nurkholis asked:


On September 25 the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) announced its seventh annual awards call for “the best employers for workers over 50 years. The non-winning companies have won the trio simply offering traditional insurance: health, life and disability.

These companies, among which are SC Johnson, Principal Financial Group, Michelin North America and Mercy Health System-have been honored by the AARP for providing workers with more than 50 years of benefits “that look towards the future,” as alternatives such as working hours, learning or training opportunities throughout their working lives and a program that allows workers to care for their elderly relatives. AARP’s ruling included the statements of its CEO, William D. Novelli, at which emphasized the obvious: focusing on older workers have much economic sense and pays dividends from the companies that value the expertise of these employees.

“As you increase the gap between demand and supply of veterans and experienced workers, employers in all sectors should pay greater attention to recruitment and retention of experienced employees of a certain age”, said a recently published national report on the aging of the workforce conducted by MetLife Mature Market Institute, the information and political resources of the company. “This is true especially in sectors such as health services, government, education, manufacturing, energy and aerospace, which is particularly hard to cover the loss of veteran workers when millions of people from the baby - boomers begin to leave the labor market.

The influence of baby boomers

“Companies are making a big mistake assuming that older employees have no desire, motivation or physical condition to keep working,” says Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade. And since today’s veteran employees tend to enjoy better health than their predecessors, what does today the term “older worker”? Wonders Barsade. Companies that do not attach importance to its work force veteran “not only are behaving unfairly, Barsade says, “but they are also wasting extra workers with relevant knowledge about the institution and are still ready, willing and anxious to do an excellent job”.

According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released in September by the CSR (Congressional Research Service), the demographic profile of the workforce in the U.S. “will suffer a profound change” when the baby boomers, i.e. those born between 1946 and 1964, reached retirement age but are less young people join the labor market. The number of people aged between 55 and 64 will increase by 11 million between 2005 and 2025, while the number of people between 25 and 54 will increase by only 5 million.

According to the MetLife report, Americans aged 55 to 70 years of age remain in the labor market for two main reasons: “financial needs and the desire to remain active and / or try something new.” Those who are now between 60 and 70 and some years represent “perhaps the last generation fortunate enough to enjoy widespread access to corporate pensions and Social Security,” the report adds. Employees of the baby boomers who are now between 50 and 59 years face a background of increased financial uncertainty.

Wharton Professor Olivia S. Mitchell notes that the sheer size of the cohort that makes up the baby boom generation is estimated to be 78.2 million people, is a very attractive. “The baby boom generation is so great that everything you do influences popular culture and news media, which is one of the reasons why it is now talking about it,” says Mitchell, director Executive Pension Research Council at Wharton and director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research. “But in my opinion the baby boomers will change the definition of retirement”.

In fact, in his new book, Redefining Retirement: How Will Boomers Fare? (Redefining retirement: What will the baby boomers?) Mitchell and two co-authors argue that “people will not follow the old pattern of work, and then retire. Rather they will accept what we call bridge work, that is, they will leave the company they have worked virtually his entire life and accept jobs part-time transition. Some set up businesses and become entrepreneurs and other volunteer work, Mitchell says. “This has changed from previous generations, and there is evidence that expectations have also changed. What I really do not know is whether there will be demand for such workers. Even if in the labor market supply continues to fall, “employers are interested in older workers? I think it is too early to tell”.

Mitchell recognizes that in some sectors, “this has already happened. We have already gone to older workers for call centers, hotel reservation companies to fill jobs or cyclical. But these are not permanent jobs, which brings us to the definition used to redefine retirement. Under this new definition, people not reach certain age and stop working no more. “

The Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at Wharton, says another warning in regard to the labor market for people of a certain age. “Companies are still pushing them towards early retirement programs,” he says adding that despite some employers actively strive to retain them “in some posts that can be taught skills. It is worth remembering that employees have always left the companies. Nothing has changed. The companies retained knowledge through development programs that prepared young workers to be able to perform these tasks. The big problem is that companies have been more or less abandoned those programs.



BLACKMAN

Jared Wright asked:


Retirement doesn’t have to be seen as an end, but rather as a period of new opportunities. Too many older people see retirement as the end of the road.

After retirement, older people have more time on their hands and they are normally financially independent enough to explore new territories.

There are many stories about people taking up new study courses after retirement.  Others travel the world, write books or just enjoy the hobbies they never had time for.

The baby-boomers (born around 1940 to 1960) made it clear that they are not interested in getting old and their expectations of retirement are very different from those of previous generations.  Many have indicated that they are not ready to retire at the age of 65. This is, in many ways, good news for the country’s economy as they represent the majority of American business managers.

