Retirement Transition

M.Q. said that she considered herself retired at 64. However, she began planning for her retirement almost thirty years prior, at the age of 38. As M.Q. was a registered nurse, she did not start a 401 K. Instead, she started a 401 B. One of M.Q.’s chief joys and complaints about retirement is all of her free time. She enjoys it because it lets her spend more time with her extended family, her husband, and her dogs. She dislikes it because she often finds herself

When the economy crashed in 2007 the youth was hit the hardest. The unemployment rate for people aged 25-32 was over 8 percent in 2013 (Machado “How Millennials…”). Instead of working dead-end seasonal jobs, Millennials would rather use this opportunity to do something they may have never had the opportunity to do otherwise. Also, growing up seeing their parents 401k’s wiped clean and hearing talk of failing social security program has caused Millennials to distrust their retirement options. In fact, only 6 percent of Millennials believe they will obtain the same benefits as their parents, and half believe that there will be no more money in social security by the time they graduate (Machado “How Millennials…”).

The majority of people age 65 or older in the United States are still working in full time positions. This opens the question if they planned for retirement, or what if anything went wrong while working? How do they feel about still having to work? Have they taken proper steps in preparing for retirement? Are they only working to pass time? These are the questions that everyone should be asking themselves about their own retirement plans, and what they have done to financially prepare for that stage in their life.

According to a USA Today article from last year, nearly sixty percent of Americans have more than $25,000 put away for retirement. Thirty-six percent of Americans have less than $1000 saved for later in life. This means that as more people, especially the baby boomer generation, retire, there will be more strain on program such as Social Security and Medicare, and ultimately the federal budget that is responsible for these programs. If steps are taken now to close this gap, we will insure the continued longevity of these programs by raising the tax contributions flowing into both Social Security and Medicare.

4 Statistics Canada has utilized a computer model for the purpose of gaining retirement readiness information from households. This model calculates the net replacement ratio, which is further compared with disposable income once the person has reached retirement, as well as preretirement. The replacement ratios for each household 's income is broken down, with a 75% rate being considered tolerable and low. The ideal rate, however, is above at least 95%. The small percentage of Canadians who have a readiness score that is under 75% are generally employees with a spotty employment record, or those who have not yet lived in Canada long enough for a full Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) benefit. Therefore, increasing the overall amount of household savings is going to do a lot more damage than good. This is because having savings now reduces all disposable income for the years that are spent working, while additional income for retirement that is generated will reduce the future GIS entitlement. In fact, the

Envision feeling cold, starved, petrified, and alone, just getting home to find an eviction notice, perhaps a letter of foreclosure hanging from the door. As the room goes grey and begins to spin, four words begin to echo in the background, “Is this really happening?” All resources are exhausted and Social Security proves ineffective. Fear has taken over. Thoughts of life in a shelter cloud the room. The bills are piling high, as bank accounts begin to dwindle. Unfortunately, this is the harsh certainty of many people in the aging community. Retirement is a critical life event that everyone has to undergo, through being unprepared, many fall victim to poverty in old age. Individuals should utilize Individual Retirement Accounts,

Eventually everyone wants to retire. In order to do that we need to make and save enough money to live on, but not everyone has the luxury of having financial stability. Since the mid-1930s, the government has tried to ensure that everyone should at least have some income after leaving the workforce. This plan is known as Social Security. Initially created during the New Deal, it was a compassionate program to help prevent elderly people from being destitute and was founded on a sound economic model. However, the government’s failure to predict life expectancy and demographic changes, program expansions to include people with disabilities, and other added benefits have made the program much more expensive and will eventually put Social Security

generation nearly approaches the age of 65, the increased evidence shows that many may need, or want depending on their life situations, to work beyond the standard retirement age of 65. One of the main reasons to continue work over 65 is that financial needs might be the single most important incentive to work longer. Even at today’s level of Social Security Benefits, many older Americans need to work as they have little income from other sources. One-Third of the population that is over the age of 65 relies on the benefits from Social Security for all their income

A pension / income stream is simply a product which offers an individual entitlement to a regular income stream each year, in exchange for a payment of capital. They are governed by the Superannuation Industry Supervision (SIS) Act as they are the commutation / drawdown phase of Superannuation.

