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

Saving Only 10 Percent of Your Income Is for Losers

Here is an excerpt from a retirement planning article about how hard retirees are finding to make it in this day and age:

"The man who runs Palm Beach Share-n-Care Centre, where retirees and the aged to gather for events and activities, said pensioners hit hard by superannuation funds had to pull back on their favourite pleasures.

"You can tell in the bingo, they're not spending as much as they normally would," said Mr McRae.

"That's normally a pretty good indicator of how well people are doing.

"There's a lot of pensioners doing it tough at the moment. There's probably a lot who have done money in the stock exchange."

Plans for overseas holidays have been cut indefinitely, largely because nest eggs have evaporated, and the number of those on the borderline to poverty has increased, he said.

Financial advisors advocate that you use a simple retirement calculator to determine how much retirement income you will need before you submit your retirement letter. The exercise in determining how much money you will need for retirement will not result in perfect information, however.

Even if people could come up with perfect information, most people won't make use of this information because they aren't about to increase their savings much, if at all.

There are two problems conditions that most North Americans suffer from:

1. A need is any luxury that their neighbor happens to have.

2. Instant gratification takes too long.

Ernie Zelinski has just started writing a book called How NOT to Retire BROKE in which he is going to make the point that saving 10 percent of your income is for losers and people should save at least 40 percent of their income so that they end up with an adequate retirement income.

I was delighted to hear that someone is doing even better with their saving rate than Zelinski proposes.

On January 17, 2010, in reply to a blog post "5 Reasons Why You Will Retire Broke and Unhappy," an individual who writes his or her own blog post called Retirement Investing today stated:

"I personally am taking my retirement savings seriously and have by living very frugally been able to increase my savings to 60 percent of my gross earnings. I’m targeting a very early retirement. Achieving this high rate has been partly achieved by watching my Lifestyle Creep as you identify in Point 5. As I achieve pay increases I have actively decided not to change my standard of living."

In short, knowing how much money people need to retire comfortably will do them absolutely no good if they can't handle money.

It was J.P. Getty who said, "People who don't respect money don't have any."

Check out David Letterman's Retirement Plan of David Letterman

Here are a few new retirement sayings

I have retired, un retired, and retired again all in the past 10 years.
— Unknown retiree

“We’ll rock till we drop. We have all agreed this won’t be the last time. Everyone’s rocking."
— Ronnie Wood, (in July 2010 at age 63, in response to rumors that the Rolling Stores were going to retire. At the time, lead singer Mick Jagger was 67, guitarist Keith Richards was 66, and drummer Charlie Watts was 69.)


"It [retirement] was absolutely boring. You can't go and say, 'I'm retired now. That's it!' It won't take long and you're really gone for good and someone throws the last shovel of dirt on a coffin with your name on it. That's the moment you're really retiring — whenyou die."
— Ozzy Osbourne

Working, Traveling, and Being Broke in Retirement

WORKING IN RETIREMENT

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 77 percent of today's American employees include working for pay in their retirement planning as one of their retirement wishes.

Most of those surveyed say they will have a retirement job because they want to, and not because they will have to.

Pew, however, finds those statements out of step with the experiences of people who are actually retired.

Just 12 percent of the retirees Pew surveyed say they are currently working either full or part time for pay at any type of retirement job.

TRAVELING IN RETIRMENT

92 percent Baby Boomers plan to travel around Australia after they retire, but half of those surveyed don’t feel confident in having the money to do it when they retire.

New research released by ANZ reveals that 92 percent of ‘Baby Boomers’ want to travel around Australia on retirement, with 83 percent planning to engage more in hobbies sports.

However, ANZ’s “New Retirement” survey found almost half of Australians aged between 45 and 64 do not feel confident they have adequate funds to do what they want in retirement (49 percent). With only 24 percent extremely or very confident about their finances.

RETIREES AND BABY BOOMERS FEAR BEING BROKE IN RETIRENT MORE THAN DEATH!

A report has found only one in four Australian baby boomers are confident they have saved enough money for their retirement.

The ANZ survey shows nearly 50 per cent of people aged between 45 and 64
do not think they have enough saved to maintain the kind of lifestyle they want in retirement.

In contrast, only one-quarter of people in that age group are confident they have enough money to retire comfortably.

At the same time, according to a survey by Allianz Life, 61 percent of the 3,200 American baby boomers and retirees surveyed (ages 44 to 75) said they feared outliving their retirement income and retirement savings more than they dreaded dying.

Perhaps this is the new retirement where people will have to continue working at retirement jobs such as writing and self-publishing books such as

Even so, it is best to retire rich but to die broke.

