Home And Family

Being retired doesn’t mean you want to sit around the house and do nothing. For many people there is a need to find retirement income opportunities to supplement their pension. When you are used to living on a higher income, retirement can come as a severe blow to the budget. Instead of finding another job many retirees are now looking for online alternatives. With many different opportunities to make money online, there is little doubt that there is also an abundance of income opportunities. In fact, retirees probably have an advantage over younger workers because of their vast experience.

The retirement opportunities available are comprised of many different types including affiliate and network marketing, Ecommerce, virtual assistant and any skills of your own you may wish to promote as an online business. Choosing the best retirement income opportunities involves finding what is right for you based on your income needs and your available time. To spend your retirement working long and hard as you have done all of your life, so you may want to choose something that will provide an addition to your income without taking up all of your time.

For those who have had a professional position before retirement, there are many opportunities to continue the same kind of work after retirement. The internet has opportunities for lawyers, accountants, teachers, tutors, psychologists and much more. There is no limit to the retirement income opportunities that exist for those who have the skills, education and experience. That doesn’t mean those who have spent their lives working with their hands are left out in the cold because there is something for everyone who wants to take the time to do the work that is necessary.

The amount of hours you want to spend and the amount of money you wish to earn from any income opportunities will have a bearing on the type of retirement income opportunities that will interest you. If you foresee the need to find retirement opportunities before you actually retire you may want to begin researching the possibilities so that you will have everything up and operating on the day you retire. With enough time ahead to plan you may already be making more with your site by the time you put in your last day at work.

The retirement financial opportunities from which you can choose are limited only by your experience and interest. Do keep in mind that you will need to continue promoting your business if you want to continue making money with it. With very few exceptions there is no business opportunity that will allow you to promote it for only a limited amount of time and still earn money for you. Retirement income opportunities can make your golden years much easier financially but you must be willing to work hard in website promotion in order to maintain a constant flow of visitors to your site. If you let the traffic slow down so will your income.

If you are one of the many who will have an inadequate retirement nest egg to fully retire you may want to consider starting your own home based business before you plan on retiring. It occurred to me when I saw an eighty one year old man packing groceries and pushing shopping carts out to cars for store patrons. I couldn’t resist asking him why he wants to work at his age and especially outside in all of the heat of summer and cold of winter, and he told me that he had to or he would lose his home.

He had retired from a major corporation as an engineer who had worked for the company for thirty-five years. His pension was adequate to support him in his retirement until the company was bought out and the pension plan was severely reduced. So at seventy-two he had to go back to work. At least he had a few good years in retirement before he had to return to work, now he figures that he will have to work for the rest of his days.

You have to do, what you have to do to survive, and we all need money so why not build yourself an alternate source of income that you can control. With home businesses gaining in popularity due to their nominal cost to start people are starting their own home businesses every day to build themselves an alternate stream if income. Once die-hard skeptics of anything other than working for a corporation people are becoming skeptical of corporations and warming up to home businesses and network marketing. Many network marketing companies are full of people in their fifties and sixties building themselves an alternate stream of income to help take care of themselves and their families into their old age. Usually you don’t find that many young people involved in network marketing because they still believe that the corporation will take care of them and they can change the system to bring that about. In a few years the younger people will be looking at home business opportunities too, just not yet.

If you are nearing retirement and need to boost your income you really need to consider a network marketing opportunity. Do your research and find one that you like, and have products that you can use. Then look for a sponsor to help get you started in your new business. Your sponsor is the person that will familiarize you with the company and its policies and to help train you on how to do the business yourself. Just keep an open mind you never know what kinds of opportunities will really help you unless you investigate them.

But sometimes even adults can be guilty of letting dreams and images of a golden time ahead get the best of us. We often develop a mythology of how retirement will be when we get there and when that retired life actually starts, there are some real, down to earth adjustments that need to be made. So if you can know some of the hidden dangers of retirement in advance, it is so much better to go into retirement with your eyes open and have realistic expectations.

