February 11th, 2010 | 
Author: The irony for Baby Boomers is that even though you will be living longer than your parents or your grandparents, most of you expect to delay retirement longer than your parents or grandparents. This is a follow on effect from the reduced nest egg that was going to keep your retirement income at a level to give you the lifestyle you had dreamed of. The current economic crisis has caused many Baby Boomers to have to plan to work past their retirement date or scale down their retirement expectations.
What once looked like a sufficient retirement nest egg for travelling the world and building their new easy care retirement homes, might not even maintain their existing or even a restricted lifestyle for the rest of their lives.
Baby boomers are better educated, with higher incomes and longer life expectancies than the generations that preceded them. They also have fewer children and may not be married, leaving them with fewer options if they need help in their old age.    People have been retiring at increasingly younger ages since the growth of superannuation and Social Security pensions began more than fifty years ago. However, the retirement trend appears to be reversing. The majority of men and a greater percentage of women over fifty five are still in the work force and experts believe it will increase even more as the oldest Baby Boomers reach sixty five.
People are living longer and leading more active lives and that increased longevity has been one of the crowning achievements of the last century, but is has to be financed somehow. Some will continue working by choice and many of those nearing retirement age may gradually reduce their workload rather than abruptly stop.  Others may have to stay on the job full time to replenish their diminished retirement nest egg.
Many of the Baby Boomers have put off retirement because of the effect of the financial crisis on their long-term savings and some of them think they can recoup the losses by working on in their job an additional year or two, but can they?
Are you looking at retirement with a larger amount of debt than you would like, including home equity lines of credit, partly paid off mortgages, credit card debt and personal loans. For the last few years, there has been extraordinary asset growth and low interest rates, and that combination allowed people to increase their net worth easily and significantly, and that in turn made their expectation of paying off debts to be a simple matter.
If you are among those planning their retirement but are concerned about your level of debt, whether it is still an amount owing on the mortgage or in other categories of debt, it is time to take some definite steps to make some mindset and lifestyle changes.  Remind yourself from time to time, that paying a mortgage and trying to pay off debts at the same time, while living on a fixed income isn’t a whole lot of fun. For a pampered Baby Boomer, this is one of the most difficult things to do
Most Baby Boomers are computer savvy because of their jobs; and will be looking at ways to build and or increase their retirement nest egg and income by doing research on the internet into the many opportunities available. There are opportunities that involve starting your own home internet business and then you are in control of the amount of time you need to spend to make the business a success. You are also in control of the level of success you wish to have in your new venture. Obviously the more drive and effort you put into any business the greater chance you will have for achieving success at a much higher level.
All it takes is having the right mindset and understanding that the rewards will be there for the long term by putting in the effort now.
You may need to work for a few years yet to reach the level of financial freedom that is your goal, so do your research to make sure you start a business that you will love and that will give a good balance of fulfilling work and time for yourself and family and friends.
Look for a business that will give you step by step guidance in the best ways to achieve your goal of a financially rewarding, successful business.  Look for a business that will have an exit strategy to enable you to receive an income stream after you cease to become active in your enterprise. Most Baby Boomers have at least basic computer skills and it is worth investigating the diverse opportunities for an online home business that will “tick the boxes” in their criteria list.
Baby Boomers, if you have the drive to achieve abundance with Personal and Prosperity Growth in an online home business, take the next step in your research and click below: http://www.HolisticWealthInfo.Com
Article Source: Baby Boomers Looking to Nurture Their Retirement Nest Egg
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After a long career working in the technical field and some years as a musician, I became involved with a rather unconventional insurance and financial company. Their focus was to teach people everything banks and insurance companies didn’t want you to know. I became licensed to sell life insurance and mutual funds. Much of our business was from people who had bundled insurance products.
The only life insurance product we sold was term life insurance. Our only investment products was mutual funds. The company motto was buy term and invest the difference. After many years I had finally became exposed to knowledge of how money works. Before I gained this knowledge, I had worked for seventeen years with a very good company. Due to my lack of knowledge about how money worked, I got nowhere near the return I should have from my 401K. Here is a review of some of what I learned and what every one should know.
The first thing you need to know is how invested money grows. There is a simple rule of thumb called the rule of 72. Divide 72 by the rate of interest and you will find how many years it takes your money to double. At the bank these days you are lucky if you can get 2% on a savings account. If you divide 72 by 2 you get 36. In 36 years $1000 will become $2000. Divide 72 by 12 and you get 6. In 36 years $1000 will double six times and becomes $64,000. Give it 12 more years to 48 years and it becomes $256,000. As you can see, time is an essential ingredient in this formula for financial success.
Are there places to get 12% return on an investment? Over the short term no. However, with all the ups and downs in the economy, including the great depression and the many recessions, over a fifty year period there are investments that have returned 12% or better. These results have been achieved by investing in the stock market. Honest financial people have to tell you that past performance is no guarantee of future performance. In other words, history may not repeat itself.
Maybe fifty years from now, governments will collapse and there will be no viable economic future. Maybe the world will end from global warming or be hit by an asteroid. We have to trust that there will be a future and the economy will grow. One thing is certain. If you don’t save you will die broke. Second, Most people waste many $1000 in their life times. Why not put a few of those $1000’s to work for your future. Let’s look a what you need to know to have success in the stock market.
