A Great List of Concepts to Keep in Mind as We Age

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A Great List of Concepts to Keep in Mind as We AgeMany of us are between 60 and death, i.e. getting old.  Some people enjoy their lives in retirement more than others. Alan S. Bame created this excellent list for aging. This is a great list of concepts to keep in mind as we age and really for all ages.  I think there is some good advice in here to try to incorporate into our thinking! This is a great list of concepts to keep in mind as we age and how to get more out of life.

Concepts to Keep in Mind

Our first nine items on our Great List of Concepts to Keep in Mind as We Age are as follows:

1. It’s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it.  Don’t just keep it for those who may have no notion of the sacrifices you made to get it. Remember there is nothing more dangerous than a son or daughter-in-law with big ideas for your hard-earned capital. Warning: This is also a bad time for investments, even if it seems wonderful or fool-proof. They only bring problems and worries. This is a time for you to enjoy some peace and quiet.

2. Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don’t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You’ve taken care of them for many years, and you’ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter and support. The responsibility is now theirs to earn their own money.

3. Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well and get your sleep. It’s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs. Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. Stay informed.

4. Always buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The key goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and the money will not provide any comfort then, enjoy it together.

More to Consider

5. Don’t stress over the little things . You’ve already overcome so much in your life. You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Feel good in the now. Small issues will soon be forgotten.

6. Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbor and remember: “A man is not old as long as he has intelligence and affection.”

7. Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your hair salon or barber, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well-maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.

8. Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age, but keep your own sense of style . There’s nothing worse than an older person trying to wear the current fashion among youngsters. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you – keep it and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.

9. ALWAYS stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised what old friends you’ll meet. Keeping in touch with what is going on and with the people you know is important at any age.

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10. Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideals as you, but they are the future, and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism , and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today.

11. Never use the phrase: “In my time.” Your time is now . As long as you’re alive, you are part of this time. You may have been younger, but you are still you now, having fun and enjoying life.

12. Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time with bitter people will make you older and harder to be around.

13. Do not surrender to the temptation of living with your children or grandchildren (if you have a financial choice, that is). Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our privacy. They need theirs and you need yours. If you’ve lost your partner (our deepest condolences), then find a person to move in with you and help out. Even then, do so only if you feel you really need the help or do not want to live alone.

Additional Areas To Think About

14. Don’t abandon your hobbies. If you don’t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. Consider adopting a cat or a dog, grow a garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf. You can paint, volunteer or just collect certain items. Find something you like and spend some real time having fun with it.

15. Even if you don’t feel like it, try to accept invitations. Baptisms, graduations, birthdays, weddings, conferences. Try to go. Get out of the house, meet people you haven’t seen in a while, experience something new (or something old). But don’t get upset when you’re not invited. Some events are limited by resources, and not everyone can be hosted. The important thing is to leave the house from time to time. Go to museums, go walk through a field. Get out there.

Chose any or all of these items to help get the most out of life. A Great List of Concepts to Keep in Mind as We Age continues.

16. Be a conversationalist. Talk less and listen more. Some people go on and on about the past, not caring if their listeners are really interested. That’s a great way of reducing their desire to speak with you. Listen first and answer questions, but don’t go off into long stories unless asked to. Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are . Everyone is going through the same things, and people have a low tolerance for hearing complaints. Always find some good things to say as well.

Even More

17. Pain and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of the cycle of life we’re all going through. Try to minimize them in your mind. They are not who you are, they are something that life added to you. If they become your entire focus, you lose sight of the person you used to be.

18. If you’ve been offended by someone – forgive them. If you’ve offended someone – apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. It only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn’t matter who was right. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Don’t take that poison. Forgive, forget and move on with your life.

19. If you have a strong belief, savor it. But don’t waste your time trying to convince others. They will make their own choices no matter what you tell them, and it will only bring you frustration. Live your faith and set an example. Live true to your beliefs and let that memory sway them.