There are two negative reactions to the sudden shift of lifestyle in retirement. They are loneliness and boredom. Even if you are going to be home all the time, there is no question that once you stop going to an office or having regular responsibilities, you can often feel a sense of loss and grief because you miss the people, the regular human contact and the fun of being out and that can result in loneliness that can get pretty chronic.

For men especially the feeling of boredom can also set in pretty fast when the challenge of the work world goes away. In a lot of cases, men live for their jobs and when that world goes away, there is a sense of disorientation and not knowing what to do with themselves that is disconcerting for the family and for the retired man himself. You may have been looking forward to a less stressful life only to find that it was the stress that makes you tick and without it, you feel adrift in life with no direction or goals.

Both of these problems can be addressed by not letting your retirement life be to idle, at least not at first. You can fill your life up with volunteering, getting busy with family or by getting involved socially with other retired people. One area of volunteering that can go a long way to replace the gratification of the work place is to work with habitat for humanity to help build homes for people who cannot afford a home any other way. Both retired married partners can find ways to pitch in and it gets you out with people doing things that are worthwhile.

Give yourself time to get used to the idea of retirement and to the new lifestyle. It should be a simpler lifestyle because your responsibilities are reduced and you have more time on your hands. Be aware that if you and your spouse are suddenly around each other every day and every hour of the day, that is going to create new stresses which can also qualify as a hidden danger of retirement. By being aware that this is not the fault of either spouse but a natural reaction. The best response is just to get out and do things separately and create that natural space you are both used to more often.

There will be a natural down time when you first retire and treat the first month like vacation. But don’t stay on vacation. Let your ambition and zeal for life find new outlets. It will be fun and exciting to see where it takes you and that is what retirement is all about.

Many of us spend our entire lives waiting for the day whenever we can finally retire. We may even plan ahead for that day but at times, planning is not enough. Unfortunately, when that day comes we quickly come to the realization that retirement can be a little bit boring. This is especially true for those of us that worked full-time for many years and although we had dreamed about propping our feet up, we actually end up looking for a retirement job.

If you find that making the transition from working full time into retirement is a difficult one, you might also consider picking up a part-time or perhaps even a full-time job to help pass the hours. There are a number of different jobs that retirees tend to enjoy but some of them may not be exactly what you’re looking for. Yes, it does give us something to do if we are bagging groceries at the local store, but some of us may be looking for something that is a little bit more challenging.

It may also be that you are looking for a retirement job in order to be able to supplement your Social Security or retirement income. There are plenty of us that are now having a difficult time making ends meet, particularly with the way the cost of living has been rising in recent times. A retirement job can help you to overcome this hurdle and can give you a little bit of money in your pocket which is always a great feeling.

Planning for retirement is something no sensible person can afford to ignore and it should be given high priority once you have passed middle age.?After having led a very active life the idea of doing next to nothing all day long during your retirement will start causing nightmares as you draw closer to retirement.

What do you propose to do when you retire? You should have a retirement planning strategy in place. Retired life should be viewed from a different perspective altogether.

There are several options that you may want to consider when planning for retirement which will help you lead a healthy, happy and an active lifestyle.

If finance is not a problem, you could engage yourself in voluntary work. Many organizations are in the look out for retired personnel to help them run their organizations since their skills and expertise are very much valued and respected. Many voluntary organizations are service oriented and the opportunity to help people with no reward in return can indeed be a very satisfying experience and help you to maintain an active lifestyle.

Hobbies are another aspect you should think of seriously when you are planning for retirement. Though late in life this is a wonderful opportunity for you to revive and develop your hobbies such as painting, gardening, music and short story writing, you had been indulging in during your younger days. You probably still love your hobbies but had to give it up due to pressure of work and family responsibilities.?Retirement should provide the opportunity to pursue your hobbies once again and enjoy doing it. If you are good at handicrafts and very dexterous with your hands you could plan to utilize your free time to indulge in this seriously and possibly make an additional income too.