NEW RETIREMENT RESOURCES

Here are a few new retirement resources:

Include Your Spouse in Your Retirement Plan and Not in Ernie Zelinski's Retirement Plan

Retirement T-Shirts to Show That You Are Happily Retired

Retirement Speeches at The Retirement Cafe

How to Retire Happier and Richer

A recent Wells Fargo survey about the retirement preparedness of Americans age 50 to 59 showed that they are not that well-prepared.

Of this group , a third (67 percent) said their expectations for retirement had changed from those held a year ago, and over half (56 percent) expected to work longer by an average of three more years.

These baby boomers said that they require $800,000 in retirement savings, but have saved only $300,000 (median amounts).

This group also had not assessed how long their savings would last in retirement.

They expected to live nearly 21 years in retirement, but planned on spending nearly 10 percent of their savings every year in retirement.

The retirement industry recommendation is to withdraw no more than 4 percent annually.

Here is some retirement advice to help you retire richer:

People who don't respect money don't have any.
— J. Paul Getty,

You are only as rich as the enrichment you bring to the world around you.
— Rajesh Setty

How easy it is for a man to die rich, if he will be contented to live miserable.
— Henry Fielding

Money is what you make it. Depending upon who you are — and your frame of mind — money can be anything you want it to be. Money can be: the root of all evil; or that which answers all things; or something that burns a hole in your pocket; or a means to freedom; or an interesting concept; or even a stupid concept. Whatever value you place on money, you must take responsibility for it. If money is evil to you, you created it being evil. If money is a problem to you, you created it being a problem. If money is joy to you, you created this concept. Take responsibility for your concepts. And be clear that these are just concepts. Nothing more and nothing less.
— from The Lazy Person's Guide to Success by

We have a balance of $0.32 in the bank … Which made us four-and-a-half trillion dollars richer than the federal government.
— Jim Borgman

And here are some retirement planning resources to help you retire happier and richer:

Retirement Income for Unconventional Retirees

How Not to Retire Rich - It's Easy

How to Make Friends in Retirement

Best Retirement Jobs

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

Americans Not Willing to Spend Less in Retirement

Apparently, Americans are becoming more realistic about retirement, with nearly half of those currently eligible for Social Security now planning to work in their so-called retirement years.

Surprisingly, however, 95 percent say they would not be willing to spend less in retirement.

Those are the findings of the fourth Real Life Retirement quarterly pulse survey conducted by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

"Americans are willing to save more and work later, in the hope of maintaining their spending and lifestyle in retirement," said Stacy Hammond, director of Real Life Retirement Services, Charles Schwab.

In my opinion this is quite ridiculous since people do need less money in retirement.

This survey showed that nearly half (47 percent) of workers aged 65 and older are prepared to work during retirement.

Reality is such that most people who want to work past the age of 65 will not get the chance due to health problems, not being able to get the job they want, or due to having to take care of a spouse.

Retirement Sayings and Retirement Quotes to Help You Retire Happy

When starting out, don't worry about not having enough money. Limited funds are a blessing, not a curse. Nothing encourages creative thinking in quite the same way.— H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.
— Jim Rohn

I retired early for health reasons — my company was sick of me and I was sick of them.
— Unknown wise person

I’m retired. You on the other hand have to go to work.
— Unknown wise person

The money’s no better in retirement but the hours are!
— Unknown wise person

Check out these retirement resources:

• Retirement Quotes on Good Reads



• How Much Do I Need to Retire?



• Retirement Wishes on the Retirement Quotes Cafe



• More Retirement Quotes on Goodreads



• Top-Ten Reasons to Retire Early



• Retirement Jobs of the Future



• Retirement Income Resources
  
  

Retirement Is Getting a Bad Rap

The Art of Retirement seems to getting harder by the day.

Here are some more recent story headlines:

Recession hits retirees living abroad
Easier (press release) - Chester,UK
Britons looking to retire abroad to traditional European destinations
such as Spain and Portugal have been warned to think twice about their
decision by the ...

Florida retirees see American dream shattered
Taipei Times - Taiwan
The Florida panhandle, home to the US’ largest population of retirees,
has become a center of financial panic. “The banks and the mortgage
companies just ...

Planadviser.com
Would-Be Retirees Plan to Work Longer
Planadviser.com - Stamford,CT,USA
Delaying retirement is one of several life adjustments pre-retirees
are making to weather the current economic climate. CPA financial
planners surveyed by ...

Check out these retirement resources:

Ernie Zelinski's Book List on The Open Library

101 Business and Money Resources

Fun Things to Do at Work While You Wait to Retire

101 Successes in Life

Friends and Money in Retirement