SENIOR RETIREMENT

Retire on Your Schedule

2007-11-20T19:26:00.000+07:00

As a technical professional living in an industrialized nation today, choices are available to you that many others do not have. Concerning marriage, children, and jobs, you can choose when, where, and what you want to do. In addition, if you plan appropriately, you can decide when and how to retire.

Although Social Security and Medicare benefits have made most Americans think about retirement as something that occurs in their mid-sixties, no natural law dictates this practice. Many people choose to work much longer. Only 58% of Americans over the age of 65, for example, consider themselves completely retired. Others choose to retire much earlier.

Throughout much of history, retirement occurred only when someone became too frail or sick to work. This is still true today in less-developed countries. Improvements in productivity and work environment during the 20th century, however, have led to a mid-sixties retirement norm. Although available data for people retiring in their fifties or younger is difficult to obtain, Figure 1.1 illustrates the trend toward lower mean retirement age in the United States from 1950 to 2000. By 2000, the average age at retirement was less than 62, with many Americans retiring in their fifties or earlier.

Although countless surveys indicate that most Americans are looking forward to retirement, the same studies reveal ignorance about the requirements for successful retirement. This may be due in part to different motivations for retiring. Some people want to pursue other interests but are limited by job constraints. Some people want to escape a work environment they do not enjoy. Others feel like “wage slaves” and long for freedom to do whatever they want. Another part of the problem may have to do with the broad range of lifestyles that people imagine for their ideal retirement. Retirement can involve traveling the globe, simply sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, finding seclusion, volunteering, or working because you want to, not because you have to.

Regardless of your personal definition and views on retirement, it is a fact that close to 80 million Americans will be either close to retirement or in retirement within the next 20 years. At a time when an unprecedented number of people will reach traditional retirement age, we are also facing funding issues for Social Security and Medicare, witnessing the default of numerous corporate pension plans, and experiencing a personal saving rate of near zero. If aging engineers are to have any chance of enjoying a successful retirement, both financial and social preparation must be completed.

Retirement planning is helpful at any age, but saving early is especially valuable. An early start to saving is the best path to accumulating the resources you will need for a successful retirement. Young technical professionals who begin saving a fraction of their salary at the beginning of their career will be able to retire on their own schedule.

This figure considers a technical professional with a starting salary of $50,000 per year. An average salary increase of 5.5% per year (3.5% inflation, 2% experience bonus) is assumed. This data is consistent with the IEEE salary survey data for a BSEE graduate with no experience. The salary increase assumptions underestimate the experience of most electrical engineers since they ignore salary increases for promotions into positions of higher responsibility. Similarly, salary increases for obtaining advanced degrees are not considered in the salary increase rates. For example, an individual who obtains an advanced degree after starting work and moves into technical management after several years might expect an average salary increase of 8% or higher over the 30-year period illustrated in Figure 1.2.

The hypothetical engineer of Figure 1.2 invests 10% of pretax salary each year and takes advantage of a 3% company 401(k) match. The assumed average return on all investments is 7% over the 30-year period. Three cases are illustrated: (a) a person who begins saving as soon as he or she starts working, (b) a person who waits 5 years to begin saving, and (c) a person who waits 10 years to begin saving.

Even though Figure 1.2 is a simplified case that considers only fixed annual raises, and returns (without variations from year to year) it clearly illustrates the value of starting early. After 30 years, the engineer who starts saving from the first day on the job will have $480,000 more than the colleague who put off saving for 10 years.

As in the case of engineering projects, early planning is invaluable. It is not too late for the slow starter who begins to save in year 10 of his or her career. The time advantage of the early investor can be made up, for example, by increasing the saving rate from 10% to 17.7% once saving starts in year 10. Such a plan reduces disposable income by 7.7% for 20 years, but will result in identical portfolio value in year 30. Achieving a higher rate of return (at least 11.3%) can also compensate for the late start. In the investment world, however, higher returns are always associated with higher risk. Finally, the slow starter could choose to work for 6 years longer to make up the difference in savings.