Retirement and reduced income go hand in hand and this could be a problem for some who yet have family and other responsibilities to sort out.?When planning for retirement you should plan out a strategy to work part-time in your present work place or find suitable employment elsewhere.?May be you should follow a part-time course to find suitable employment after retirement which will enable you to maintain a reasonably good lifestyle and continue to be active.

Remaining mentally active is equally important during retirement. The computer and the internet are wonderful companions for retirees. If you are not sufficiently conversant with the computer you should learn to handle it before you retire. News from around the world, music, videos, complete novels are all right there at your finger tips. You could also be in touch with your kith and kin by e-mail. You can easily spend a couple of hours a day on the computer and enjoy it.

The computer and the internet can also be utilized to generate an additional income and keep you gainfully occupied if you are so inclined. You can enroll yourself with online paid survey companies and participate in online surveys for which you will be remunerated. Similarly participating in online auctions by enrolling yourself with e-Bay or other auction sites is another way of keeping yourself gainfully occupied.

An active lifestyle during retirement should be your goal. This does not preclude you from going on a world tour or enjoying yourself but your focus should be on remaining mentally alert and physically active as long as possible during retirement.

In the previous few decades a whole new breed of community has shown up in the United States-the senior community. While some types of senior communities, such as nursing homes, have been around previously, the newer types are different. These newer senior communities try very hard to accommodate the needs of seniors, yet still giving them an exciting and comfortable environment that they look forward to every day. Looking for “people time” seniors move to the groups to meet new people, and for the facilities and services that are offered, also. Fun and excitement, within an arm’s reach-that’s what senior communities are.

With a lot of communities founded throughout the state, Florida is the place to be in the retirement community world-the capital, if you want to think of it that way. With gorgeous scenery and wildlife, Florida’s warm climate is nice and comfy during the winter, something that seniors appreciate. Home to some of the most lavish panoramas in the nation, the Florida Panhandle region has retirement neighborhoods situated throughout the area. In addition, the Panhandle has some historic neighborhoods, too. An example of this would be one founded by the Spanish, centuries ago-St. Augustine.

Newer retirement neighborhoods are constructed and operated by companies that are very cut-throat, and competitive, but still want to give their own clients the best possible experience. Due to the fact that the retirement neighborhoods are so close together, they all off a wide range of facilities and services so as to bring more clients in. One thing that is fairly standard for all of the communities: championship eighteen hole golf courses. Extravagant fitness workout areas can also be found in many retirement neighborhoods.

Mediterranean style homes are often the choice for Floridian homes, with stress on comfort and beauty. Isn’t that what retirement is all about, after all? Being relaxed? More basic establishments to the best-equipped, retirement neighborhoods in Florida’s prices vary widely, going up all the way into the multi-million dollar range. Senior apartments, and modular home units are also possible options that are more affordable. These units, though still modest, still offer nice facilities and services, and allow seniors to financially plan accordingly.

After putting their homes up for sale, many seniors take the profits, and very wisely use that capital as an long-term source of income, or investment. Choosing to move into an apartment, living off the returns from that investment provides them with a comfortable means of living. Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) can offer medical support and a self-sufficient lifestyle for those seniors that want both. While being able to give the medical support that is needed, a CCRC also has the facilities and services for that type of life that the senior wants, too.

Do it properly! Although this is an obvious statement, most people when saving for retirement don抰 know how to do it properly.

They make errors that cost them and cost them big time. They can抰 retire in comfort and this is not the minority ?this is the majority!

Problems we all face Are:

Keep in mind, the state won抰 help you much, medical costs are soaring and people are living longer.

Unless you are saving for retirement properly, you won抰 enjoy your golden years and of course you should – You have worked hard all your life!

Let抯 face it – if you have worked hard all your life enjoying your 揼olden years? should be your right.

Lets look at some common mistakes people make when saving for retirement and how if you don抰 make the same mistakes, you can enjoy the comfort and lifestyle you deserve.

