing chorus of government, academic, and consumer critics is calling for changes in how the funds operate. And the fund companies themselves are under mounting financial pressures. Here are changes to look for:
More regulation. Democratic Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, chair of the Senate Committee on Aging, is exploring tougher oversight of target-date funds. New retirement plan rules adopted in 2006 led to higher employee participation in 401(k)'s and other retirement plans, including the use of target-date funds as default investment choices. However, many investors were stunned when funds designed for 2010 retirees fell an average of about 25 percent last year. The marketing mantra of these funds was their automatic re-weighting as their owners aged--away from stocks and into bonds and other safer investments. Fund executives explain that someone retiring in 2010 may live another 30 years and will a solid chunk of equities in a target-date fund. But that truth never had a chance to catch up with public perception that safe means just that--no losses. As with the rest of Wall Street, the fund industry has taken a big consumer-confidence hit and may have to stomach more government rules to help win back investors. In the House Committee on Education & Labor, chairman Rep. George Miller of California has held multiple hearings with lots of venting at mutual funds. New rules here could include forcing the funds to disclose more details about their fees and more oversight of their communications with investors through employer retirement programs. -
Is a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community Right for You?
Continue reading… 9 CommentsNaturally Occurring Retirement Communities have recently emerged as an attractive way for seniors in a local community to stay in their homes and tap into support services and volunteer programs. NORCs are what they sound like: senior communities that were not originally designed as so. They can be as small as an inner-city high rise or spread over a large suburban area. They're also small by design and usually span only a few square miles with a potential base of perhaps 1,000 to 3,000 people.
To some people, NORCs sound like nothing more than a modern-day replacement for close-knit family support. Fair enough. However, such systems don't exist for millions and millions of seniors. And even aging parents with nearby children and grandchildren often seek broader support networks-- they want to socialize with their peers and don't want to unduly burden their children. Truth be told, seniors also want a richer menu of evening entertainment than baby-sitting for Jack and Jill.
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Boomerater™ Report: Family Travel Bargains
Continue reading… 8 CommentsThe Boomerater™ Report is our weekly collaboration with Boomerater, an online resource for baby boomers that covers everything from financial planning to great shopping ideas. The site also contains forums where Boomers can ask questions and exchange first-hand experiences with each other.
In our weekly report, we post a Best Life question of the week on Boomerater, in which we are looking to hear your advice and tips. This week, we want to know what you do to raise your spirits when you’re feeling a little blue. Especially in these tough economic times, words of encouragement from others can be a valuable influence to maintain a positive attitude. Go to Boomerater.com to share your thoughts, and in the next report we will feature some of the best responses.
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Violence in Mexico: A Cause of Concern for Retirees Looking to Travel or Relocate
Continue reading… 33 CommentsMexico is the favorite travel destination for Americans and it's also the most favored place outside the U.S. for retirees to relocate. The country's warm climate, familiar culture, and low costs naturally attract retirees. Now, however, drug-related violence and--to a lesser extent--Mexico's own recessionary pressures have made parts of Mexico dangerous. The U.S. State Department renewed its Mexico travel alert last month. Requests are escalating for more protection by U.S. border troops. Visits to major travel sites, such as Fodor's, reveal rising traveler concerns and travel cancellations.
Generally, tourist areas haven't been unusually affected by crime. Despite concerns about spring-break trips to popular resorts by U.S. college students, there have not been special problems. Nevertheless, the State Department defines these specific areas as cause for concern:
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Social Security Merits Support, Not Disdain
Continue reading… 18 CommentsIt's no secret that Social Security is viewed as unreliable retirement support by most people who are still working. Many think the program will either disappear or be forced to cut payments so much that future retirees will get a much worse deal than past and current Social Security recipients. But now, according to research released this week by Sun Life Financial, it turns out that nearly half of all working people would prefer to stop paying into the system altogether, even if it means they would not get Social Security benefits. The percentages were highest among people in their 30s (59 percent) and 40s (52 percent). But even a third of workers aged 60 and older said they'd like to stop contributing to the system, even though they are only a few years away from receiving money from Social Security.
Now, it's probably true that overall pessimism about the economy is coloring people's attitudes toward everything about retirement. Last fall, Sun Life began to publish what's called an Unretirement Index, a sort of consumer-sentiment survey on retirement. While the index could go up to 100 if people were bullish on enjoying comfortable retirements, the readings have not gotten out of the 40s, and now stand at 44. Not a surprise. The survey also shows that Unretirement--defined as working at least 20 hours a week after qualifying for full Social Security benefits-- is becoming an economic necessity for more people as the economy weakens.