* 20. Laugh. Chuckle A LOT. Laugh at everything. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones *. You managed to have a life, a long one. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life. But you did. So what’s not to laugh about? Find the humor in your situation.

21. Take no notice of what others say about you and even less notice of what they might be thinking. They’ll do it anyway, and you should have pride in yourself and what you’ve achieved. Let them talk and don’t worry. They have no idea about your history, your memories and the life you’ve lived so far. There’s still much to be written, so get busy writing and don’t waste time thinking about what others might think. Now is the time to be at rest, at peace and as happy as you can be!

AND, REMEMBER: “Life is too short to drink bad wine.”

For more about Lifestyle Decisions to improve our lives in retirement, click here. If you know of additional ideas that we can add to our Great List of Concepts to Keep in Mind as We Age, please leave a comment. We would be happy to add them to the list.

 

What Should I Do With My Inheritance?

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This is actually a pretty common question. With many baby boomers aging and leaving their assets to their kids many children suddenly find themselves with quite a bit of money willed to them from their parents. We are in the midst of one of the largest asset transfers in history as baby boomers grow older and do not spend their savings before passing. The heirs are then faced with the question of What should I do with my inheritance? For many, the answer seems obvious. Pay off bills, go on a trip or update the house etc. In other words, spend the money!

Having been the recipient of an inheritance several times, the writer can write from personal experience. The first time my wife and I inherited just enough money to by a car. We really needed a car. Our existing car was on its last legs and we decided to spend our money this way. We got a great car and it lasted for many years, but at the end of its life we had nothing from the inheritance and had to by another car. We spent the money on something that depreciates over time and also was worthless at the end of its life. What did we have to show for it? Nothing!

What should I do with my Inheritance – the Next Time?

We learned a tough lesson in the sense that we really had nothing to show from the inheritance. Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice gift and at least we did not blow it on a trip that lasted two weeks or partied. We could have done that and had distant memories of how we spent the money.

Based on this experience, we decided the next time we received an inheritance we would invest the money into the stock market and take the income generated from the stocks in terms of dividends. We had a variety of bills at the time and we also had a mortgage which we could have paid off, but we learned a lesson that it is very easy to spend the money and very difficult to save it.

We invested in blue chip stocks that pay dividends every quarter. They also had a long history of paying these dividends and raising the dividends as well. In other words, we not only received a regular income, we also got a raise every year. We could have reinvested the dividends, but choose to take this income and enjoy this money.

There have been many ups and downs in the markets over the years. At one point we even had less money than what we started with. We did not sell or change our investments. Over the years the market not only recovered it has topped new levels. The end result is that we now have quite a bit more money than what we started with and we have received income every year for the past 18 years.

For us this was a really great success story and was our answer to the question, what should I do with my inheritance. Everyone makes decisions based on their own situation, but just remember once it is gone, it is extremely difficult to save enough money for later in life.

For more details about inheritances, wills etc. click here.

 

 

 

Manage divorce and personal finances after age 65

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Manage divorce and personal financesDivorce is difficult enough at any time in your life. The younger you are when you divorce, the longer you will have to recover financially from the settlement whatever it may be. But when you manage divorce and personal finances after age 65 or after you retire, it can be much more complicated and financially difficult. There is the usual splitting of assets based on age, dependency, support needs and access to the kids. With two people no longer sharing the expenses of running a household, it can become much more expensive for the individuals involved to handle all of the associated expenses. Significant adjustments for all parties are often needed, sometimes with painful financial realities.

A middle aged manager who reported to me who decided that he was going to separate from his wife and move into a place of his own, indicated to me less than six months later that he could not afford to live separately. It was just too expensive. He decided to move back in with his wife and children because it was just too expensive otherwise. Now imagine if you have just retired and are around  65 and have decided to retire. What are the impacts of retirement, divorce and suddenly realizing that you have to split all of your assets and income with your spouse?