Technology has made it possible for people in affluent countries to live much longer and healthier than before. Retirement at 65, therefore, means another 20 or 25 years of quality living.

There are various ways elderly people can stay active in their communities and add value to the lives of others and their own.

Mentors

With years of experience in a certain profession older people has the time to provide quality assistance to family members or other people in their community, working in the same field. Experience is something you can’t learn from a book. For many years in history the only way the youth learned was by word of mouth. Knowledge could only be acquired at the feet of the elderly in the community.

Volunteer Work

Everybody understands the necessity of volunteer work in the community, but career people have less and less time to do volunteer work. People, in general, are quite happy and feel the need to assist charities, but it is, most of the time, rather a monetary assistance. While money is always appreciated, there are certain situations where money alone won’t solve the problem.

Providing food for the poor, needs money but it also needs hands. The still physically able can be invaluable here. Children’s homes need money, but affection and interaction with other caring people are sometimes more needed than money. Older people can make a difference in a child’s life in these circumstances.

The incredible changes in the world during the last 60 years will be reflected in the elderly of the next few decades.



LAWTON

PAUL BOWLEY asked:


A retirement career? You gotta be kidding! I’ve got enough on my plate right now without thinking about a retirement career! Just gimme a break!

OK. Let’s say you’re interested in retiring soon. Or you’re just planning the future of your job, career advancement or job search. Here’s an import fact of life. You are about to be impacted by the Boomers.

Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age in record numbers. And this will affect your current job or your retirement plans. I don’t care if you’re a pre-boomer or actually a proud member of the Boomer generation. The Baby Boom is going to impact your job and career!

For example, thanks to improved health care and lifestyle changes, many Boomers will continue to work well past retirement age.

If you are still years away from retirement, this fact will make a difference to your ability to advance your career. The competition just became much tougher. Many employers see a positive impact to their bottom line by retaining long-term, experienced workers.

What’s more, when Boomers do finally decide to retire, employers will have a difficult time finding skilled, experienced employees from a smaller pool of available workers.

Employers realize that increased burdens will be placed on the already stressed Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid systems. Employers will have to become very creative to come up with innovative benefits and compensation strategies.

On the other hand, if you are planning ahead for retirement, your retirement career plan has just handed you another fascinating option. For example, you could consider staying right where you are until you’re ready to stop. But in a retirement mode . . . working part-time . . . or coming back as a consultant or other contract employee.

So, retirement is no longer a stodgy retreat into oblivion where the only thing you have left is reading the paper and watching the news. With an occasional visit from the grandkids.

Of course, there’s always the marvelous world of creative loafing, or traveling or vacationing. But, now there’s also the rewarding world of continuing employment. Baby Boomers have provided options for you that were unheard of just a few years ago.

If you thought that it’s way too soon to put together a retirement career plan, you’re wrong! It’s never too soon. At least if you want to take advantage of the Boomer employment options. When you take a look ahead at the expanding retirement career options you’ll be delighted to discover the many wonderful ways to enjoy employment or as long as you want.

So whether a retirement decision is imminent or you’re dead serious about getting ahead in your career, the secret to your success is to plan ahead. That means staying informed about the constantly evolving job and career marketplace.



FANNING

Paul Hata asked:


There are many things that people plan for when planning their retirement. They plan for the travel they wish to do, to have money for gifts for the grandchildren they hope to have, and all kinds of wise and practical thing. In the process, however, many people neglect to plan for where they wish to live upon retirement.

We are seeing a growing trend of retirees moving to certain communities. This is all well and good. It’s nice to be around people of similar ages and interests and live in communities that cater to those interests.

However, one thing is often overlooked during the process. The prices in these communities, and the average cost of living are quite likely to be different than the cost of living where you are. This is true unless you plan to retire where you live.

The fact is that there is a growing trend among retirees to migrate to certain population centers. The entire coastal region of Florida would almost qualify though not all communities in this area are equal when it comes to being retiree friendly.

The problem is that most people who retire live on limited budgets and can’t afford the high dollar real estate that is part and parcel for these areas. One solution to that is to decide where you’d like to retire and buy real estate in that area early.

There are all kinds of housing communities being built around the nation as we speak. In addition to these communities high rise towers and condominiums are being built to cater not only to time-share renters but also retiring baby boomers that are moving into these areas.

The earlier you buy the better, as property values do tend to increase gradually over time. There are trends and twists and turns but for the most part, property will gain in value given enough time in which to do so.