For the engineer who wants to work beyond normal retirement age, starting to save early may seem of little value. It is worth noting, however, that although 68% of currently working Americans expect to work for pay in some capacity after they retire; only 32% of current retirees actually have worked for pay after retirement. This statistic might indicate that working seems less attractive to the 65+ year old than it did to the 25 year old. It may also be that there are not enough jobs available for 65+ year olds.

Ireland, My Ireland

2007-11-19T15:38:00.000+07:00

from: ILR JOURNAL INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING IN RETIREMENT. Volume 13
by: Maryjane Snyder

Down we went and pulled up in front of a whitewashed thatched roofed cottage straight off the cover of a tourist calendar. By now I was a complete basket case, and no way was I going to go into the home of a stranger. Not so, my husband.

He knocked on the door and explained to the woman who answered that his wife’s mother might just have come from these parts, and we wondered…

“No,” she said carefully. “We don’t have any Yanks in the family. But do come in and have a spot of tea.” I hesitantly climbed out of the car and we entered a large room with a hard dirt floor, a huge fireplace burning peat, and a row of socks strung across it to dry. I sat down and she fussed around and brought tea and scones while we began to talk to lighten the sudden tension.

“You know,” she finally said cautiously, “there is a picture in the loft we were looking at last month. No one knows who it is, and we almost threw it out. But we didn’t.” She pulled a chair over, piled it on a table so she could climb up, put her hand in the hole that was the loft—and brought down the picture and put it in my hand.

Fortunately I was seated or I might very well have fainted. For there was my grandfather, my grandmother, my mother, aged about ten, and her sister and brother. The date was confirmed when Clark pulled out his magnifier and read the inscription on a pin, “Buffalo Exposition 1902.”

With this turn of events Mrs. Nestor began to get more nervous. “We’d better get Himself,” she said, and called the little boy, who was watching all this open-mouthed, “to run to Grandma’s and fetch Dada.”

Himself arrived and slowly the story came out. Mrs. Nestor had been afraid to tell the truth. They did indeed know they had family in the States – an aunt and an uncle. The aunt was the oldest. In Ireland, at that time, unlike many other countries, primogeniture passed down not just through the sons, but through the daughters. The oldest daughter to the oldest daughter and on and on. Mary Nestor was not in that line, but I was of the line of the missing oldest daughter.

Mary and Johnny Nestor had lived all their married life with the real fear that someone would one day arrive from the States and claim their ten acres, cottage, garden and all. They had even thought of advertising in all the papers in the States to see if anyone was forthcoming but decided it would be too expensive. And here we were.

I was horrified. Of all the things I was interested in, ten acres in West Galway were not among them. I assured them, in my innocence, that once we returned to the States, I would call my lawyer and we would straighten it all out. We took pictures of the cottage where Grandma had been born and grew up.

We took pictures of the views she must have seen across the peat bogs and borrowed the family portrait picture, assuring them we would send copies. We finished our trip to Ireland, thunderstruck by what we had just been through.

When we returned home, I called my lawyer who knew nothing about Irish law but undertook to find out. Matters were not that simple. It seems that I couldn’t give the Nestors the land nor sell it to them for a dollar nor in any way give up the lineage. I could assure them of my lack of interest, but my daughter would inherit those rights and her daughters, etc., and who knew?

However, I wrote such a firm letter of dismissal of interest that the Nestors decided that the risk was slight and had the courage to build a real house where we were royally entertained (with tumblers of whiskey) when we returned.

When we went back—and we did, things were more relaxed, and Johnny undertook to explain the magnitude of my grandmother’s sin. Double sin. She married an Englishman, and worse than that—an Anglican!

To understand the horror you must understand that these are the descendants of people who lived in Northern Ireland and who were driven off their fertile acres by Cromwell in the 1600s. Any thoughts you might cherish about there being forgiveness of the English, erase them. I, all these generations later, found I could not bear to read Leon Uris’ Trinity. To this day the people he writes of were my people who were pushed off our land. A pox on Cromwell.