One thing, you need is diversification. The best way to do this is through mutual funds. Through mutual funds, you can invest in thousands of companies. You can also diversify across risk levels by choosing funds with different objectives. For less than $100 a month you can begin investing. You also need to invest long term. Even experts trading in and out of the market often lose.
Mutual funds have restrictions on excessive trading. The best way to invest long term is to use dollar cost averaging. What you do is invest a fixed amount, weekly or monthly. When the market is up, you buy fewer shares. When the market is down, you buy more shares. In the long run, when a market goes down and up, you make more money than in a market that keeps going up.
The final point I will make is control expenses. Every dollar that goes into expenses is a dollar that doesn’t get invested. Insurance companies love to sell bundled life insurance products. What you are getting is life insurance plus a cash building investment. These can be anything from low yielding savings to investments in the stock market. The problem is there are usually high up front charges and hidden expenses. The other problem is that if you are a young family, you need all the life insurance that you can get.
You need to buy lot’s of cheap term insurance. When you are older, children are grown and you don’t need life insurance you need money for retirement. You only need life insurance in proportion to the responsibility you have to others. The idea of a bundled policy is to give you cash value as you become older and less insurable. You can accomplish this better by buying term and investing the difference. Investing through 401k’s with a company match, tax deferred Ira’s, and low cost indexed funds are some of the best ways to go.
All my life I’ve been a seeker after knowledge. I’ve worked in science, music, the financial field and spent many years as a member of a public speaking organization. It was while working in the financial field that I became aware of the basic principles of how money works. I am an avid reader of non fiction books on many different topics. I have a knowledge web site. It’s purpose is to share knowledge. Right now it has an extensive music section, some pages on how money works, and a book review section. http://tonyknows.com/money
Article Source: Building Your Nest Egg – Learn How Money Works
If you’re like me, you’re just starting to become financially stable for the first time. You have a little bit of extra cash set aside in savings, but it’s not enough to be able to “play” with it in the stock market. You want to find a way to make your little nest egg get a higher return than if it is simply sitting in a savings account, but you need a safe and secure way to invest.
An excellent way to combine a high rate of return and a high degree of security is by investing in mutual funds. In short, a mutual fund is a stock portfolio that someone else manages for you, in which your money is in effect distributed over a wide range of different stocks, bonds, and other investments. Many fund managers write mutual fund newsletters for their unit holders helping to explain their investment decisions.
Because professionals manage your mutual fund for you, you don’t have to worry about making a mistake. And because a mutual fund is a form of distributed investment, the risks to you are very low – that is, even if an individual stock or investment does badly, the other stocks or investments in the portfolio will tend to balance it out, making you less likely to lose money.
You can find out more about mutual fund planning by contacting an investment specialist. He or she can give you the information you need, as well as help manage your mutual fund for you. By working with an investment specialist, you will find out exactly how easy it is to make money and protect your investment – just sit back, and let him or her do all the work for you!
If you do decide to go the mutual fund route, you may wish to purchase a subscription to a mutual fund newsletter. A mutual fund newsletter is a weekly digest that contains all the information you need to know about the state of the market, the various types of mutual fund, and investment-related current events. A mutual fund newsletter is vital if you wish to stay informed and on top of your game, even if you do leave most of the more difficult work to your investment specialist.
In today’s rapidly fluctuating market and unstable political and economic climate, it makes sense to keep your money in an investment that offers a high rate of return, and is safe against market forces. A mutual fund is an excellent choice for your little nest egg – to help it grow into what will one day become your great big nest egg.
Visit us for more information on top 10 large cap funds, how do mutual funds work and mutual fund selection.
Article Source: Mutual Fund Newsletter – Protecting Your Nest Egg
Mine certainly did. My retirement nest egg was right where I’d been taught it should be: in a diversified portfolio, invested for the long-term. When the Dow was at 13,000 plus, I was working full-time and putting in the maximum amount allowed through payroll deduction. Well, just like Humpty Dumpty, it had a great fall, right along with the stock market. And I’m telling you, “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” couldn’t put my nest egg back together again.
There is very little within the mainstream media or traditional financial advisors’ counsel that offers any truly helpful guidance, free from conflicts of interest. When the market is strong, they look good; when it comes tumbling down, they advise us to take a long view, think long term, remember that the market goes in cycles, and hope for the best. For most of my career and adult life, I accepted that counsel. What else could I do? Well, there are other, viable options and exciting opportunities about which I was, until recently, completely unaware.
As author Robert Kiyosaki writes, “There are three levels of financial advice: advice for the poor, advice for the middle class and advice for the rich.” I grew up with the advice for the middle class. By following that advice, I was not well-served. Today I am learning what the rich have always known about currency vs. money, monetary policies, debt, and investing to win. I have shifted my focus from buying “depreciating toys” to focusing on real assets, profitable investments and cash flow. This is a profound paradigm shift for me. It is a crucial distinction and one I truly believe we all need to learn in order to survive what lies ahead. Merely being out of debt and having money in savings will not be enough to weather what is coming.