The good news in these ‘time share’ and popular destination areas is that you can own the property and rent it out for a little extra income while you are biding your time waiting for retirement.

Once you’ve purchased a property in the area you can make the rounds and get a good comparison for the value of goods and services in the area compared with what you are accustomed to.

You can add the difference in your calculations for what you will need when making your retirement plans. Failing to do this can result in some very sad situations many retired people find themselves in.

These could include living in sub standard and unsafe housing and not having enough money left after paying the rent to cover the cost of food and medication much less other needs that may be encountered.

You should also make sure that you add the little cushion of money into your planning so that you can occasionally through caution to the wind and do something fun. After all, what good is it to be retired if you can never afford to live it up a little?

Make sure you have enough money set aside to take that cruise every spring or fly up to see the grandkids two or three times a year. You want to make sure that you can enjoy your retirement or you will find endless days of staring at the television. What fun is that?

The costs of living in this country from one region to the next can be significantly different. If you do not consider where you will be living upon retirement when calculating the numbers you are doing yourself a great disservice.

This is definitely something you will want to discuss with your financial planner before it is too late to make the changes that will affect your future and retirement needs. It is good to have dreams of where you’d like to retire but it is even better to take the steps necessary to make your retirement dreams a reality.



GUILLEN

Amy F. Goodmann asked:


All retirees pray that they will have enough cash to see them comfortably through their retirement years. The alternative is obviously more ominous - that they will outlive the comfort of their savings. The truth that most baby boomers have yet to comprehend that even through they will have their parents savings and life insurance plans to live off of we are living longer. Baby boomers will need to carry themselves on their retirement savings many times longer than life span that actuaries used in their precious calculations.

The magic retirement age of 65 was historically chosen not arbitrarily by the German Kaiser in the introduction of the first pension plans as this at the time was the average life span of most male workers. As most baby boomers know and anticipate modern medicine and conveniences have pushed that envelope. You may like it or not before your retirement savings anticipated a 10 year payout period. Now it may be closer to 25 to 30 years.

The thought of having to lower their standards of living and giving up some luxuries to make end meet is for many people, the most worrying aspect of their leisure years. Often, though, the imagined fears are exaggerated. It is often said that 99 % of the things you fear will never come to pass. But why chance it. The basic rule is that by not planning and leaving things to the last moment severely limits your options and causes unnecessary stress and worry.

The good news is that those who planned their finances carefully during their working years will adjust with ease, and their retirement years can be the most enjoyable years of their existence.

Part of the secret knows to manage one’s savings in retirement. Basically today’s workers are looking at two choices. They can work longer so that they can spend more or they can retire sooner and spend less. Another option is to do a bit of both and reduce your workload and in effect semi-retire. By planning ahead you may well have more than one option.

Taking early retirement before your pension begins offers a number of options. You can downsize your house to free up some of your tax free holdings - and live on that pool of cash. This is especially a valuable option now with low interest rates drive large increases in the value of real estate and as well creating a frenzy of buyers willing to snap up your property. If the retiree has profited from company stock options they can use these to bridge them over until the time their company pension plan kicks in. Or they can withdraw from their 401k plans if allowed or withdraw from their savings.

Managing one’s investments does not stop at retirement. Individual income, needs and expenditures will vary, but when liquidating investments a tax efficiency strategy will conserve more of your hard earned investment dollars.

If you are not to be dictated by your tax bracket you should keep foremost in your mind when you are trying to figure out strategies. The goal is not how much you make; it is how you much you keep. The same of course is true when cashing in investment vehicles. You always have to be conscious of the tax consequences.

Much of retirement planning strategy depends on the difference between the two tax brackets at the time if investing during your tax earning years compared to your tax bracket during withdrawal in your retirement years.

Remember those that those that fail to plan ahead will plan to fail.



MORALES

MissDeviance asked:


Baby Boomers have consistently made out in every economy because of their sheer numbers and the way their decisions affect everything.

So it’s no wonder Gen X’ers are bitter and unable to save for their own confortable retirement:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080414/ts_nm/usa_economy_retirement_dc

All the Gen X’ers that I know — and our generation, the ones right behind them — feel like they are walking in the trampled grasses of a buffalo herd that’s just run by, and it’s a reality that we’ve been living with our whole lives! The Boomers ruin EVERYTHING they touch, so why should retirement be any different?

So Gen X’ers figure their time will come… when THEY are in power and the Boomers have retired. Then they can pass laws to simply confiscate the Boomers money, via taxes. And the Boomers, having socialized the country, will have enabled them with that power.

Wouldn’t that be sweet revenge on the self-centered “Me” generation?

PIERSON