Scilla

2007-11-15T15:46:00.001+07:00

Quote from ILR JOURNAL: INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING IN RETIREMENT
by Sherwyn Warren

Most humble lily of them all,
Scilla, springtime’s first refrain
Spreading on earth’s frigid breast
Anticipating April’s rain.

Braving vernal snow and sleet,
Frosty dew as morning lights,
Promising a summer’s warming
After winter’s long cold nights.

Hunkering ’neath woody bushes,
Perforating chilly sod,
Royal purple springtime mantle
Blown down by the breath of God.

Not with big and showy blossoms,
Fluffy flowers, ornate bells,
Just rosettes of six blue petals,
Summer’s glory it foretells.

Regal purple gets supplanted,
By proud tulips in full bloom,
Daffodils and lush magnolias,
Cousin hyacinth’s perfume.

Disparaged “Not a flower,
Indeed, it is just a weed,”
But one I most admire
For its brave push to succeed.

Updating Opera:

2007-11-15T15:34:00.000+07:00

The Ring of the Nibelung—Rapper’s Version

Quote from ILR JOURNAL: INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING IN RETIREMENT
Harriet Friedlander

Yo! Brunhilde is a Valkyrie, she rides horses in the sky.
She has a nipple shield & a long sharp spear & can stare down any guy.
Her Daddy's name is Votan, he lives up in Valhalla;
He's the Main Man—he is the God that everyone else has to follow.

Alberich is this evil little dude & Nibelung is his hood;
He's hitting on 3 Rhinemaidens—those slutty tarts look GOOD.
But they laugh & dis him & splash him in the Rhine, & that makes him feel BAD.
So he steals their gold & makes him a ring & everyone gets real mad.

Then Votan tries to get the ring ’cause it can help him rule the world,
But it's snatched up by some old Dragon with his slimey tail uncurled.
So then Brunhilde gets down with Siegfried—he's this big & studly hunk,
And he grabs the ring from the Dragon, who calls him a freakin' punk.

Siegfried's making out with Brunhilde on a flaming mountaintop;
And it's ooh baby, baby, baby, this fire's making me so hot!
But Siegfried cools off pronto when he spies a new fine-looking fox;
Brunhilde gets mad & madder—swears she's gonna knock his rocks.

Siegfried is terminated—he shouldna been fooling around;
Brunhilde is agitated—she's sorry, but he's not around.
They both burn up in a fire, the gold ring gets thrown back in the Rhine;
The Gods in Valhalla expire, and the whole world goes down one more time.

But if you are digging the music, you'll hear what it's trying to say:
Don't mess with those gods in Valhalla, if you want things to turn out okay.
This story's full of hot sex & violence, & plot twists that turn on a dime,
So go out & see some Grand Opera if you want to have a REALLY GOOD TIME.

The Other Son

2007-11-15T15:10:00.000+07:00

Quote from ILR JOURNAL: INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING IN RETIREMENT
by Joyce Yohai

We were struggling to move from the family home on Long Island to Chicago, where our daughter, Janine, had just given birth to triplet boys. Our medical-student son, Robert, had come back from Northwestern University for the weekend to help weed out the awesome accumulation of our twenty-five years of rat-packing. Rudy and I had saved everything. The attic and basement were filled with infant clothes, tricycles, painted rocks, pedal cars, and pictures—thousands of pictures of our children squinting into the sun on sailboats and ski slopes. To my everlasting gratitude Rob was ruthless with the whole mess.

Sunday afternoon found my husband sitting cross-legged on the floor of his closet facing the bottom drawer of a built-in dresser. Slowly, reverently, he was removing its contents as Rob and I watched. I think most men must have such a drawer or a box or a shelf somewhere, filled with pre-marriage, taletelling treasures. Rudy had been pulling out photos of young army buddies never again seen or spoken to. Some of them included Rudy and a very shapely, very blonde girl who my husband always insisted was the other guy’s date. There were pictures of his beloved first car, a beat-up, powder-blue Lincoln convertible, old army uniform patches, and childhood awards from Camp Mahopac for Best All-Around Camper. Stuff and more stuff!

Then he lifted out a half-rusted chain of metal beads with medallions dangling from it.

“My old dog tags, type AB blood,” he read aloud, not looking up. Rob, leaning against the door frame next to me, started and began, “But that’s imposs…” and stopped short. “Hmm?” I asked. He poked me hard in the side, clearly signifying that I was to be quiet. Lost in reverie Rudy never noticed the exchange.

“What was that all about?” I asked when Rob and I were alone. Peering deep into my eyes, my beloved son replied, “Well, if Dad’s blood type is AB, and I know mine is O, he can’t possibly be my father!” I definitely did not like the look on Robert’s face. In basic New Yorkese I snapped, “Listen, kid, know one thing. If Rudy Yohai is not your father, then I sure as hell am not your mother!”

No sooner were the mean words out of my mouth, than I realized the implications of what I’d said. The what ifs overwhelmed me. What if Robert was not really our child? (He never did look like either one of us.) What if they had switched babies at the hospital? And oh, dear God, what if my natural child had been turned over to destitute or abusive parents? What if he needed me?

It was then that my mind began to create, little by little, the image of my perfect biological son, my angel, one who would never have grown marijuana on his bedroom window sill as a teenager, nor, at eight, have thrown a ball hard, with malice intended, at a little girl who had upset him at school. Even the principal’s pleas couldn’t get him to apologize.

At this point you are probably wondering why I didn’t just ask Rudy to take a blood test. How could I? He was having a terrible time leaving New York. He loved his big old house. He loved his friends and neighbors. He loved his patio and his summer evening gin and tonics when people stopped by. It was I who was obsessed with this need to be with “my” babies and with my daughter and son as well. My whole family was now in Chicago. Why should I be in New York?

There were so many decisions to be made and so much physical exertion required, and Rudy was already so depressed about the move that I couldn’t think of laying another problem on him.

On Monday I called Mike Cohen, our family doctor, and asked him for Rudy’s blood type. To my surprise, he answered, “We don’t keep that information on file anymore, Joyce. It’s so simple to determine when needed. But why do you want to know?”

I told him. Mike sounded odd. What he said was, “Just forget the whole thing. Robert is your son, your only son, the one you’ve loved and raised, and he’s a wonderful young man.

Don’t say anything to Rudy. It would just cause unnecessary turmoil.” He’s crazy, I thought, as I hung up and dialed my mother’s number, looking for comfort and better advice.

She sounded strange, too. “Just forget the whole thing,” she said, parroting everything that Mike had said but adding, “That boy is in medical school. He’s going to be a doctor. The training is so expensive. Heavens knows what Rudy might decide to do if he discovers Rob is not his.” I hung up in despair. My mother’s gone crazy, too, I thought. Didn’t anyone care that there might be a son of ours out there somewhere who needed us?

Not that I would ever, in any way, give up the littlest bit of Robert. MINE!, MINE! They were both MINE!, the boy I’d adored for all his life and the one taking shape in my mind’s eye. I could almost see him—his dark blonde hair and soft brown eyes. Of course he was tall. All my family were tall.

Anyway, for Rudy’s sake I decided to wait and say nothing until our lives calmed down and we were comfortable in our new city. Oddly enough, Robert never mentioned the matter again. Recently he said he’d assumed it was all some sort of mistake, but I wonder now, was he a little frightened too?

Somehow we finally moved. I was having nightmares about abandoned children crying for me. After five months, it was more than time. I had to know. Did the hospital make a mistake or did the Army? In my naiveté I thought the latter was close to impossible. So at last I sat Rudy down and told him the whole story. He responded with surprising calm and arranged for a blood test two days later.

Of course you know the result. The United States Army had goofed. They’d engraved the wrong blood type on Rudy’s dog tags. He was not type AB blood at all. Type AB is a universal recipient, but since he was not AB, if transfused, my husband might well have had a severe reaction, might even have died.

So there it was. Rudy was Robert’s father. I was Robert’s mother. Out in the world there was not and never had been another son of ours. Yet, he’d become so real to me over those months that sometimes, even now, I think of him and feel bereft, and I’m lonely for the phantom son I never had.

The Letter Retirement Sample

2007-11-08T16:39:00.001+07:00

By Lee Butler
http://ezinearticles.com

The Letter Retirement Sample is a series of main points to consider for people that are close to retirement, or that are already retired and looking for financial retirement plans to invest their money in the economy today. A series of main points to consider when retiring are planning, investing, making investments before and after retirement, 401ks, 401k investments, retirement living before and after, and the retirement income that you are going to be receiving based on an annuity. Planning for retirement is a main point to consider when retiring in the economy of the world today.

People should be planning on different ways they want to spend their retirement years before retirement comes to the front door in their life. Investing should be a major part of people lives when retiring in today’s economy. Most people simply do not do any investing before retirement or after, and wonder why theirs not enough money in their current lives to retire with in their life. Making investments is another main point to consider before and after retirement in the market place today. The reason why making investments is so important is that the more investments people make in themselves the better their retirement will be in their life. A 401k is a main point to consider when retirement is near if a person is among the people that work for someone else on regular bases in life.

Many people spend a lot of years going from one 401k to another, and still do not have enough money left over when it is time to retire. So, making good 401k investments are a main point to consider if you are close to retirement, or already retired and want to make your money work hard for you instead of the other way around in life. People really do not give any thought to what type of retirement living they want to experience before or after retirement in their life. The last main point to be considered when retiring is what the retirement income will be that you are going to be receiving based on an annuity after you retire. Whether you are five months, five years, or even 25 years away from retirement, it's never too late to start planning. Making the right moves with your money now can make a big difference in how comfortable your retirement will be in your life.

There are a lot of plans out the such as a pinch hot plan retirement which is just another name for a specific 401k or percentage plan in a retirement plan. Here are some key questions to ask you. When will you be able to start living your retirement dreams? Will your nest egg be enough for you to live comfortably? How much will you pay yourself each month when you retire? How will taxes factor into your retirement lifestyle? Now you have a whole new set of ideas to consider before or after retirement today.

These are the series of main points to consider before, or after retirement in many people lives today. Make sure your retirement planning has a great business model so that you can reap the benefits later while living the life you deserve in the years to come.

2007-11-08T16:09:00.000+07:00

Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved the earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
- From Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson

Life after retirement

2007-11-08T15:55:00.000+07:00

Retirement might coincide with important life changes; a retired worker might move to a new location, for example a retirement community, thereby having less frequent contact with their previous social context and adopting a new lifestyle.

In some countries, retired workers will continue to participate in the life of their family and their society, often following ancient ethnic roles. Some countries are sponsoring initiatives to help retired workers keep contributing to social and cultural life.

Many people in the later years of their lives, due to failing health, require assistance, the highest degree of assistance - in some countries - being provided in a nursing home. Those who need care, but are not in need of constant assistance, may choose to live in a retirement home. This is a facility giving the retired person some degree of freedom, yet with close-by medical assistance to handle emergencies.

Retirement ceases if the retiree decides to go back to work. A retiree may go back to work for a number of reasons, ranging from financial hardship, to the simple desire for activity or new social interactions.

Old-age pensions are usually not reduced because of other income, so the latter comes on top of the former. This may be different in the case of a disability pension.

Savings

2007-11-08T15:51:00.000+07:00

While conventional wisdom has it that one can retire and take 7% or more out of a portfolio year after year, this would not have worked very often in the past.[5] [6] When making periodic inflation-adjusted withdrawals from retirement savings,[7] can make meaningless many assumptions that are based on long term average investment returns.

The chart at the right shows the year-to-year portfolio balances after taking $35,000 (and adjusting for inflation) from a $750,000 portfolio every year for 30 years, starting in 1973 (red line), 1974 (blue line), or 1975 (green line).[8] While the overall market conditions and inflation affected all three about the same (since all three experienced the exact same conditions between 1975 and 2003), the chance of making the funds last for 30 years depended heavily on what happened to the stock market in the first few years.