Now that I am aware of the alternatives, I have become empowered, energized, and most significantly of all – hopeful again. I no longer trust the hype and spin of “all the king’s men.” Having done so in the past has simply cost me too much. At one point, not long ago, I also believed I was simply too old to “make it all back again.” I certainly don’t believe that anymore – because I am making it back, along with gaining a growing understanding of how things really work (something I never had before becoming part of Wealth Masters International).
What all the conventional wisdom and “all the king’s men” couldn’t put back together again, I am learning to put back together myself – with the education, insights, tools and training of a most unique partnership. Through CarbonCopy Pro’s powerful, all-inclusive system (called a Business in a Box), I am learning how to market anything to anyone, anywhere in the world – though the Internet. I have become a mid-life Internet marketer – and I am loving it. What products or services do I market?
This proven Business system is combined with the top-tier product line of Wealth Masters International (WMI). Through WMI I am receiving a world-class education in debt elimination, wealth accumulation and asset protection. What I am learning (and implementing) – regarding investment opportunities alone – is more than worth the cost of the products. My portfolio looks completely different than it did when I was in my former 403(b) plan. The gains I am experiencing do not resemble what is happening in the market. The only way to state this is to say I am involved in an incredible opportunity that is providing me with thoroughly credible results.
It is an honor and a blessing to be a part of this home-based business and this amazing community; and to be affiliated with leaders who have such wisdom and experience, acumen, integrity and a deep commitment to helping others.
For those who have no desire to be an Internet marketer when you grow up, happily you still have the unparalleled opportunity to acquire the WMI products. You can still have all of the benefits of the life-transforming education, debt elimination program, wealth building strategies, and investment opportunities, without being engaged in the business side. This is the best retirement planning strategy I know of, if one doesn’t want to have to work the rest of one’s life – assuming there will be jobs. I don’t know a single soul who couldn’t benefit from these products, given our stormy economic times. Sadly though, I do know individuals who have no interest in learning about history and how to better prepare themselves against the torrents raging in our future; and intellectually I must accept this.
Our economy is at a breaking point, and the conventional attempts to mitigate the situation are actually causing more problems. The value of the dollar continues to slide because our main monetary policy is to keep printing more currency – a diminishing paper currency worth less and less because it is no longer backed by the gold standard. Our national debt is simply and seriously out of control. There are multiple factors that make inflation or hyperinflation inevitable. We are facing another crushing wave of foreclosures in the housing market, and the commercial real estate market as well. Many believe that the real unemployment numbers are actually much higher than what is being reported, and jobs are not being replaced or created.
Having never been one to “buy into” doom and gloom scenarios, it has taken quite a bit to shake me from my quiescence. Had I lived in the Biblical times of Noah, I am certain that I would have been one of his neighbors who thought he was crazy. Forget some benign thought that he was “over-reacting.” I would have used the phrase, “He has surely gone off the deep end.” But in comparison, there were very few signs to indicate the coming of the flood of which Noah was certain. Noah was a righteous man, and he did as he was commanded to do by God. There was wickedness, corruption and violence upon the earth. And God, angry and aggrieved, had determined to blot it out.
Today, we have history, patterns and precedent, along with blatant corporate greed and failed policies. We are repeating the same mistakes that lead to the Great Depression. I urge you to read and learn for yourself. Don’t take my word for this. Read Guide to Investing in Gold & Silver – Protect Your Financial Future, a compelling book by Michael Maloney (Robert Kiyosaki’s personal precious metals advisor) for a compelling history of currency vs. money (and much more). His book really scared me, but it also startled me into action.
Taking action has restored my hope, enabled me to embrace what is possible, and to do retirement planning that is realistic, given the realities of today. Once again my future is bright, and I no longer fear the thought of retiring some day. I am especially grateful that I am positioning myself to be able to help my family and friends. I am no longer stuck in a dizzying maze of “what ifs” and am not caught up in “paralysis by analysis.” I am learning, and acting on the knowledge I am acquiring, and it is empowering.
Economically, these are indeed perilous times; and every indication is that they will get worse before they get better. Thankfully, with crisis comes opportunity. It is my profound hope that you will position yourself to be on the upside of opportunity. There are viable options and exciting opportunities available to you. But in order to seize these very real opportunities knowledge must be gained, decisions must be made, and action must be taken.
It is my fervent hope that yours will truly be a pivotal, positively enlivening, and prosperous New Year!
As a successful, mid-life Internet marketer and mentor, Linda is committed to helping others avoid going from Baby Boomer to Bust. Despite today’s rocky economy, there are viable options and exciting opportunities. You may personally ask her about them by visiting her websites and using the contact information.
Linda Compton has a BA in Philosophy; a Masters degree in Gerontology; and a Master of Divinity degree. She was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1987. She has 30 years combined professional experience in multi-national corporate management, non-profit leadership, the interfaith movement and philanthropy. Currently her passion is Internet marketing and mentoring. http://www.WealthwithHeart.net and http://www.WealthyandWiseToday.net
Article Source: Does Your Nest Egg Look Like Humpty Dumpty?