Consider Going Back-to-School Post-Retirement - AGT The Safe Money Poeple

This fall, young people aren’t the only ones who are going back to school. Many colleges and universities have made it easier for older folks to get a degree, and retirees across the country are taking advantage.

People aged 65 and older currently make up a little more than 13 percent of the U.S. population and as the Baby Boomers age into senior-dom, that number will surely rise. 

While retirement may bring the promise of a warmer climate and all-day golf outings, many seniors are opting to go back to school either for their own personal enrichment or to work towards a degree.

According to an article recently published in the Chicago Tribune, Shimer College, is opening up it’s classrooms to people over the age of 60 for free. A small liberal arts school in Chicago, the hundred or so students at Shimer have the option to participate in a Great Books program that includes the works of Shakespeare, Kafka, Marx, Einstein, and Nietzsche.

“One of the things that is important to make that happen is to have a lot of different perspectives in the classroom,” said Shimer spokeswoman Isabella Winkler. “It is always valuable to have generational differences. We wanted to open the classes to senior residents who might have a desire to get involved in this sort of conversation. It would benefit our students as well.”

Shimer isn’t the only college that sees the benefit in class discussions having generational differences. All of the public universities and colleges in Texas now offer a tuition reduction program for people 55 or older. And the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board provides a tuition exemption for Texas residents who are older than 65 years of age and want to audit classes at a public university. Aside from having to be a Texas resident and enroll at a participating university, this program requires that seniors “enroll in a class that is not already filled with students who are paying full price for their courses. (If the class is too small to accommodate both regular students and senior citizens, the regular students must be given priority.)”

A similar program is offered at on both campuses of Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton and Jupiter) called the Lifelong Learning Society. The program was created in 1980 in Boca Raton and then extended to the Jupiter campus in 1997. The LLS program is offered from October through June and FAU professors teach all the courses, which range in subjects from foreign policy, music, art, philosophy, current events, and more.

According to the FAU website, “This community of learners with no age threshold enjoys a diverse and creative curriculum, along with concerts and entertainment. In establishing this program, FAU recognized the still unfulfilled demand for educational and intellectual stimulation for adults who are beyond the traditional university years.”

And in the entire state of California, you can attend one of the 23 state universities for free, regardless of income, through their Over 60 Program. Of the roughly 433,000 students who attend a public university in California, only about 1000 of them are participants in the Over 60 Program.

In a blog post on the San Jose State University website, Timothy Fitzgerald, 67, who, while living on Social Security and disability benefits has completed five degrees and three Master’s degrees at SJSU, was quoted as saying:

“I see it as a benefit that the state can offer older citizens, helping us pursue a life of the mind. I never would have had an opportunity to go to school unless there was support for tuition. I do not want to sit on the sidelines.”

And thanks to the many public programs that promote education for older adults, no one has to sit on the sidelines during their post-retirement years.

To see what your state might have to offer check out the Senior Citizen Guide for College blog.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hilary-young/consider-going-back-to-sc_b_3894493.html

Are Baby Boomers too optimistic about retirement? AGT The Safe Money People

If you’re a Baby Boomer within sight of age 65, you’re probably thinking about your next move—and it may well be a career change instead of a traditional kick-back-and-relax retirement. Among 1,005 Boomers who haven’t yet left their full-time careers, 60% expect to keep working at least part-time after they “retire,” says a study from Bankers Life’s Center for a SecureRetirement.

The job market is ready for them. Of the 2,293 Boomers in the study who have already retired but have found other work, 80% reported it was “easy” to find the jobs they have now.

“As the next wave of Boomers retires, the competition is likely to intensify,” says Bankers Life president Scott Goldberg. “But, with part-time and freelance roles becoming more prevalent in the overall job market, there is good evidence to suggest that future retirees will have an even greater number of positions to consider, even if the competition for those roles gets more intense.”

Great, but anyone contemplating what lies ahead might want to consider two of the study’s less cheerful findings. First, it seems that most people overestimate their ability to choose when they retire. Nearly seven in ten (69%) of middle-income retirees would have liked to have stayed longer in their old careers, but had to leave earlier than they planned for “reasons beyond their control,” the report says—most commonly because of health problems (39%), being laid off (19%), or to care for a loved one (9%).