Common mistakes

Here are some common mistakes that people make when saving for retirement:

1. Mutual funds and stocks can make you rich

Well let抯 look at the facts.

If you are saving for retirement you can expect maybe 10% annually compounded and taking into account inflation that抯 not much.

Even more worrying is 90% of funds cannot even do this!

They lose, or provide single digit gains that are eaten up by inflation.

Why do people invest in mutual funds?

Most of the time they are taken in by the sales hype and this does not match the reality.

2. Don抰 take risks when Upside is limited & downside is more!

If you are going to save for retirement your better off in a fixed interest fund – same upside and less downside.

Check the facts:

Ask any mutual company for an average performance of ALL funds under management. You won抰 get it, but if you could you have losses across the board.

Forget the sales patter!

When a fund performs great – when it fails they launch a new one.

They don抰 care if you make money or not, they have their commission so why do they care? They don抰.

2. Alternative Investments for growth

OK great lets when saving for retirement trade alternative investments:

Like currencies, futures, options or hedge funds.

A warning – Keep in mind the risk reward:

90% of investors lose in these investments and that抯 the lot!

Consider saving for retirement in a hedge fund. Most are secretive and unregulated so you cant see what they do. They are not obliged to give you performance of all funds under management and most blow up!

This means losses of 50% or more in most cases …Don抰 believe they lose? Check the statistics. Hedge funds sound fantastic in theory, but the reality is very different.

3. When you get close to retirement you cant take risks

Why? Quite simply if you are saving for retirement you can take losses early on as you have time to recover, when you get close to using your fund you cant.

You have spent years building it and it needs to kept intact.

Don抰 take risks in the last few years. The odds are you can抰 won’t make it back quickly enough! Use low risk investments..

4. High return and low risk

We all want this!

We want this at anytime but when saving for retirement it抯 essential.

We ALL want our money to work hard and produce above average gains with little downside risk, but is it possible?

The answer is yes!

5. The best low risk investments

When saving for retirement, you will hear it time and time again..

Property is the best investment and it is a good one, but there is one that compares that抯 cheaper and growth potential is the same, if not more.

When saving for retirement lets look at land. Here we will give you one example, but there are many more. Just check these statistics out and your mutual fund manager will weep with envy!

Land is a simple investment and is the secret of the world抯 wealthiest investors:

Let抯 consider Costa Rica. You can by land at 70% less than in the US and there is a huge property boom going on and land is at a premium and that means huge growth potential.

Quite simply, Americans are buying Costa Rica properties in record numbers to get second and retirement homes at cheaper prices and their only 3 hours from the US!

What does this mean, if you are saving for retirement? It means big gains and low risk:

50 ?100% gains per annum are being made with low risk ( prices don抰 tend to fall here in land they simply stay static and rise quickly) is this better than your mutual fund? No contest!

You want good returns and low risk when saving for retirement and land investment gives you this.

We don抰 have room to tell you how cheap it is, how tax efficient it is, how easy it is to do and why this boom will continue but check the facts for yourself.

If you want to save for retirement, land is the ideal vehicle and you should consider it

Long Island is a beautiful, fun filled place to spend your retired years: With miles of beaches, hundreds of places to go shopping and enough good food to go around! The following are a number of reasons that make Long Island the greatest place to retire!

1.With lots of ocean front and lake edge real estate, Long Island has very fresh and clean air. Away from the noise, stress, and busy streets of New York City, you can enjoy calm lazy days uninterrupted. Go for a walk along the water’s edge, enjoy a book on your patio, and invite a few friends over for a game of cards. The weather is beautiful and your days will be equally gorgeous.

2.There are a large number of retired seniors living on Long Island: Meaning you won’t be alone! There will be lots of people your age who share your interests. There are also a lot of places that hold senior activities like bingo, cards, dance classes, craft groups, senior citizen trips, and senior aerobics. You may be retired, but you’ll never be bored!

