Blooming Boomers - Women and Retirement

Blooming Boomers – Women and Retirement

Is your retirement looming off in the not too distant future? Do you have dreams of a life filled with rest and relaxation? Perhaps you envision vacationing year round. Those images sound pretty idyllic, especially if you are currently working long hours and feeling the stress and strain of your job. Working women are continually being stretched in a myriad of directions. That often translates into putting retirement planning and plans for retirement on the back burner of life.

Do you know that Baby Boomers are retiring at the rate of 10,000 every day in the United States! The oldest boomer is now 58 years old; the youngest is 40. They number 76 million in our country. Are you in that number?

The boomers have had a huge impact in our country. The first wave of baby boomers filled up our schools in the 50’s. They changed campus politics in the 60’s with their protests, marches and sit-ins. They were entering the work force in the 70’s and 80’s. The 90’s brought changes to the workplace such as flextime and family leave time. Now boomers are entering the retirement phase of life. They are living longer, retiring earlier and their focus is on lifestyle, not age. Imagine the impact they will have on retirement!

Boomers are redefining retirement as a new career life transition. However, most aren’t prepared for managing that transition. More time is spent on planning a vacation than on the next thirty years beyond retirement! Yes, many have been preparing financially with contributions to their 401K’s, Roth IRA’s, etc. However, retirement is more than finances.

There is the human side of retirement. For retirement to be truly successful people need to embrace the idea of life planning. How can we workers replace the function that work has played in our lives? One of the benefits of work is remuneration. We get paid for what we do. It gives us a sense of financial security.

But work provides us with more benefits than just remuneration. It helps us with the following: time management, socialization, a sense of purpose and status. Let’s take a closer look at those benefits.

Work gives structure to our life by managing our time. At times, it over manages our time and leaves little time for fun. Through our work we have agendas and schedules to follow. We know where we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to do. It keeps us organized.

At work we socialize with our co-workers and clients. We form and develop relationships that give us a sense of connection and belonging. We spend our time interacting and communicating with others to get the work done. We have a sense of camaraderie.

Many of us receive the benefit of status from our work. Our sense of personal worth and identity are derived from work. We experience a clear picture of who we are and what we do. We get recognition for what we do.

Work provides us with a sense of purpose. That purpose gives meaning to our lives because we are helping others in some way. We receive some qualitative measure of satisfaction in our life.

How will the functions of work be replaced when you retire? How will you get fulfilled? Those above mentioned benefits of work are just one aspect of what life planning is all about. There are fourteen other factors to consider when preparing for retirement. For example, how will you define who you are when you aren’t working? How adaptable are you to making changes in your life? How well do you rely your own internal sense for guidance and direction? These are important questions to consider when thinking about what retirement means to you.

Retirement is a complicated process that requires planning and introspection. It’s not just about the money. There are important social, mental and physical implications as well.

Many of you won’t follow the traditional model of retirement. Some will continue working full time at something you truly enjoy while others will work part time because you need the money. Perhaps you will start your own business or volunteer your time to worthy causes. As a Blooming Baby Boomer you probably won’t spend the next thirty years sitting and watching life pass you by. This is the age of a new retirement.

Is it time for you to give some attention to your future retirement? Vacationing year round may not be the solution that puts genuine meaning in the next phase your life. Don’t short change the next thirty years of your life. You’ll want to continue blooming!

Carol Gegner ©2004

Many people hear "retirement" and think— what? 401K? Roth vs. Traditional IRA? Stocks, bonds, mutual funds? Do they?

Or do many people put money away according to the suggested amount and then simply hope that when retirement comes all will work out?

One report I read estimated that 66 million Americans have put away a Whopping $0 towards retirement.

Many people are still thinking there might be a thing called Social Security around when they retire. Social Security: as of 2004, the average annual Social Security retirement benefit is approximately $11,000. That is not a lot to live on folks. Plus, we all hear the news periodically that there might not be any Social Security around when we get older and need it.

And as a further WAKE UP call, I found a calculator which estimated (without Social Security):
* a couple at 40
* bringing in $90k a year (together)
* with very modest investments
would need to save an additional $2,690,000.00 ( yes 2 million +) in order to retire at 65-- OR – plan on working an additional 29 years!!

Now before you get overwhelmed and click over to another article—lets put our heads together and simply cover a few very very basic start up basics.

1) Standard Of Living: You need to know at what standard of living you will want to live during retirement.
2) Basic Living Expenses: You will need to calculate the cost of basic living expenses (at that level) i.e. electric bill now of $200 = what in 2030?
3) Hobbies and Leisure Activities: Know what type of hobbies, and leisure activities you will keep busy with and what their cost might be then.
4) Family Visiting / Travel: Realize that more and more children move away when grown. So while they work out of state—YOU may need to do the traveling to see them. Plan for these costs.
5) Convalescent Care (nursing home costs) provincially run about $100/day median. You will need to multiply that times the same 4% inflation rate. Then multiply that times the number of years before you may need it—to approximate how much you may need to afford for your housing when you need assistance. Truth be known—WE need to plan to handle that cost ourselves, rather than think our children will be able to take on that kind of additional cost.

You will need to total yearly amounts. You will need the approximate yearly cost to live (at your desired level) during regular healthy retirement. And, you will need the total yearly amount of costs to live in assisted or full care living facilities ( for each – you and mate).

Multiply each yearly amount by the number of years you might be living in that circumstance. Example: Retire at 65. Live healthy retirement- 15 years (so 15 x yearly cost of healthy living) . Live assisted – 8 years ( so 8 x yearly cost of living in care).

You now have two totals that when added together equal your estimation of the total dollar amount you will need to draw from in order to live after retiring. NOW you are ready to begin planning your investments in such a way that you can achieve that TOTAL number by the time you retire.

Here are some tools to help you now that you are ready to take that first step:
USA Today retirement cost calculator: http://www.calcbuilder.com/cgi-bin/calcs/RET2.cgi/usatoday
Motley Fool’s retirement area http://www.fool.com/retirement.htm?source=PFinAg
Metlife’s retirement area http://www.metlife.com/Applications/Corporate/WPS/CDA/PageGenerator/0,1674,P1946,00.html
About.com’s HUGE retirement resource area: http://www.retireplan.about.com/

Until next time—all the best,
Kate