Second, Boomers’ expectations about what they’ll be able to earn in their post-retirement careers seem overly optimistic. Only about one in five (21%) of the people in the survey who are still working in their primary careers say they’d be “willing to take a pay cut” when they move on to another job in retirement. That doesn’t jibe with the experience of current retirees who are working, almost three-quarters (72%) of whom report earning less on an hourly basis now than they did in their old roles. More than half (53%) say they make “much less.”

That doesn’t mean they’re unhappy. About 80% of the people who retired and then found new jobs say they like their current careers better than their old ones. They also report less stress and “better relationships” than the Boomers surveyed who haven’t retired yet.

Even so, the study’s message is clear. Given your druthers, you might stay in your pre-retirement career until you’re 65, 70, or beyond, and then move on to something that pays equally well. But, just in case that doesn’t work out, it’s smart to have a Plan B.

AGT is here to help plan that option B

Source: http://fortune.com/2015/08/07/baby-boomer-retirement/

8 Tips to Help Seniors Conquer Stress - AGT The Safe Money People

As boomers retire from their jobs at unprecedented rates in the U.S., you’d think they’d be spending their free time with friends, lingering over the morning newspaper and coffee or taking January vacations in a warm place. But many seniors are finding themselves in a predicament that few anticipate in retirement: parenting for a second time. Census reports indicate that 2.7 million grandparents are responsible for their grandchildren. Their added duties may be fulfilling, but they may be stressful, too.

In fact, many things can trigger stress among retired adults — paying bills on a fixed income, failing health, caring for ill parents or spouses, or even grandparenting. Excessive stress can lead to serious health problems.

“When stressed, the body releases substances such as cortisol and adrenaline that affect every organ and can cause muscle tension, insulin secretion and increased heart rate,” said Arthur Hayward, M.D., a geriatrician and the clinical lead physician for elder care with Kaiser Permanente’s Care Management Institute.

“You can’t avoid stress, but managing it can help preserve your health and well-being,” Dr. Hayward added. He recommends identifying and understanding the cause of your stress and finding ways to relieve it, such as these eight tips:

1. Pace yourself. Don’t take on too much. Be aware of your limitations.
2. Set realistic goals and expectations, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
3. Plan time for yourself. Recharge your batteries.
4. Exercise and eat a balanced diet. Get plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
5. Try relaxation techniques such as meditation or yoga.
6. Get enough sleep. If you have problems sleeping, talk to your doctor. Drinking caffeinated beverages and alcohol can affect your ability to get a good night’s sleep.
7. Talk with a loved one or write in a journal.
8. Stay positive. Positive thoughts can make a difference, such as “I am hopeful” or “Things will be better.”

For more information, go tokp.org/healthyaging. For questions or advice about a specific condition, talk to your physician.

How To Secure Income For Retirement | AGT The Safe Money People

Ten thousand Americans a day are turning 65, including a couple we’ll call Stu and Helen. In excellent health, Stu and Helen could be facing a retirement of 30 years — or even longer. One of their biggest fears about their impending retirement is their potential longevity — and running out of money to not only pay their bills, but enjoy their free time.

Stu and Helen participated in their companies’ 401(k) plans. Like many workers, neither has a traditional pension, so they are solely responsible for their own retirement security.

Fortunately, couples like Stu and Helen have options for creating a “personal pension.” By using some of their savings to purchase an annuity, they can guarantee a steady stream of income for life.

With an immediate annuity, they can make a lump-sum payment to a life insurance company, and the company will send them their choice of monthly, quarterly or annual payments. They can choose to receive the income payments over a specified number of years or as a guaranteed stream of income they can never outlive.

They could also consider purchasing a deferred annuity, which allows savings to grow tax-deferred during an accumulation phase until they decide when payouts begin. People who are years away from retirement — or who are retired but don’t need income right away — might choose this type of annuity.
With a deferred annuity they decide how their money grows during the accumulation phase. A fixed annuity earns interest at a guaranteed rate. An index annuity is tied to a market index like the S&P 500 stock price index.

Surveys show that 90 percent of annuity owners think annuities are an effective way to save for retirement. And annuities are among the most regulated financial products in the marketplace. From product development to advertising to sales, life insurers must comply with state and federal laws and rules that help prevent fraud and protect consumers. In addition, most states provide a “free look” period allowing customers to return annuities to the insurance company for a full or partial refund.

