Short of Retirement Savings — Don't Blame the Government or Me!

Here is a summary of a recent AARP (formerely American Association of Retired People) survey:

Retirement income for many low-income recently retired baby boomers or the soon-to-be retired is likely not enough and makes their retirement dreams scary.

Sixty percent of the newly retired with low retirement incomes are not confident they can pay for basic needs such as food, shelther, and water when they retire, particularly while Obama ignores reality on Social Security.

The 2010 survey by AARP paints a dejecting picture of baby boomers who are struggling financially to make the transition to full-time retirement and make their retirement incomes meet their basic needs. No need for a simple retirement calcultor.

The survey polled American baby boomers across all socio-economic backgrounds who are 45 years or older.

American adults who made less than $25,000 per annum are especially unprepared for retirement and should have a better retirement plan.

On the other hand, only a bit more than a third (36 percent, in fact) of adults who made more than $25,000 a year said they were not confident they could pay for basic needs such as water, food, and shelter and may have to resort to retirees credit card debt.

Across all income groups, 28 percent of older American baby boomers were forced to stop contributing to their retirement savings plans in the past six months,

At the same time, almost one in six American baby boomers had to prematurely withdraw from their retirement savings.

Sadly, many baby boomers admitted they had little or no retirement savings.

Interestingly, 48 percent (almost half) of all adults surveyed said they had less than $50,000 in retirement savings.

Worse yet, 16 percent of these baby boomers said they had no retirement savings at all.

More than a quarter of the baby boomers surveyed said they had to delay or put off health care and dental treatments in the past six months. More than a third (34+ percent) of the older adults said they had trouble paying for gas or transportation.

Truth be known, if most Americans and Canadians weren't so spoiled and so irresponsibile with their money, they wouldn't have financial problems in their retirement years.

Put another way, if you are a baby boomer, it's all your fault if you cannot retire at 55 or 60 because you have not attained your retirement number.

Don't blame the government or the economy or anyone or anything else.

Particularly don't resent people lived frugally and who have saved enough for their retirement years.

Here are some gambling quotes to put things in proper perspective so that you don't think that the casino is the answer to your retirement income woes:

If you think that going to the casino is the only interesting thing to do in your retirement, you haven't read How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski.
— Wise retired person

People who can afford to gamble don't need money, and those who need money can't afford to gamble.
— Anon retiree

There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate: when he can't afford it, and when he can.
— Mark Twain

Winning a Lottery: My Retirement Plan with the Most Bugs to Be Worked Out
— Retirement Advice on The Retirement Cafe

Retirement Plans of Many Baby Boomers Are at Least $250,000 Short

If you are worried about retirement you are not alone. A recent survey out shows that Americans are increasingly ill-prepared for retirement. Workers are delaying their planned career end dates to instead focus on building a nest egg of some type.

Even using Simple Retirement Calculators will show that most people need a retirement job to create more retirement income.

According to CNNMoney.com:

“The percentage of workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings grew to 43% in 2010, from 39% in 2009, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual Retirement Confidence Survey.

That excludes the value of primary houses and defined-benefit pension plans."

Workers who said they had less than $1,000 jumped to 27%, from 20% in 2009."

The survey found that 54 percent of American workers with some form of retirement savings have less than $25,000 stowed away and need to spend more time retirement
planning.

Low Balances In Retirement Funds

Only about half the U.S. workforce is covered by some type of employer-sponsored retirement plan. And most of those are 401(k) plans, which usually require employees to contribute and make investment decisions.

Even before the financial crisis, the average balance in 401(k)s for workers nearing retirement was just $78,000. After the market plunged, that average was reduced to about $56,000. That's just not enough for a comfortable retirement, says Roger W. Ferguson Jr., president and chief executive officer of TIAA-CREF, the financial services company that offers retirement plans for employees in the academic, medical and nonprofit fields.

"Many families, at this stage, are short $250,000 from what they're going to need," Ferguson says.

Check out Why My Retirement Plan Is Better than David Letterman's Retirement Plan.

Free-Spirited View of Retirement

Seven Million Canadians Set to Retire

A new report suggests the Canadian Government and Canadian businesses must start making appropriate adjustments to handle the demographic crunch facing Canada.

Indeed, seven million baby boomers are set to retire over the next two decades, according to a TD Bank Retirement Study.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page said last month the Federal Government will face a structural deficit of about $20 billion in five years as Canadians transition from taxpaying workers to services-using retirees.





Americans Planning to Delay Retirement



A survey in March 2010 by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that a growing number of American workers are planning to delay retirement. That has negative implications for the U.S. job market, where unemployment is high and layoffs continue to grow.
Almost one in four workers (24 percent) postponed plans to retire in the last year.

Here is a review of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free Review at Retirement Recommendations by RetirementWorks2.com that may inspire you to read it so that you retire early, choose the Best Places to Retire Happy and totally enjoy your Retirement:

This book takes a free-spirited view of retirement, and it can be infectious.
Zelinski not only encourages you to adopt a fresh outlook, but helps you do so in specific, concrete ways. His approach is informative, fun, and sometimes astonishing.

