Should You Consider Early Retirement?

As we have stated several times, we chose early retirement. This is, in it's self, a very personal decision. Sometimes, the job you have done for many years is, for one or more reasons, not what it used to be to you. Then, also, maybe you have a need to do something else. Or, there are family needs.

For many reasons, more and more people are opting to retire at an early age. The growing trend for the retirement is based on the fact that people are enticed to retire early than continue working and wait until they reach their retirement age of 65.

In fact, most of the surveys conducted in the United States asserted that 60% of the respondents would love to retire at an early age.

In reality, there are many benefits that people can derive when they retire early. However, there are also many consequences that result from early retirement. What they do not know is that early retirement has the potential of bringing more problems than reaping in benefits and advantages.

Here is a list of some of the reasons why retiring early can be a pretty risky activity.

1. Not in accordance with the regulations of Social Security

When people retire at an early age, there is a great possibility that they cannot immediately obtain their Social Security benefits. This is because according to the rules and regulations of Social Security, anyone who is born after 1938 will have to wait longer than their retirement age of 65 before they can get their benefits.

Hence, early retirement may only contribute to a negative upshot if the older people’s finances where not managed properly and the only thing they expect to help them are the Social Security benefits they can get.

2. If people who took early retirement get sick, they cannot acquire some Medicare benefits.

This is because the age when people can get their Medicare benefits is when they already turn 65. Hence, if they are hospitalized and they have already filed for their early retirement, they have to obtain the necessary amount of money in order to cover the expenses in the hospital without Medicare.

3. Penalty charges apply to those who retired early and had withdrawn their IRAs early.

For people who would like to retire at an early age and wish to obtain their IRAs, they have to face a hefty 10% penalty charge.

Moreover, experts contend that the nest egg of people who wish to retire early is only 80% of what they should be getting when they retire at the age of 65.

The bottom line is that early retirement is, indeed, a personal choice and preference of an individual but one must consider the factors that may affect their life in the end.

What we have presented in this post is just the first thing you need to consider when planning for your retirement. If your job or postion is not a problem; or, if you have no other determining factors that cry out for early retirement, then you should start planning for regular retirement. It's never too early and we'll give you some more thoughts in our next post.

Retirement Activities

Spring Break is over, hooray! Normally we wouldn't say that, but going from our nice 70 degree weather to a very cold Boston (27 to 40 degrees) is not the smartest move. Yet we are retired and we have always taken at least 2 of our grandchildren somewhere during spring break. So it's a normal retirement activity.

Retirement doesn’t mean the end of an active lifestyle. Quite the contrary, it opens up new opportunities for many new activities. Some retirees substitute voluntary community work for their former work. This gives definition or meaning to their roles after retirement.

Household work, volunteer work, family roles and community service actually increase after retirement. The familial roles of grandparents increase because of the expanded time available for travel.

The skills and knowledge acquired before retirement have value in the life of a retiree. Even if learning something new, education and training affects the ability to do various activities at retirement. Lack of skill and a low literacy tends to limit the leisure activities of retirees.

A very difficult task to prepare for later on in life is the ability to cope with losses that increase as people get older. Productivity is the first loss in retirement but adjustment usually is short. Loss of a spouse generally has the biggest impact, and in general is the hardest to anticipate unless a terminal illness is diagnosed before death. The best preparation for a loss of your spouse is to work on a sense of independence and self-reliance.

The two biggest concerns for retirement living are security of finances and health coverage. This is according to the GSA (Gerontological Society of America). Another great concern identified was isolation or lack of social support for well-being and loneliness or lack of support for emotional well being.

Planning for retirement must have preparation for financial well-being, a social support network, a set of meaningful activities and health care coverage. All of these concerns actually relate to each other. When a retiring person has a sound financial plan, the person can buy adequate housing and health care coverage. Retirement lifestyle is a continuation of the person’s middle-age life.

A sound lifestyle can last a long while. Friendship and family can provide the support network later on in life. Retirement planning which includes developing economic and social skills cannot anticipate everything but provides a good foundation for enjoyment of life later on.

A successful retirement living includes the creation of a network of groups, family members and friends. Few people choose to be alone from the rest even if approximately forty four percent of women and roughly 18 percent of men aged 65 or older lived without relatives. Fifty percent of women above 65 were widows.