Planning for retirement can be stressful. But for retirees like Stu and Helen, the guaranteed income from annuities can provide peace-of-mind for a lifetime.

4 Steps to Building an Emergency Fund - AGT The Safe Money People

Ben Franklin once declared, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Yet, equally enlightening are his thoughts on expenses: “Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.”

And there are plenty of “leaks” that can scuttle an already-tight budget. For instance, a spouse idled by the sour economy, a fender bender with the family car, or an unexpected hospitalization. That’s why financial advisors recommend that you have a rainy-day fund—enough liquid assets to cover three to six months’ worth of emergency living expenses. In case of financial emergency, access to additional money will save you from relying on credit cards or loans that simply compound the problem.

When starting an emergency fund, here are a few tips to abide by:

1.    Determine what amount is best for you. Most experts agree that you should keep between three and six months worth of your living expenses set aside in your emergency fund. Your specific situation – whether you have children, carry substantial debt and types of insurance coverage you have – will determine what amount is best for you. Examine your situation — your income and your needs — to decide how much you should save.

2.    Start small. Starting an emergency fund can be as simple as depositing $100 into your high-interest savings account. But before you begin, be sure that you’re meeting your basic living expenses. And as you build your emergency fund, be sure you’re also reducing your spending and avoiding debt.

3.    Stick to a schedule. Get into the habit of making regular deposits. Whether it is weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, create a schedule and stick to it. Once you make saving automatic, you won’t even have to think about it.

4.    Consider an online savings account. In many cases, an “online” savings account may make more sense than an account at a traditional, bricks-and-mortar bank. That’s because many traditional banks are not currently offering a savings option with interest rates high enough to meaningfully beat inflation. In addition, an online savings account is a reliable way to manage your money.

Source:http://www.copyrightfreecontent.com/newsusa/4-steps-to-building-an-emergency-fund/

Retirement - It Just Might Be Good For Your Health | AGT The Safe Money People

If you’re contemplating retirement, you’ve probably given a lot of thought to its impact on your finances. But have you considered how retiring might affect your health? The latest in the debate over whether retirement improves or worsens health appears in the current issue of The Journal of Human Resources. Its conclusion: “Results indicate that the retirement effect on health is beneficial and significant,” writes Michael Insler, an assistant professor of economics at the U.S. Naval Academy. The boost to your health is comparable to reducing the risk of being diagnosed with diabetes by 25%, for those of retirement age, Insler concludes. Better Health Behaviors In an interview with Next Avenue, Insler acknowledged that his conclusion “in some sense is counterintuitive,” since, he says, a common notion is that “oh, people retire and they kind of lose their will to go on.” If retirement does benefit health, why is that so? “I think the obvious hypothetical answers to that question are health behaviors,” says Insler. Retirees have more time to invest in their health, he writes in the Journal. “It may be easier for them to quit smoking or to be more physically active when not burdened by the work-week grind.” Insler based his findings on an analysis of data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, which surveys a representative sample of 26,000 Americans over age 50 every other year. He found that of the respondents who ever reported smoking, about 69% reported doing so in the survey that took place two to four years before they retired. But only about 56% said they were still smoking two to four years after they retired. Insler also found that people were more likely after retirement to exercise vigorously for at least 30 minutes three or more days a week. Two to four years before retirement, about 48% of survey respondents said they exercised that much; that proportion increased to nearly 52% two to four years into retirement. Same Data, Different Conclusions But what if you really love your work? Might not retirement make you “lose your will to go on,” as Insler put it? “Job satisfaction isn’t really something that I looked closely at,” he says. “It could be part of the story.” But, Insler says, “It’s less about your stress and satisfaction and more about the time you devote to your health upkeep.” Although Inas Rashad Kelly and her co-authors used the same Health and Retirement Study data as Insler did, their analysis reached a different conclusion. In a paper published in 2008, they found that retirement affected health adversely. The fact that their conclusions based on the same data set diverged from Insler’s “points to the complex and multifaceted nature of the issue at hand,” Rashad Kelly, an associate professor of economics at Queens College, part of the City University of New York, told Next Avenue. Social Security Age Retirement’s negative effect on health was especially strong among people who were forced, or encouraged, to retire and those who said they weren’t particularly enjoying their spouse’s company, Rashad Kelly and her co-authors found. But the effect was weaker among retirees who said they voluntarily retired, had stressful jobs, remained physically active and continued to socialize. Economists trying to assess the ramifications of raising the age at which retirees can begin collecting Social Security are especially interested in whether health improves or declines in retirement. If retirement exacerbates common, expensive health problems, then raising the eligibility age for Social Security might make sense. Such a move could help encourage people to work longer, reducing the strain on Social Security and Medicare. If health tends to improve after retirement, however, then getting people to continue working by raising the eligibility age for Social Security might reduce expenditures for that program but shift them to Medicare. “We conclude that raising the retirement age for Social Security purposes may not have been such a bad thing,” Rashad Kelly says. “Yet we certainly do not propose altering the age one begins to receive much-needed health care through Medicare, and our results do not suggest that Medicare costs will go up on average if people work longer.” Insler emphasized that it’s difficult to predict the health effects of retirement on individuals. “I’m trying to calculate an average impact for a population,” he says. “Does it mean it will necessarily happen to them? No.”

Downsizing Can Help Retirement Savings Last - AGT The Safe Money People

Ideally, in retirement, you reduce your monthly expenses. No more commute, less need for work-related clothes and dry cleaning, and the ability to eat lunch at home every day. But is it enough savings to balance the lack of income from work? If you’re like many retirees, near-retirees or even those just starting to plan for retirement income, you may have an uneasy feeling about just how much money you’ll need and how long you’ll need it to last. If you’re just not feeling confident about it, there is one thing you can do to help: Downsize. Downsizing to a less expensive condo, townhouse, apartment or smaller home offers numerous savings advantages, from reducing your monthly mortgage or rental costs, to lower maintenance, property tax and utility bills. If you’re thinking of moving out of state, perhaps to a locale where you’ve vacationed and dreamed of living for years, consider the pros and cons of what living there year-round may mean. Is it a dreary place in winter, or too hot in the summer? Does it feature a year-round community where you can make friends with locals, or is it pretty much abandoned when tourists or snow-birds are gone — and could you bear that? Oftentimes those lovely vacation spots can be quite isolated during the off-season. It may come down to your basic personality and disposition: do you prefer the opportunity to make good friends and always have people around with whom to spend time, or would you be OK with getting away from it all and minimizing outside relationships, at least for part of the year? Consider, too, how your spouse’s answers may differ to those same questions. Then, too, you should examine the practical side of relocating. For example, will the cost of living be higher or lower than where you currently live, and what can you expect in terms of health care and other expenses and amenities? After all, your large family home may not be as expensive as a tiny condo on the beach, complete with high monthly expenses and high property taxes. If you plan to move to another state, you will need to investigate tax and estate laws to see if you’ll need to update your wills and trusts. If you have a network of trusted financial professionals and attorneys, you may want to check if they are licensed to continue working with you in the state where you want to relocate. Then again, you could just move to a smaller place in your current neighborhood or community. You may opt to live closer to relatives, which can offer the potential for significant savings when it comes to home care in your later years. If so, consider features in a new home that will be more convenient as you venture gracefully into old age, such as a single-story home with a low-maintenance yard and accessibility features. Also think about your locale of choice — such as whether you’d like to move to a more urban scene in a trendy downtown location near art galleries, museums, fine restaurants and concert halls. Perhaps a condo with a skyline view, concierge and doorman would fit the bill. After all, if you spent the majority of your adult life raising a family in suburbia, retirement may be the time to enjoy other types of entertainment. A third option is to move to a senior living community. According to a survey by the Demand Institute Housing & Community, one in five baby boomers is considering relocating to a senior-related housing or active-adult community. While many of these campuses have come a long way in featuring more cultural and upscale amenities, many still suffer from a reputation of the proverbial “old folk’s home.” The key to downsizing — or what some prefer to call “right-sizing” — is to make the right decision for your lifestyle and finances. Some retirement-oriented communities may offer work and entrepreneurial opportunities so you can get out and about, make new friends and contribute to your retirement income. Do not under-estimate the value of a strong social network comprised of people of all ages. After all, if you’re going to live a long and healthy life, why not live it among friends? 1. Media Post. May 15, 2015. “Redefining Senior Living for Boomers through the Name Storm Project.” http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/248470/redefining-senior-living-for-boomers-through-the-n.html. Accessed Aug. 5, 2015.