3.Living on Long Island means you’re close to just about everything you could possibly want or need. For example, retiring at an Assisted Living Facility in beautiful Lake Ronkonkoma, you are only an hour and a half away from the stunning Montauk Point! Montauk is a great place for a day trip: Pack a picnic lunch, bring your walking shoes, and enjoy the view! It’s also only an hour and twenty minutes from Orient Point, where you can catch a ferry over to Connecticut for a weekend vacation. Dropping you off in New London, you are minutes from Mystic, a great little town filled with nice affordable accommodations, lots of shopping, and great food. You can also head over to Mohegan Sun for more shopping, a little gambling, and amazing shows and concerts! And even closer than all that is New York City, which is about an hour away (depending where you are on L.I). And with a train station near by, the trip is a breeze! I don’t think I need to tell you about the plethora of places to go, things to see, and stuff to do in the city!

4.Long Island is home to some of the most beautiful beaches around! With miles of sandy shoreline, rolling waves, and clean warm air what’s not to love? Plus, the sunsets are beautiful too! Long Island also gives you the choice of two shore lines. The South Shore, which is your typical sandy bottom kind of beach, and the North Shore, which is covered in rocks, stones, and even larger boulders. (Honestly, it’s a rock collectors dream come true!) Not to mention, some of Long Island’s beaches are placed on the top 10 list of best beaches in America!

5.There are lots of great places to eat scattered all over the island. Plus, Long Island is home to some of the best pizza and bagels in the country! With plenty of fast food establishments, delis, cafes, diners and fine restaurants, there is always something to satisfy your taste buds!

6.Long Island is also home to lots of great wildlife. With places like the protected Pine Barrens and wildlife refuges like the one located in Quogue. There are miles of trails to hike and animals to spy! A great place for bird watcher enthusiasts, photographers, and wildlife lovers of all types!

7.Still not convinced? Look at it this way… many people choose Long Island as their vacation destination, and extremely wealthy celebrities own homes in the Hamptons. If it’s worth vacationing to, it’s definitely worth living! You can make other people’s vacations your life!

As you approach your retirement years you need to take stock to insure you are prepared for the new lifestyle you are about to embark upon. A good starting place is to attempt to answer these four basic questions. As you think about the answers, you will begin to recognize what the essential issues are that are important to your successful retirement and what steps you may need to take as you go forward.營 use the singular “you” in this article, but obviously all of these issues apply equally to your partner as well.

1. When do you plan to retire?

This has to be the first question you need to think about. The problem is the answer to this question may depend upon the answers to the next three. So although you need to start with this question, you may find you will have to rethink this answer after you address the other three. By picking a target date at this point you are really setting a timetable that can be used to calculate your likely retirement income and expenses during your retirement years and determining if you can meet those requirements. As we proceed to review the following questions you will see what I am talking about.

2?What kind of lifestyle do you wish to pursue during retirement?

This question takes some thought. Simple answers like “I just want to relax and enjoy myself” are not specific enough. For instance, if travelling is part of your vision for your retirement years, you need to try to be as specific as you can. Will your travel be domestic or overseas, or a combination? How many trips of each type would you like to take each year? Will it be cruises, flights to resort destinations or perhaps driving? If driving, will you rent a vehicle or use your own? It is important that you be as complete as possible in this phase, as it will be a key to determining your financial requirements in your retirement years. Do you have hobbies you intend to pursue; if so what kinds of activities do they entail? I think you can get the idea. Again, be as specific as you can. It is probably worthwhile to make a list so you can refer to it later. 燚on’t restrict yourself at this stage; try to list all the “wants” as best you can. Are you planning on working at all during retirement? Is so, how much income do you anticipate earning? ?/p>

3. Where do you intend to live after retirement?

Are you satisfied with your current location? Think this through carefully, as it is a major issue. Will you be downsizing or staying in your current home? If you intend to relocate, consider the differences in the cost of living between your present location and your planned location. There can be significant differences. Also think about family. Many people who retire find they want to locate closer to grandchildren or other family members. How about climate? Consider your present and future health needs. Can you get any anticipated special medical requirements in your planned location?