Check Out:

Lotteries: The Retirement Plan for Stupid People

Midlife Happiness

Retirement Quotes at Goodreads.com

The image below is a scan of an article in a December 1983 article in the Edmonton Journal about Brian Tracy when he was just getting on a roll. No doubt Brian does not have to worry about the financial aspects of retirement as many Canadians and Americans hav to

Less Money Going into Retirement Plans

Fewer Canadians are putting money into retirement plans, according to the Royal Bank's annual RRSP poll.

The RB annual RRSP polls says 32 per cent of Canadians have not started saving for retirement yet, compared to 24 per cent in 2008. The study also found only 36 per cent say they are planning or have planned for retirement, down from 42 per cent in 2008.

The decline is sharpest among those aged 55 and over, with 53 per cent doing any retirement planning compared to 67 per cent last year.RBC also says just 35 per cent of Canadians have contributed to or plan to contribute to an RRSP for the 2009 tax year - the lowest percentage of contributors since 1996.

Here are some retirement resources to put retirement planning in perspective:

Ernie Zelinski's Retirement Plan Is Better Than Your Retirement Plan

Retirement Humor to Help You Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

How to Live Broke and Retire Broke!

Health in Retirement

Fun Things to Do in Retirement

Retirees Will Outlive Retirement Savings

Almost three out of five new middle-class retirees will outlive their financial assets if they attempt to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living, according to a new study conducted by Ernst & Young LLP on behalf of Americans for Secure Retirement.

The study also finds that middle-income Americans entering retirement now will have to reduce their standard of living by an average of 24 percent to minimize the likelihood of outliving their financial assets.

Those Americans seven years out from retirement are even less prepared and the study estimates that they will have to reduce their standard of living by even more, an average of 37 percent. These reductions will be necessary even when assuming that retirees can maintain the same standard of living with income equal to 59 to 71 percent of their pre-retirement wages.

"Many Americans envision a retirement where their lifestyle continues much as before," said Tom Neubig of Ernst & Young. "Our work shows that this is not a realistic expectation and that, with the current state of savings and potentially very long life expectancies, many retirees will have to cut back far more on expenditures than they had ever expected."

Nearly three out of five middle-class retirees will probably run out of money if they maintain their pre-retirement lifestyles, a new study from Ernst & Young has concluded.

The study found that Americans will have to drastically reduce their standard of living before retirement to live comfortably, or even avoid destitution, later in life.

Middle-income Americans entering retirement now will have to reduce their standard of living by an average of 24 percent to minimize their chances of outliving their financial assets, the study found. Workers seven years from retirement will have to cut their spending by even more -- 37 percent.

See My Retirement Plan on Squidoo

Also See The Singles Cafe for the Sensationally Single

My Retirement Plan Will Be Different Than the That of the Typical American

The leisure activities in my retirement plan will be different from that of the typical American's. According to a recent national survey of 800 American adults age 60 to 74 conducted for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, taking care of the yard and spending time with grandchildren
were statistically tied for top billing among married/partnered men while spending time with grandchildren was the clear favorite among married/partnered women.

Main Retirement Activities for American Male Retirees

• Taking care of things around the house and yard (28 percent)


• Spending time with grandchildren or other family members (26 percent)


• Enjoying things like playing golf, shopping, going out with friends (18 percent)


• Pursuing hobbies (12 percent)


• Volunteering in the community (seven percent)


• Watching where your money goes, clipping grocery coupons, etc. (six percent)

Main Retirement Activities for American Female Retirees

• Spending time with grandchildren or other family members (36 percent)


• Taking care of things around the house and yard (25 percent)


• Enjoying things like playing golf, shopping, going out with friends (16 percent)


• Pursuing hobbies (eight percent)


• Watching where your money goes, clipping grocery coupons, etc. (seven percent)


• Volunteering in the community (three percent)

See My Retirement Plan at Squidoo

Retirement Planning Basics

When happy and successful retirees are asked what advice they would offer to a person just entering retirement, most will respond with a variation of Spend as much — or considerably more — time thinking about how you will utilize your days and months as you do contemplating your finances. As one retiree told a newspaper reporter, "Retirement could well represent 25 percent or more of your whole life. Why leave it to chance?

Top Five Replies from Retirees to the Question: "What Would You Do If You Could Replan Retirement?"

• Save more or save less money - 39 percent
• Take better care of their health - 29 percent
• Live closer to their children - 24 percent
• Retire earlier - 23 percent
• Get involved in more hobbies - 21 percent
  

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free — The World's Best Retirement Gift

Over 90,000 Copies Sold

Published in 7 Foreign Languages

5 Reasons You Want to Receive How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free as One of Your Retirement Gifts

1. You want to have a good day - everyday - when you retire!

2. You "Absolutely, Positively" want to retire happy, wild, and free.

3. You want to inspire yourself with new accomplishments once you retire.

4. You want to gain the courage to take early retirement - in fact, the earlier, the better.

5. You have always wanted to fire your boss and take control of your destiny.

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The Joy of Not Working — The World's Second Ideal Retirement Gift

Over 225,000 Copies Sold
Published in 17 Languages


Like The Bible, The Joy of Not Working tells you everything you need to know to resolve your Life crisis, but doesn't exclude humor in its presentation. Check Chapter 7, "Lighting the Fire Rather than Being Warmed by It", pages 118-120, for a list of 200 activities for your consideration.

— Helga Roberts writing on AuthorsDen.com


Purchase The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com with this direct link:

The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com