Manage divorce and personal finances after age 65

Unless it is way beyond making it work, we suggest that people in this situation find ways to make work for them and recover their relationship. We will not even begin to address what this might mean on an emotional level. It is far too complex and varied to address. We will try to address some of the financial considerations instead. As a couple, you may be financially secure, sharing the expenses and supporting one home, car etc.  We are following this with a list of areas that need to be considered assuming it is a 50 – 50 split which it seldom will be in most situations. Readers can apply this list to their own situation and make adjustments as needed.

Your Home – assume you will either sell your home and split the proceeds or one spouse will buy out the other. Either way you end up with 50% of what you had and all of the expenses. Most people cannot replace their current home with 50% less.

Your Car – if you only have one car, you may have to buy another and split the value of the current vehicle 50 -50. Even if you own two cars, chances are one is worth more than the other.

Your investments

While your investments and pension income may be sufficient to support cohabitating couples, after they are both split 50 -50, will you have sufficient income to live in the manner you have become use to. Not likely and significant adjustments in life style will be needed.

Your debts –  are much the same. If the debts were jointly created then you have 50% ownership. However once divorced your credit rating may fall. Suddenly consumers find themselves unable to find lenders to loan them money to finance their portion of the debt.

Insurance Coverage – do you still need life insurance coverage? Will the insurance costs double because now you need to support two homes etc. Look at all of your insurance coverage to ensure that  affordability is considered, Make sure you have adequate coverage for your needs.

Health coverage and benefits

This can be a huge area especially for consumers in the US. Does one spouse lose coverage after the divorce and do they need to find additional coverage often at considerable expense?

Gifts to the kids – gifts to the kids that were previously shared are now individualized. They may cost more as well when you consider that as a couple you are actually spending more money. Cut backs may be needed in order to survive.

Personal Items – that have significant value are some of the most difficult to deal with. Not only do they have significant sentimental value, it might be difficult for one spouse to buy the other out.

This is a relatively short summary. However the ramifications can be significant for a spouse planning to separate and get a divorce. Especially if it is after they retire after the age of 55. Sometimes it is just much easier to Manage divorce and personal finances after age 65 than it is to actually divorce. Think carefully about what action you want to take before initiating action that cannot be stopped once it begins.

For more on this subject, Manage divorce and personal finances after age 65 , click here.

 

Should I Carry some Debt into Retirement?

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problem for new retireesThe quick answer to the question, should I carry some debt into retirement is no, if you can avoid it. Obviously who would want to knowingly carry debt into retirement, however, there are lots of people that are retired and are carrying some debt. Whether it is credit card debt or a line of credit, it is another monthly payment that must be made and depending on the interest rate it can also be very expensive. Credit cards carry interest rates of 21% or more on any unpaid balances. Even unsecured lines of credit can be expensive. They typically are higher amounts and the interest rates are higher as well for anything that is unsecured.

Why You Might Answer Yes to the Question, Should I carry some Debt into Retirement

Sometimes life just gets in the way. The best-laid plans are foiled by early retirement. People get laid off from their jobs, are forced to retire early because of health or downsizing. If you find yourself in this situation and you still carry a mortgage, chances are you will carry it into retirement as well.

Many people decide to go on trips when they retire. Some will spend money on the house to freshen it up. There are many ways to spend money and if we are not careful it means we carry it into retirement as debt.

Debt in retirement does not always have to be a bad thing. Obviously we would prefer not to have any debt. Manageable debt that is declining over time through monthly payments is okay. Debt that is used for investments is obviously higher risk, but it can have a tremendous payback.

For most people, if you have debt, try to repay it as quickly as possible. Pay down the highest interest rate debt first. Renegotiate your debt to arrange for lower interest rates and fewer fees. Avoid missing payments. If you must, downsize your home and expenses to focus on reducing your debt as quickly as possible. Avoid spending money that you do not have. Prepare for the day when an emergency will eat up a lot of your savings.