4. What are your financial requirements and what are your sources of income?

Now comes the hard part. It is absolutely essential that you get this question right. The most common problem that arises for most retirees is money. The fear of not having enough funds to support themselves during retirement is almost always the top concern in any survey of persons who have been retired for more than five years. It is especially true in today’s economical climate. This step requires a lot of detail analysis. If you want to make it a lot easier, you should get yourself a good home accounting software package. Don’t be intimidated by this, the good ones are very intuitive and do not require any detailed knowledge of accounting to use. Probably the best on the market is Intuit’s Quicken, which costs under $100 and is very easy to install and setup.

If you are really sure you can’t do it yourself, you need to consult a professional financial planner, A word of caution: find 燼 “fee only” financial planner; avoid “no fee” financial planners, as they make their living from the commissions they earn from selling you stuff like insurance, annuities, and other investments. You want to be sure you are getting unbiased recommendations. Whether you decide to do it yourself or hire a professional, you will need to have the answers to questions one through three. Be prepared to fix estimated annual costs to all of the answers above, plus you will need to carefully identify and list all of your current and anticipated living expenses.

Finally identify all of your income, including anticipated retirement income from your private retirement plan as well as Social Security for yourself and your partner. Once you have done this you will have a much clearer and realistic picture of your retirement situation. Again, a good software program like Quicken will make this much easier as it contains a powerful financial planning tool that guides you through the process. ?/p>

At the end of this process you will be able to determine if your retirement plans are realistic, or what steps you need to take to make them possible.

Now what? Recent weeks have laid a heavy load on many older and retired persons across this country. The horrendous storms which began off the coast in the Gulf and in Florida and then traversed through the Midwest and points in the north and northeast left scars and pain all along the way.

The Stock Market trembled and is still shaking, leaving many now retired, and some yet to be, anxious about their economics and frail in their hopes for some kind of assurance and security.

So it is not surprising that a simple two word question, “Now what?” leaps from our lips. Certainty is not very certain these days. Security, a word used by politicians, sounds dry and unpromising. We would like to have the calming confidence that someone, somehow, some way could bring about a national sense of honor and duty and responsibility. Wouldn’t it be great to experience the sense of what a warm handshake once communicated: “you can count on me!”

Now what? Here are my weak suggestions from six decades of living, four of preaching, a lifetime of believing, a great sense of hoping, and a genuine regard for the struggles of life and our ability to overcome them:

First, the Don’ts…..

+Do not panic. Do not act precipitously or anxiously. Use good judgment, but be careful who you trust.

+Do not grab at straws! There will be those out there ready to take advantage of the moment and make it even worse than it may seem, right now.

+Do not bury your savings in a coffee can or hide them under a mattress.

+Do not be uniformed. Keep up with what is going on. Don’t trust the politicians’ formulas, without reading more than the headlines. Stay in touch with your congressperson and Senator.

+Don’t lose sleep. Tomorrow will dawn and the Stock Market will open. Let tomorrow’s concerns be sufficient unto themselves.

Now, for some Dos:

+Do keep your health in reasonable condition. Allow your breathing to be slow and measured. Stay with your exercise regimen. Talk about something other than the crises affecting all of us.

+Do check on persons whom you know to be worriers. Give them a shot of optimism.

+Do listen to and read accounts from other than highly biased commentators and columnists.

+Do watch out for the apocalyptic preachers who are in it for the bad times. They would wish us to believe “it is all over but the shouting.” That is hopeless and faithless garbage.

++Now do something very, very special. If you can, draw your loved ones around you, join in a very close circle or a cluster and hold each other. BE close enough to one another so that you can feel their breath on your face. If they live far away, call them right now or tonight, and let them know how utterly wonderful and special they are. When you have done one or the other or both, you will have taken care of what is really basic and important. Nobody can take that away from us.