Many people have no idea of what they expect to achieve after retirement when asked about their retirement plans. The government’s policies about retirement do not cater for the well-being of retirees creating a lot of worry for the life after employment. The increasing number of employees demanding cover by government pension programs and the current decline in the retirement income levels contributes to the change of the American pension landscape (Heiland and Li, 2012). The United States of America developed labor laws during the time when the country’s economy was independent and self-contained. The main aim of U.S. labor policy was to get rid of different challenges affecting employees and improve their lifestyle in order to enjoy working in a suitable environment. Additionally, the labor policy aimed at protecting American workers by law and protecting certain human rights. According to Dugas (2013), despite the growing economy in U.S. more than 28 percent of American workers lack confidence with the current labor policy on retirement. The research conducted by the Employment Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) in 2013 revealed that most workers are not sure of saving money for retirement. The above information calls upon a recommendation of labor policy about retirement that would fulfill the demands of workers. The proposed policy will bring change to the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund

The author suggests solutions for contribution plan participants to achieve greater financial wellness and greater financial security in their retirement years. The author calls these The Four M’s – Milestones, Measurements, Monitoring, and Management. The final strategy the author discusses is to connect it all together, to help participants make the connection between their savings levels and the annual retirement income expected and

We all are currently aging. We live in an again paradox. But, it is what we choose to do with our time while we have it that counts the most. As a young adult, and before this class I was very unaware of the importance of planning your retirement as early as possible. There are many things that go into planning for a successful retirement. Such as, but not limited to: Where will I choose to live? What will I do to stay mentally active? Or even, when will I choose to retire. In this paper, I will go over a plethora of aspects for my personal plan for aging.

Jerry continued his demanding work schedule for the next few years until he was able to retire at the age of 38. When he retired he had been in the military for nearly 20 years and was more than ready to spend a lot of time at home. I asked how his transition into retirement was and he said it was absolutely great. He said that from the time he was married until he retired he put as much money as possible into his retirement, which meant he, Mae, and the children lived of the bare minimum for a lot of years. He said it was more than worth it because his retirement checks were significantly higher than his work checks. Another aspect of his retirement that he thoroughly enjoyed was the amount of time he had. Jerry now had the time to go on hunting and fishing trips all over the country. Along with the amount of time, Jerry was also excited to discuss his first grandchild, along with his other grandchildren.

With the workforce in America decreasing due to hard economic times, there is no guarantee the money put into the reserve will sufficiently support a generation when it is time for retirement. Depending on Social Security to support a person financially when ready to retire, will leave that individual in even more of a struggle than the beneficiaries trying to survive in these earlier years of the 21 century. Social Security benefits represent about 41% of the income of the elderly; if there is not enough to support even half of the elderly’s financial needs now, there is no reason a younger person should depend on it alone for retirement (Dewitt, 2010) in the future.

The trick to retirement is making the savings and investment part of that formula last as long as you do. “Traditionally, experts have advised you to invest your savings in stocks and bonds, with the ratio of stocks to bonds gradually decreasing as you get older. The rule of thumb was to have 65% of your investment dollars in bonds by your 65th birthday.” (aol.sageonline.com) This rule of thumb has changed recently in order to take into account the increase in life expectancy. Now that your retirement money has to last longer, the experts are beginning to lean toward investing more of your money in the stock market and keeping it there further into retirement than you normally would. The most important notion that retirees must learn is that the longer you can go without dipping into your principal, the longer your money will last for you due to the rule of compounding of interest. There are numerous different techniques for people to use in order to retire comfortably and remain comfortable until their deaths. Since deciding how much money you need for retirement is obviously a highly personal calculation, individuals must explore the many different instruments for retirement. So how should people invest today for the future and their retirement?