For more about debt reduction in retirement, click here.

Senior Nomads AirBNB

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We recently read an article about older Americans who are living a nomadic life. In her powerful new book, Nomadland, award-winning journalist Jessica Bruder reveals the dark, depressing and sometimes physically painful life of a tribe of men and women in their 50s and 60s who are living out of an RV or trailer. They travel around the US in search of good weather and most of all jobs. They find temporary jobs and work at these jobs while they last. Most are seasonal and very demanding physically. There is another sector of seniors who fall into the category of Senior Nomads Airbnb.

She also talks about some of them who live in Airbnb’s. these people have sold their homes or at the very least rented then out while they travel. They have more money and are out to see the world. Some will work as well at part time jobs while they travel. They live off their pension and investments from their homes and are out to see the world.

Senior Nomads Airbnb – RV Nomads – Locked in Place

There are many people who cannot afford to travel and who either rent a home or live in the home they have had for years. They can barely live on their incomes and their homes are gradually falling apart because they cannot afford to keep them up. These folks might be termed as locked in place. They cannot sell and they cannot move, because it would just cost too much money. Money that they cannot afford.

At least the folks who live out of their RV’s and travel around the US have a place to live and a home such as it is. As long as they can continue working, they can live and put food on the table. If they get sick and need medical treatment, they will be destitute and broke from medical bills.

If you are a senior and own a home, perhaps by creating an AirBnb in your home, you can add a little money to your income and live more comfortably. There are many people who love to travel and spend many days each year going from city to city for vacation as well as work related activities. This approach could add thousands of dollars to your budgeted income and make life just a little more comfortable.

Use the guidelines provided by Airbnb to help you make arrangements, accepting credit cards, deposits and much more.

Living a Nomadic Semi Retired Lifestyle

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There is a disturbing trend that appears to have developed since the 2008 depression and the real estate crash. Many people are living a nomadic semi retired lifestyle. Many people lost their homes due to foreclosure, loss of jobs and also loss of savings. The value of homes plummeted and many found that their home was less than what they originally paid and less than their mortgage. Many chose to walk away.

At the same time, the stock market fell over 50%. If you sold your investments you locked in your losses and never recovered. with so many companies going bankrupt and cutting back, many lost their jobs. Whats left for these people. They rent homes, they have low paying jobs and some live in RV’s and follow the temporary job route.

Living a Nomadic Semi Retired Lifestyle

These seniors do not have sufficient savings to retire. They buy older RV’s and live in trailer parks or other temporary locations around the country. They need to work and will go wherever they need to go to find temporary work.

Of course they would like something more permanent, but these kinds of jobs are long gone. They work at seasonal jobs for companies like Walmart and Amazon, or worse in the fields planting and picking crops. Hard work and they walk many miles every day.

These folks are trying to survive and live as nomads traveling around the country, many living on less than $1000 a month. They lost their 401k investments in the market, they do not have a pension and they are too young in many cases to collect state and federal handouts. They need to work and survive on little money where ever they can.

This is a rough life for seniors Living a Nomadic Semi Retired Lifestyle or really anyone at any age trying to get by with this lifestyle. For more lifestyle related posts, click here.

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Senior Nomads Living in AirBNB’s

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Just read a post about a couple that rented out their home and then began traveling. They have traveled for the last 4 years staying in AirBNB’s the entire time in over 68 countries. They are living a dream life, touring, meeting people and running a blog about their travels. These are Senior Nomads Living in AirBNB and living their dream travel life. The picture on the left is of one of the BNB’s they stayed in. They try to stay in locations that are interesting and also under $100 a night.

For many seniors this is a dream they may never follow. For one reason or another, seniors may not have the money, they may find it too risky or they may be afraid to travel to other locations. Like exercise, you cannot run a marathon without training for it. Travelling and staying in air bnb’s should start small and gradually increase as you become more comfortable with the approach.