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Boomerater™ Report: Working for a Younger Boss
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThe Boomerater™ Report is our weekly collaboration with Boomerater. Boomerater is an online resource meant to help baby boomers make informed everyday and life decisions such as finding great travel ideas and places to relocate. In each report, we'll feature a selection of helpful tips from Boomerater’s collection of financial, consumer, and lifestyle content.
We'll also post a question of the week, in which we are looking to hear your advice and first-hand perspectives. This week, we want to know about the best family travel bargains you’ve discovered. Go to Boomerater.com to share your thoughts, and in the next report we will feature some of the best responses.
Last week, we asked readers for tips on working for a boss a lot younger than you. Here are some of the thoughtful replies we received:
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4 Ways Retirees Can Enrich Their Life (And the Lives of Others)
Continue reading… 7 CommentsFor the first time in generations, living standards for today's parents and grandparents are expected to be better than for their offspring. And many retirees are absolutely better off than the millions of Americans who are losing their jobs and homes. While depleted retirement funds are affecting investors of all ages, Social Security and Medicare continue to provide dependable safety nets. Falling home prices? Yes, they're awful but no cause for current alarm for the many seniors who own their homes, don't plan to move, and have no mortgage payments to make.
For many retirees, the wolf is being kept from the door, even if only temporarily. Yet there is little comfort when stories abound about families forced to live in motels, and the economy seems to be performing daily death spirals. With the futures of many younger people looking bleak (perhaps including their own family members) here are four things retirees can do to make things better for themselves and others.
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Evaluating Longevity Calculators
Continue reading… 3 CommentsWant to feel like a god? Go online and use a life-expectancy calculator. Your answers to health, family history, and lifestyle questions can either add or subtract lots of years from your life--all at the click of your mouse.
The calculators are not authoritative and don't claim to be, particularly for those with serious pre-existing medical conditions. However, they're indicative of where your life is headed, at least in terms of longevity. That's important because nearly every investment and retirement expert emphasizes that most people greatly underestimate how long they will live. As a result, their retirement plans--which are already modest for starters--fall woefully short of providing them retirement income for the rest of their lives.
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Boomerater™ Report: Check Credit of Potential Tenants
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThe Boomerater™ Report is our weekly collaboration with Boomerater. Boomerater is an online resource that help baby boomers make informed life decisions, covering topics such as finding financial advisors and senior housing facilities. In each report, we feature a selection of helpful tips from Boomerater’s collection of financial, consumer and lifestyle content.
We also post a question of the week for which we are looking to hear your advice and first-hand perspectives. This week, we explore the topic of having a boss who is a lot younger than you. Go to Boomerater.com to share your thoughts, and in the next report, we will feature some of the best responses.
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Housing Bust Deals a Cruel Blow to Older Homeowners
Continue reading… 7 CommentsHome foreclosures, sub-prime loans, and underwater mortgages have understandably dominated concerns about the collapse of the housing market. Yet plunging home values have also triggered equally devastating consequences for the retirement hopes of millions of older homeowners. Perhaps even more than falling retirement-plan investments, 30 percent to 40 percent drops in housing values are destroying the very foundations of retirement for people who did all the right things and played by the rules. Dean Baker, founder and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), spoke to largely closed ears and minds as far back as 2002, when he warned of an imminent housing collapse. He has since turned his attention to the impact of that collapse on older Americans.
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Is a New Retirement Account in Our Future?
Continue reading… 13 CommentsRetirement security is a painful oxymoron to millions of older Americans. According to estimates from Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, we have lost $15 trillion in wealth from the declining values of our investments and our homes. No stimulus package can bring that back anytime soon.
However, committees in the House and Senate have already begun the process of looking for better retirement solutions. They are joined by think tanks and financial trade associations. Expect to see lots of summits called, and much circling of wagons. We will be witnesses to an extended reassessment of whether or not the private sector is to be trusted with our money. Heck, it goes beyond that. Consumers are on trial as well. Can we even be trusted to take good of our own money? -
Boomerater™ Report: Taking Car Keys from Parents
Continue reading… 9 CommentsThe Boomerater™ Report is our weekly collaboration with Boomerater. Boomerater is the online resource for Baby Boomers offering advice on areas such as financial planning and finding a job. In each report, we feature a selection of helpful tips from Boomerater’s collection of financial, consumer, and lifestyle content.
We also post a question of the week where we are looking to hear your thoughts and first-hand perspectives. Last week, we asked readers for advice on taking car keys away from parents. Here are a few of the responses:
