Let’s Talk About Retirement

Scott Goodman asked:


This may come as a shock to many people, but after a lifetime of working, Social Security retirement benefits do not provide enough for most people to live on, especially if they plan to continue their previous standard of living. In order to maintain their quality of life, they will need something to supplement the government retirement benefits they earned during their lifetime.

Although many people will also receive benefits from the place of employment, that plus Social Security retirement benefits still may not equal the income they were receiving while they were working. Additionally, there may be some income received by retired workers that will affect the amount of retirement benefits they are entitled to receive. At any time during a person’s working life, they can contact the Social Security Administration for an update on the benefits they would be eligible to receive upon retirement.

The age at which a person chooses to retire will affect the amount they receive in benefits and the full retirement age, according to SSA is based on the year of birth.

Benefits Reduced By Early Retirement

Laws governing SSA retirement benefits recently changed, and could change again in the future, but currently with an age of 66 considered as full retirement age, if a person has earned enough credits, they can retire at the age of 62 with a 25 percent reduction in SSA benefits. At age 63 they would receive a 20 percent reduction of the full amount and at 64, a 13 and one-third percent cut and at age 65, their benefit would be reduced by six and two-thirds percent.

The amount received in Social Security retirement benefits will be determined by the amount a person has earned over their lifetime. A person who continues to work past their retirement age may see an increase in their benefits. SSA will annually review a person’s work record each year and notify them if there will be any change in their benefits.

Persons who opt to retire before reaching full retirement age will be restricted to the amount of income they can earn before losing some of the Social Security retirement benefits to which they were qualified at the time of taking early retirement. The maximum amount a person can earn each year without losing benefits is currently $12,960 and the benefits will be reduced by $1 for each $2 earned over that limit.



ALEJANDRA

Steven Walters asked:


Retiring in Thailand is becoming more popular as more people are looking to make their dollars and Euros stretch in their golden years. I hope to spark some ideas in your mind and maybe you’ll start to consider Thailand as a great retirement destination for you.

I’m no expert in this area, but I do have quite a bit of knowledge. Though I am quite a few years before my own retirement (I’m only 41 years old) I have been researching Thailand retirement because I plan on eventually ending up there. I’ve found there are quite a few things one needs to consider if they want to eventually retire and move to Thailand.

Here’s a list of the issues that I’ve come up with regarding making the jump to retirement in Thailand:

Where will you live - Depending on your lifestyle and the things you like you have a nice assortment of places to retire in Thailand. Those looking for more cosmopolitan excitement will want to opt for Bangkok or Chiang Mai, while those looking for a more laid back lifestyle will be looking more towards the provinces of Thailand or even one of the beach destinations like Phuket or Samui. The nice thing is Thailand offers many different options in lifestyle and I’m sure one will fit you.

How much money will you need - If money isn’t a consideration then no need to worry about this. If however you think you’ll have limited income during your retirement you’ll probably want to go for places that are more off the beaten track like the northeast of Thailand (known as Isaan) or some of the more remote beach locations. Even Chiang Mai can be affordable compared to the U.S. and Europe. Those of you looking to retire to Bangkok should probably have a bit more retirement income since the Big Mango can be quite expensive if you want to enjoy it fully.

Issues of Thai visas - The visa issue is a big one since you definitely want to be legal while you’re a guest in Thailand. Fortunately for those over 50 the visa issue is quite simple. Retirement visas are available and they are both affordable and easy to get. If you’re under 50 it becomes more complex and you’ll need some reason such as work or family to keep you long term in Thailand.

Plan for the future - Obviously as you age your needs will change. Inflation will also eat into your retirement in Thailand just as it would in the west. Healthcare becomes more important as well. Consider your needs 20-30 years from now and have a plan before moving to Thailand.

Insurance - Will your current insurance cover you overseas? If not then you’ll want to make arrangements. Healthcare is easily 1/3 the cost in Thailand as it is in the west, however it will still be expensive if you have a major health emergency.

Buying vs renting in Thailand - While renting drains your finances without adding any equity it is still the best option in Thailand. Owning land is not a possibility in Thailand (well not easily anyway) so renting is your only option in many cases. Are you able to live with this or do you want to be able to own your own place be it house or condo.

While not comprehensive by any means that’s at least a quick run down on considerations for retiring to Thailand. There are obviously more things to think of, but overall in my opinion there is no place like Thailand. If you’re looking for adventure and exotic living in your retirement then I strongly suggest you give Thailand a thought.



JENIFER

Coll asked:


My favorite teacher is retiring this year. She’s my history teacher but was also my music teacher. I know she loves music (she plays clarinet) and she loves to teach. Can someone write a poem about how wonderful she is and how appreciative we are of her?

ANDRE

Joseph Kenny asked:


With an increasing number of people scheduled to begin retirement in the next few years, it is important to begin thinking about the subject. Even if you’re not near the age of retirement yet, it’s a good idea to begin thinking about how you plan to fund your retirement as soon as possible. The sooner you begin to plan for retirement the more you can be sure your retirement won’t be plagued by money issues.

So, how much money do you need for retirement? A lot of that answer, of course, depends on what plans you have for retirement. If you plan to travel, want to purchase a RV or you have similar specific plans, you will naturally need more money in order to fund your retirement. Above and beyond those expenses; however, it is important to think about your day to day essential needs.

For example, consider whether you will still owe any debt payments when you choose to retire. Of course, many of use would like to think that we’ll be out of debt by then but in reality you may still owe on a vehicle or credit card or even a house. Be sure to calculate those costs into the amount you need for retirement.

You’ll also need enough money to cover such costs as utilities, auto and home insurance, groceries and other miscellaneous expenses we all must pay on a month to month basis.

Healthcare will be an extremely important aspect of your retirement. Naturally, as we grow older our healthcare needs increase and that means spending more money. If you fail to fund your retirement in a sufficient manner, even one serious health problem could wipe out your retirement fund and you might find yourself facing the rest of your retirement with serious money problems. Just for your healthcare costs alone it’s a good idea to plan on budgeting at least $15,000 per year for every year of your retirement.

You also need to consider whether there will be expenses when you first retire that you’ll still need to cover such as support for aging parents (with life expectancy figures today, it’s definitely a possibility) as well as college education expenses for kids.

In addition, don’t forget miscellaneous costs which may pop up that we tend to forget. These costs include home repair costs, such as replacing a roof, purchasing another vehicle, etc.

After adding up all of the costs you’ll need to cover during retirement, don’t forget to take into consideration the effects of inflation. Figure on costs today rising an average of about 4% a year for every year you have left until retirement and then some.

Finally, don’t forget to give serious thought to how long you may need to fund your retirement. Quite surprisingly, many people tend to underestimate how long they’ll live and as a result run out of money. Don’t let that happen to you. The best rule of thumb is to assume you’ll live to at least age 90 and calculate for that.



LESA

escapexreality asked:


As most of you may know, NASA is retiring the shuttles in 2010 and moving on to a new project: Constellation. The focus of Constellation is to return to the Moon and go to Mars and beyond. NASA states that the reason for Constellation and its return to the Moon is to gain more knowledge.

My question is: Why do YOU think that NASA is going back to the Moon?

RENA

Tony asked:


Retired with 20 active years and 3.5 years reserves time and has been out over 7 years. I haven’t receive my Fleet Reserves certificate yet.

LAUREL

Steve Selengut asked:


Your retirement income investment plan starts now, right now, no matter how old or well heeled you happen to be.

Step One is to understand what a retirement plan is, and to identify the three large numbers you need to keep track of while you are developing your stash. With these three totals on your spreadsheet, it’s much easier to develop long-range retirement income goals that make personal sense. A retirement plan is an income production plan. Guaranteed retirement income - projected expenses = the gap. No gap, add parents and children to the expense number. There’s always a gap.

Employer provided pension plans, Social Security, and (always much too expensive) fixed annuity contracts, are retirement income providers. They are monthly income machines that you have paid dearly for but which may not be adequate to cover your retirement expenses— most of us will need more income than our guaranteed benefits will provide.

And we need to develop these additional income sources while we are still earning some kind of income. The retirement plan is the investment process you employ to eliminate the gap between your projected guaranteed income and a conservative estimate of your retirement expenses. The sooner and smarter you invest before retirement, the easier the transition from full employment to full vacation will be. Smart investing involves separating your security selections by purpose, and monitoring their performance in the same way. You’re never to young to start developing the income side of the portfolio.

Once you start to draw income at retirement, it is much more difficult to invest effectively and unemotionally. Since your income will need to remain secure and constant through several economic, market, and IRE (interest rate expectation) cycles, you really need to develop appropriate portfolio market value expectations if your program is to survive. You cannot afford to take your eye off the income ball, because income is the only thing you can spend without depleting the productive value of the assets in your investment portfolio.

Obvious? Yes, but only until the market value of your portfolio begins to shrink as a result of economic, market, and IRE cycles. If you invest properly, it (the income) should continue to grow in spite of changing market conditions and fluctuating market value numbers. You must learn to expect market value fluctuations and take advantage of them— assuming, of course, that you are following appropriate quality, diversification and income generation standards.

Retirement income planning became more difficult for most of us around the time corporate America realized that defined benefit pension plans were far too expensive to manage and maintain. At around the same time, the Social Security trust fund somehow disappeared (Did it ever exist at all?), and more and more of our hard earned was needed to support our aging friends and relatives. Why haven’t the myriad of defined contribution programs been able to fill the retirement income gap?

Because millions of totally investment-inexperienced people were given discretion over billions of investment dollars that could be tax detoured out of their paychecks and into IRAs, 401ks, 403bs, Thrift, Savings, Thrift/Savings Plans, etc. Self directed investment programs generated a need for an investment media; the investment media fueled the speculative juices of an emotional and naive mass of newbie investor/speculators; Wall Street created tens of thousands of new products and compound income schemes to sponge up the wayward dollars.

The Masters of the Universe were ROTFLOL while the Investment gods gaped in disbelief.

Defined Contribution plans are just not retirement plans— even if your employee benefits department, the media, Wall Street, and Uncle assure you that they are. Most plans are difficult to self-manage with a retirement income objective. Still, these benefit plans are necessary and quite capable of taking you close to where you want to be. Their only drawback is the false sense of wealth and retirement security that they promote. Either the money has to be converted into an income portfolio— a costly and time-consuming process— or far too many mutual fund shares have to be sold to produce the spending money

Most people think of savings and investment programs as retirement plans, and rationalize away the need for additional, outside development of an income investment portfolio. This is because all of the information they receive speaks to market value growth instead of to income. It’s very likely that less than half the money will ever be yours to spend! What, you say— why? Here’s an example. A NYC resident with a $3 million IRA retires with the expectation of maintaining her life style. Even invested for income alone, $15,000 per month is easy to generate. But how much more has to be disbursed to satisfy three levels of tax collection?

Next example. The same portfolio in equity mutual funds during a correction— now you’re dipping into principal!

Even though defined-contribution plans are excellent mechanisms for growing an investment portfolio with your hard earned, pre-tax, dollars, most plans and most plan participants worship the market value god to the exclusion of all others. Most people are too greedy and/or tax-averse to convert them into income producers during rallies— when they can lock in a meaningful cash flow. Additionally, the counter productive IRC encourages our use of owned assets first— a universally ignored phenomenon.

The “buy and hold” mutual fund mentality doesn’t transition well from growth to income— regardless of the fund category or description; the idea of helping people into a comfortable retirement hasn’t stopped the tax collectors; the market cycle is just as likely to be down as up when your gold watch is presented. You have to do more, and less, to secure that comfortable retirement.

Step One of the retirement plan is developing a focus on income, and understanding that spending money and market value are not blood relatives. Step Two is developing the right combination of tax deferred and tax-exempt income— among other things.



CAROLINA

piccolo504 asked:


Like in football, awhile ago there were some controversy about retiring Jerry Rice NFL legendary receiver number before Isaac Bruce takes up the number San Francisco 49ers. Does that mean he can’t take that number (number 80)?
Wait…. so if they can’t wear the number, how many numbers are they allowed to retire, next thing you know nobody can wear any numbers. wide receivers will be wearing numbers 101, and 140 because, 99 numbers (1-99) has been retired?

ELVIA

Brooke Hayles asked:


Over the years you’re sure to have encountered someone who’s told you to put some money into a retirement fund if you haven’t yet already. Many parents are now telling their children who’ve just started to make money to put some away for when they retire. Why do these people feel its so important to pass along the message to ’save early’? Probably because they didn’t, and had to scramble to throw together a plan out of sheer necessity.

Really, the premise of planning retirement is quite simple: Save money now because you won’t be working later. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize how very important this is until it’s too late. Believe it or not, even people who would once consider themselves somewhat wealthy, doctors and lawyers, etc., have been reduced into living in low-rental apartment buildings in their golden years because they simply didn’t plan their retirement well enough.

So, since you are reading this it can be assumed that you’ve already realized the first and most important part of planning retirement: Start now. The rest is relatively easy.

Planning Retirement Successfully:

To successfully plan for retirement, there is a measure of dedication and financial responsibility involved. The most pain-free way is to write out a thorough plan, including a budget, and simply stick to it. If you’re lucky enough to be reading this fifteen to twenty years before you plan on retiring, the money you’ll be putting into a long-term savings fund will seem inconsequential. In other words, you won’t feel like you’re missing out on things you could have purchased with the money you’re now saving for retirement with. This is because it will amount to such a small percentage of your current income.

How much money you’ll need to save is calculated on a variety of different things, most importantly, how you’d like to spend your time. Traveling abroad, or staying near the grandkids. Living in a house you’ll have paid off, or adding a cottage by the lake. Really, it’s all about balancing what you want now with what you’ll want then: Bigger house now, or cottage on the lake then? In a perfect world, we’d all have the money for both, but that just isn’t the case sometimes so planning retirement should take you at least a few days worth of thinking, and it should be open to updates whenever something changes. Nothing about planning retirement should be set in stone.

There are many different avenues of income that are associated with retirement, some of which can have confusing terms. The term for saving for your retirement personally and then cashing it all in when you retire is called superannuation. This, unsurprisingly, is the most prominent form of planning retirement financially.

All in all, there’s no better time to start planning for your retirement than right now. Even if you’re not sure what your income will be like in the coming years, it always helps to write down what you think you’d like to be doing when you retire so that you’ll at least have an idea of how much money you’ll need. Though planning retirement can be stressful, remember that not having a plan when you’re suddenly 65 years old is far worse than doing a bit of number crunching now.

Summary:

To successfully plan for retirement, there is a measure of dedication and financial responsibility involved. The most pain-free way is to write out a thorough plan, including a budget, and simply stick to it. While planning retirement can be stressful, remember that not having a plan when you’re suddenly 65 years old is far worse than doing a bit of number crunching now.



BETTE

The legacy of The Guerreros (PAC asked:


I don’t I’m glad his leaving he should go back to bodybuilding cause thats what he does best he just does not belong in wrestling after his been dissing out La familia do you think he should treated with respect I don’t think so. But if
you feel sorry for him leaving than explain your ops for him retiring?
No one disrespect La Family especially a Guerrero

If your not cheating your not trying -Eddy G rip.

ROSANNA