Those contemplating early retirement will want to know if they have enough to survive possible bear markets such as the one that sent the 1973 retiree back to work after 20 years.

The history of the US stock market shows that one would need to live on about 4% of the initial portfolio per year to ensure that the portfolio is not depleted before the end of the retirement. [9] This allows for increasing the withdrawals with inflation to maintain a consistent spending ability throughout the retirement, and to continue making withdrawals even in dramatic and prolonged bear markets.[10] (The 4% figure does not assume any pension or change in spending levels throughout the retirement.)

Support and funds

2007-11-08T15:46:00.000+07:00

Retired workers then support themselves either through pensions or savings. In most cases the money is provided by the government, but sometimes granted only by private subscriptions to mutual funds. In this latter case, subscriptions might be compulsory or voluntary. In some countries an additional "bonus" is granted una tantum (once only) in proportion to the years of work and the average wages; this is usually provided by the employer.

The financial weight of provision of pensions on a government's budget is often heavy and is the reason for political debates about the retirement age. The state might be interested in a later retirement age for economic reasons.

The cost of health care in retirement is large, because people tend to be ill more frequently in later life. Increasing numbers of older people, combined with an increase in the cost of healthcare, has led to the funding of post-retirement health care becoming a political issue. There is then pressure to reform healthcare systems to contain costs, or find new sources of funding.

Retirement age

2007-11-08T15:39:00.000+07:00

In most countries, the idea of a fixed retirement age is of recent origin, being introduced during the 19th and 20th centuries - before then, the absence of pension arrangements meant that most workers continued to work until death, or relied on personal savings or the support of family or friends. Nowadays most developed nations have systems to provide pensions on retirement in old age, which may be sponsored by employers or the state. In many poorer countries, support for the old is still mainly provided through the family.

The retirement age varies from country to country but it is generally between 55 and 70. In some countries this age is different for male and females. Sometimes certain jobs, the most dangerous or fatiguing ones in particular, have an earlier retirement age.

In the United States, while most view 65 as normal retirement age, many retire before then, sometimes with contributory causes such as job-loss, disability or wealth. However, the Old Age Survivors Insurance or OASI, better known as the Social Security system has age 62 as the earliest retirement age. Normal retirement age for Social Security has historically been age 65 to receive unreduced benefits, but it is gradually increasing to age 67. For those turning 65 in the year 2008 full benefits will be payable beginning at age 66. Police officers in the United States are typically allowed to retire at half pay after only 20 years of service or three-quarter pay after 30 years, allowing people to retire in their early forties or fifties.

Retirement age for teachers in France is thirty years after employment and age 50 for train engineers on the SNCF, the national railway.

The retirement age in India for public sector employees is enhanced from 58-60 years in July 2007. In Malaysia the retirement age has just recently been raised from 55 years to 56 years.

Many politicians, scientists, lawyers, television anchors, and professors still work well into their 70s, however many actors, models, athletes, and musicians only work until their 30s.

Military members of the US Armed Forces may elect to retire after 20 years of active duty. Their retirement pay (not a pension since they can be involuntarily called back to active duty at any time) is calculated on total number of years on active duty, their final pay grade and the retirement system in place when they entered service. Allowances such as housing and subsistence are not used to calculate a member's retired pay. Members awarded the Medal of Honor qualify for a separate stipend, regardless of the years of service. There is a federally mandated cap of 75% of their final base pay in all cases. Military members in the reserve and US National Guard have their retirement based on a point system.

Retirement

2007-11-08T15:23:00.000+07:00

Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire and keep some sort of retirement job, out of choice rather than necessity. This usually happens upon reaching a determined age, when physical conditions don't allow the person to work any more (by illness or accident), or even for personal choice (usually in the presence of an adequate pension or personal savings). The retirement with a pension is considered a right of the worker in many societies, and hard ideological, social, cultural and political battles have been fought over whether this is a right or not. In many western countries this right is mentioned in national constitutions.

Retirement is also sports jargon for the situation where a team (for example in soccer) decides never again to issue the jersey number of a retired or deceased player, as a token of honor.