Retirement has it's ups and downs just like your life yesterday and today. But if you anticipate what retirement will be and what may or may not happen, it can be very enjoyable. We'll look at some ways to plan for retirement in our next post.

Keeping Busy After Retiring Isn't Hard

"What do you mean I should retire? If I don't work, I'll have nothing to do." Have you heard that before? Or have you said it or thought it? Relax. Retirement is what you make of it.

Retirement is not just for the old anymore. Many younger people, from 30 on up, are now retiring from the normal "rat race" and doing very well. Some begin their own business; while others, after proper financial planning, go off to do things that just plain interest them.

Sherry and I both took early retirement and have never looked back since we have more to do now than ever before. Consider that we are now replacing our carpet in our home with parquet flooring (DIY). And next week, Spring Break, we're off to Boston to visit my brother and Sherry's cousin. We're taking 2 of our grandchildren along.

We are always working on research for Focusing On Health and our other internet sub-sites. Just our newsletter takes 4 to 5 days to do it right. And, a 30+ page ebook can take a month to do. These are just a few things we do. It sure beats being a couch potato.

What we wish to pass on to you is that you should not look at retirement as a dead end. We found it to be a very rewarding time in our lives. By the way, it took us less than a week after retirement to be "deep" into all kinds interesting things to do. 5 active grandchildren also help make our life very busy. Once we get back from Boston, we're going to do a few posts on retirement. See you then.

What Are Your Health Interests?

As you can probably tell by our blog title, we are very much into health and the subject is of sincere interest to us. (What an understatement.) OK, you might say we are "fanatics". But, why not since your and our health is more important than almost anything else.

Both of us were hit with serious health problems some yours ago. By staying on top of pertinent information and using it in our discussions with our doctors, we survived. This sparked our research and what we learned, we decided to pass on to others. Thus, Focusing On Health was born.

We watched over the last couple of years as 50 yards of our beach "disappeared" with rising ocean waters. Then we realized that 20 miles to the east, north, and west were large refineries kicking out polutants into the air. Our health was threatened. This gave birth to GO GREEN.

From our research, and from the media, we realized that others had major health problems that ran the gamut of "health interests" such as disease, mental and emotional problems, and cultural stress. We responded with our LIBRARY, our NEWSLETTER, and this blog.

All of this is from our interest in health. BUT, what are your health interests? We hope that what we have supplied begins your understanding of whatever health subject you are interested in. We are not a substitute for professional advise nor do we want to be. We only wish to give you information that will begin your own "search" for answers to what troubles you.

Let us know if there is a subject you are interested in which we have not covered on any of our sites. You can leave a comment here or email us at sherryandwarren@gmail.com. Remember, we are only guides and that proper professional advice should always be sought out.

Is Daylight Savings Time Worth Anything?

We have never been real "high" on daylight savings time (DST). Now, a study has been done that indicates that it's a money waster and not a money saver.

If the morning is rather cool when you get up, do you "jack up" the heat? When you get home after work and the house is very warm, do you turn up the A/C? The new study says that you do. And, with daylight savings time, by the fact there is more light in the PM and you are rising "earlier" in the AM, your brain says "DO IT".

When we were kids (for us, that was a long time ago), DST was for the benefit of farmers. Then, as big business took over farming, the reasoning for DST was changed to "benefiting kids and families". Why? Summer school vacations are only 3 months long. So what happens the other 5 months of DST? Homework still has to be done. And, kids are not taught to appreciate being outdoors anymore. TV and computers have taken over keeping them indoors. Also, many people work longer hours now.

Bottom line, this is another "dog and pony show" instituted by Congress to "make you feel good". We have little regard for this. Nothing Congress does these days is with good reasoning. Most is done with "see what we have done for you" while taking away a little more control of your life.

If you really want to save money on energy costs and save your environment, you must restrain yourself from adjusting your house temperatures. You might also inform your congressman that they need to use common sense and to stop intervening in the natural process. Yes, this is hard to do, but what will your kids do in 30 years when oil is depleted and the coast line is vastly changed by rising seas? The ball is in your court.