Tag Archives: Retirement plan

Your Happiness Plan

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Making Happiness a Part of Your Retirement Plan was a blog post that caught my eye this morning. As Vanessa Chris points out most people’s retirement focus is financial. But money doesn’t buy happiness so you must think of the other dimensions of a fulfilling life. She lists some problems and their solutions.

The Problem: Lack of Preparation
The Solution: Take It Easy Taking It Easy
Avoid a sharp transition from work to retirement if you can. Plan activities to try, with or without family and friends. Don’t count on relaxing for a while, then figuring it out. Especially if you’re cutting your career cold turkey, start something new soon after.
The Problem: Even Busier Than Before
The Solution: Do the Math
Work out realistic timelines, especially if you plan on engaging in many activities at once
The Problem: Declining Health
The Solution: Don’t Plan Too Far Ahead
Make sure you make a genuine, active, thought-about mental distinction between hope and expectation, keeping goals realistic.
The Problem: Sustained Interest and Enjoyment
The Solution: Maintain Perspective, Test, and Diversify
Try not putting all your eggs in one basket. Don’t start too intensive, and allow yourself to enjoy a few avenues for entertainment, stimulation, and productivity. In retirement, there’s no reason why you can’t plan many small things, far from undertaking a big new project or starting a new, heavy venture.

There are more suggestions in the article that are worth reviewing. Alternatively there is a book called Happiness Plan: Simple Steps to a Happier Life.

Finding happiness isn’t easy and life often gets in the way. Happiness doesn’t just happen, people need a clearer vision of attainable happiness, defined in simple terms – people need a plan. This book offers some simple observations about how any individual can be happier, here and now, by choice, self-awareness and practice.

Whichever way works for you, just remember money isn’t everything.

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Postponing Retirement

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Yet another headline proclaims what we all know so well.  Reuters reports that Older Americans postpone retirement as economy sags.

With the bleak economic news that is so widely reported, it is not surprising that people try to minimize their risks. 

A December survey by the senior’s advocacy group AARP showed 57 percent of Americans aged 45 or over who lost money in their investments over the past year and who are working or looking for work expect to delay retirement. One in four have already postponed plans to retire, the survey showed.

As the experts report people are losing their assets that they assumed would be there to fund their retirement. 

“This combination of forces creates a triple whammy for older people. The stock market is plunging, jobs are hard to find, and home values are sagging. This creates a really difficult environment in which to contemplate retiring,” said Richard Johnson, an expert in seniors and retirement at the Urban Institute, a Washington think-tank.

Assets in retirement accounts have lost $2.8 trillion, or 32 percent of their value, as of December 2, 2008, compared with September 30, 2007, according to the institute.

Since there is no sign of any early turnaround, one can assume that the proportion of people delaying their retirement will go even higher.  Thankfully more and more are fitter than seniors used to be so they are better able to make this choice.

Footnote: If you are interested in books on Retirement, then why not visit the Retirement section of the Money Bookstore.

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Never Retire

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Contrary to the previous post on choosing your retirement age, there are some who feel strongly that you should never retire.

Some People Can Be Happy Never Retiring and Nick Midey, who is a lawyer, is just such a person.

“I’ve practiced law for 60 years,” says 82-year-old Nick Midey. “My doctor tells me if an active guy like me stops working they often die within six months, so I never plan to retire.”  Midey’s secret to such personal satisfaction lies in his passion for his job. “I love my work,” he says. “I enjoy meeting and helping people – I never want to give this up.”

Midey noted that four years ago he had heart surgery and was confined to his home for a few months to recover. “I nearly went crazy. I read everything in sight and easily tired of TV. I couldn’t wait to go back to work.” He said it was during this recovery period that he decided he’d never retire.

An even more illustrious example is Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United.

I never think about retiring any more – if my health’s fine I’ll carry on. Ferguson stopped short of indicating he would have to be carried out of Carrington in a box, though he did concede that he might go on managing into his seventies after all.

‘I don’t know what I’m going to do or when I’m going to go, it’s very difficult to say,’ the Manchester United manager, who turns 67 next month, said. ‘My only plan at the moment is not to have a plan. I don’t ever think about retiring any more, I’m not going to put myself into that situation. I’ve stopped thinking, “Should I go this season or next?” You’re not forced to retire now, after all. If your health is all right and your team is doing well there’s no reason not to carry on.

Such individuals who do not wish to retire are presumably in the minority.  However a Vancouver Sun item today suggests that Pension woes could see older workers ‘retire on the job’.

Company pensions funds have fallen so deeply into deficit that the eroded benefits some plans would now provide could prompt older workers to shelve their retirement plans, in some cases also eroding their motivation to the point where they in effect “retire on the job.”  That warning came Thursday in one of two reports on the deterioration in the health of employer pension funds.

Members of defined benefit plans, which promise a set level of benefits at retirement, will be at risk only if the company does not survive long enough to fully fund the plan, according to a report by consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

The pensions of workers in defined contribution plans do not have that security.

A pension report by consulting firm Mercer indicated that pension plans may be even deeper in the red, with their assets having fallen to less than 60 per cent of what is needed to fully cover benefits.

“The financial health of Canadian pension plans plummeted in 2008, as stock markets and interest rates declined sharply,” the Mercer report said.  Its index of the ratio of assets to liabilities of a “model” pension plan fell to 59 per cent from 82 per cent last year, a 23-point drop.

Choosing not to retire is a very different situation from having no choice but to continue to work.  It certainly seems that many will be in that unfortunate situation.

Footnote: If you are interested in books on Retirement, then why not visit the Retirement section of the Money Bookstore.

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