Senior Nomads Living in AirBNB ‘s

We have recently stayed in an AirBNB in Montreal Canada. It is located in the plateau area near Laurier St, close to restaurants and shopping. A beautiful treed street within a block of everything you might need. A grocery store, drug store, local coffee shops, liquor store, and restaurants. The metro is only a 5-minute walk. Visitors can travel all over the city.

Montreal, like many cities is a bike friendly city and of course you can rent bikes on the street. There is a bike rental location just around the corner.

Travelling and staying in other people’s homes can be fun and safe. Only rent from AirBNB hosts with a 5-star rating to ensure that the cleanliness and quality are superior. The AirBNB we stayed at can be found at – Click Here

For more posts about lifestyle and senior living, click here.

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Retirement is a Dangerous Time for Many People

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Retirement is a Dangerous Time for Many PeopleThere are many factors that consumers should consider when they retire whether it is by choice or they are forced to retire through downsizing or economic upheaval. Suddenly they are not going to work any longer. They do not see their friends and they may have lost their reason for being. Their self-image was tied too much to the job and now they are stuck at home with nothing to do. Sure there are hobbies, golf and the repair jobs around the home. These run out over time and perhaps are boring when there is no challenge. This is when retirement is a dangerous time for many people! They gain weight, their blood pressure goes up and they are stressed for no apparent reason. These are all indicators of health problems that may get worse.

Retirement is a Dangerous Time for Many People

Common sense says that humans cannot really sit around and do nothing without getting into some kind of trouble. In this case, we are discussing a retired person without anything to do, not stimulated, bored and letting their activity level decline. This is a recipe for going to a senior home or worse.

Every person knows themselves the best. If you do not have hobbies and do not want any, go back to work or volunteer. Gain the personal interaction back that you crave. You may even make a little bit of money while doing this work. If your volunteering, you never know where it will lead.

The writer is a retired person and is busy investigating what works for them.  Teaching myself to first code HTML and then later build websites with a content management system like WordPress was the challenge and stimulation I needed. Although it is a hobby that interests me, it also pays a little bit as well. Enough for my coffee in the morning!

The point is to find something that keeps your mind working, your body exercising and something you find challenging. This is the best way to avoid the Retirement is a Dangerous Time for Many People syndromes.

For more posts about life style and seniors, click here.

Seniors Saying Yes too Often are Getting Into Financial Trouble

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Money Management for KidsMore and more often we are hearing about seniors saying yes too often. They are getting into financial trouble and then have nowhere to turn. Some may be supporting elderly parents who themselves do not have sufficient funds. They have to pay for their own health care in long term stay homes. Then there are the children who used to a life of never wanting for anything. They expect the same thing as grownups. They forget that their parents worked hard for the money and saved before they bought a big home, car etc. We see many of our friends dealing with these issues. They agonize over how much money to hand out. Should they give money now and jeopardize their retirement?

Why are Seniors Saying Yes too Often are Getting Into Financial Trouble

In most situations, they just want to help their family members now while they are still alive. If they help them now they can also enjoy what their financial gifts have purchased for their kids. Quite often it is the children putting pressure on the parents for them to help out.

Perhaps a down payment on a home or a new car. There credit card bills are due and they need help paying the bills. It might even be verbally worded as a loan, however one the money is given, most never see a penny back again. If you do give money to a family member, assume you will never see it again. If you do it is a bonus.

Can You Give Away Too Much Money

Seniors sometimes give too much money away. Then they find that they are living longer than anticipated and run out of funds to pay for whatever expenses they have. Many are forced to take roommates, move in with the kids or just downsize to a one-room apartment. If only they had been more careful with their money and perhaps had held back a bit. If only their kids were now in a financial situation to help them now.

Sadly, the money is gone and no one has enough to support their parents in this kind of situation. The answer is that every senior should evaluate the impact of loaning or giving money to a family member. Will it impact their lifestyle or quality of life in the future? What will be the impact if you never see this money again?

Make plans now to set up a budget. Ensure that you will have the funds you need to pay all of your bills and living expenses. Then if you think you will have money left over, you might consider gifting funds to your family while still alive.

For more information on lifestyle issues and retirement, click here.

Investment strategies and using full service Investment Advisors

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Investment strategiesI recently had a conversation with my kids around what the MERs mutual funds charge and also what sales commission is charged when you buy or sell an equity (I use equity and stock interchangeably). Mutual funds charge from 1% to 3%. The norm being around 1.8% whether you make money or not in any given year. Investment strategies for many consumers never considers these costs. However over the years, the approach you take can add considerable costs to your plan.

Trading directly in equities (stocks) with a firm like Edward Jones result in high trading fees compared to other online no service trading accounts with the banks etc. Over the life of your RRSP savings, a significant amount of money could be saved and reinvested. Consumers can make even more money by using discount traders and staying away from mutual funds. So why not invest directly in equities instead of mutual funds? The devil is in the details.

My own personal strategy is to use Edward Jones  to bounce ideas off of and for them to keep me abreast of changing legislation that could impact me. There have been two major ones over the past 15 years which has saved me quite a bit of money. The amount I pay Edward Jones for MER and trading fees has been well worth it. If I was trading more often then using a discount broker is definitely the way to go.

Investment Strategies

These are some of the rules that I try to follow with regards to my investment strategy.

  • Set goals related to when you want to retire. focus on how much you will need to maintain the standard of living that you want to have when you retire. Your income will come from pensions, CPP, OAS, and Savings. Life will throw curve balls at you so you need to be prepared for whatever comes your way.
  • Your investment advisor works for you and should provide you with guidance however only you understand your investment goals and direction and requirements over your lifetime. You need to pay attention and learn as much as you can to make well informed decisions, just like your job.
  • Treat investing like a project as part of your job. Apply the same approach to investing that you would to do your job. This means you need to pay attention all the time to your investments. Set a time twice a year to do a full review. Are you meeting your goals?
  • Diversify your investments between high-risk, moderately conservative and ultra-conservative. Your investments should be roughly 10% high risk 85% moderately conservative and the rest in cash or money market waiting for opportunities.
  • Always diversify your investments across industries, banking, energy, communications, goods and services.

More Strategic Ideas

  • Invest in high-quality stocks for equities, that are paying regular dividends, and have a history of increasing their dividends at regular intervals.
  • Minimize trades to minimize costs for trading commissions, only rebalance when absolutely necessary.
  • Mutual funds should be part of your plan but only 10 to 15% of your total investment strategy. Although you are paying MER, investing in a dividend-focused mutual fund gives you additional diversification.
  • Many people use the DRIP approach, dividend reinvestment plan, offered by many companies to avoid paying advisor fees when they buy stock. This is a great way to increase your investment in the quality stocks that your own, without additional advisor fees.
  • If you invest in high-risk stocks, that appreciate considerably, lock in profits by selling a minimum of 50% of the shares you own. High-risk stocks can go up and down very quickly. Remember until you sell you have not locked in any profits or losses.
  • The stock market goes through minor corrections of 10% every year. Be prepared to ride out these volatile situations, since history has shown the stock market will appreciate 10% and more after a correction within six months. Major corrections such as 20 to 25%, for example 2008 and 2009, take longer to correct. You only lose money if you sell at a loss, the market corrected itself and has more than doubled since 2008.

Summary – Investment strategies

With this strategy in mind, utilize your investment advisor as a consultant. They can help you adjust your investment strategy over the years. They will try to get you to make trades to rebalance your investments etc. But if you’re comfortable with your strategy there should be no need to sell and trade equities very often.

If you follow this approach, the commission you pay on mutual funds will be minimal. The trading costs associated with trading through someone like Edward Jones or another full-service investment company will also be minimal.