The Apprentice Marketer Gazette » retirement

Is Celebrating the Big Six-Zero Birthday Mixed With Fears of Facing Life After Sixty?

Fran Civile — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 23:13:08 +0000

Worry

This is a guest post contributed by Betty Jameson

Are you scared of old age when you think of entering this phase of life after sixty? Don’t be. While the fear of death is a natural one, there is nothing to fear from living life as an older person.

Yet, many of us do have that fear. It’s understandable: fears that our health may not be what it was, or that we won’t have enough money, or that we won’t have enough to do are common ones. However, while some things are unpredictable, we have the power to influence many of the outcomes we fear the most.

If you’re heading towards sixty or have recently been congratulated for that big ‘six-zero’ birthday remember that much of your life is within your control, in more ways than you might realize. Address whatever fears you might have about getting older, rather than allowing them to hold you back.

Health

Loss of good health is a major worry for many people as they age. Now, it’s fair enough to be concerned. Part of the aging process is that our bodies slow down and begin to wear. We can’t prevent this from happening, in fact our body starts to slow down in our twenties!

While we can’t magically turn back the clock, a healthy and active lifestyle will greatly minimize the effects of aging and the minor health problems that happen to most of us. Some of us mignt have to face major health problems at some future time, but it’s best to avoid any useless worrying.

People

Being older can be an isolating experience for some. If you’re in a relationship, this is often a good time to re-connect if you feel you have drifted apart. If you cannot, or you’re unhappy, get out, give yourself a chance to find someone new. Being single and happy is much less lonely than being coupled and unhappy. Don’t think, either, that being older means you have to forget about sex … over half of those aged 75-85 have sex at least twice a month.

When it comes to friends and family, make an effort. When you retire and lose your routine, it’s often easy to become isolated. Find a new routine that involves regular social dates.

Identity

Many people’s biggest fear once they retire is that they will lose their identity. If you’ve worked hard for years and built your life around your job and the status it entails, then it’s hard to suddenly lose it. Retirement from full-time work can be a sudden shock for some. If you’ve been a stay-at-home parent much of your life, then children leaving home can cause the same worries.

Remember that identity does not need to come just from work. If you’re worried about being an ‘invisible’ person at home alone, then do something to prevent that from happening. Perhaps you have skills that you can put to use in a local charity? Or perhaps you could go back to education? Earlier in life, both work and education are pursued for a purpose. Now, you can do them just for fulfillment.

Money

If you’re worried about money once you retire, that’s understandable, especially in today’s uncertain economic climate. Sit down and work out your likely income and expenses, and see if there’s a gap to be made up, or if you’re just not going to have enough to do the things you want to, look at ways you can make up the difference. Perhaps you could sell your home and downsize? Or perhaps you could find a way to make some extra income? Retirement is not necessarily as sudden a change as it used to be. Why not look at starting a small business from home? We all have business ideas that we’ve just been too busy to pursue while working full-time. Retirement could be the opportunity you need to do just that.

Opportunity

Retirement is also a chance to work towards whatever other things you want to do, but never had the chance to. Have you ever heard a retired person say that they ‘don’t know how they had the time to work’? Busy people are normally happy people, so get out and do things. Japanese people like Shukan Shincho call retirement their ‘second life’. Perhaps their example is the one to follow.

Betty Jameson is just back from a Caribbean Cruise where she stopped off to do some mountain biking in the beautiful Dominican Republic. As soon as she returned home it was time to get a bicycle insurance comparison and a new bike as she had found a new hobby.

Picture credit: http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Worried_People_3.jpg

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Life After Sixty! Are New Beginnings Possible?

Fran Civile — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 05:23:53 +0000

This is a guest post contributed by Betty Jameson

Life after sixty marks some turning points for most people … after all, by sixty many of life’s irreversible choices are already made! You’ve already either had children or not, you’ve either had the career you wanted or you haven’t, you’ve either paid into a mortgage or you haven’t…isn’t it all a bit too late to start to think about new beginnings?

It doesn’t have to be. It is precisely because you have already lived a good proportion of your life that at sixty, you can start to really be yourself. The kids have left home, you’re either retired or gearing up to it, and a whole new world of possibilities is there to be opened.

Because you don’t have to worry any more about getting the kids to school on time or slogging out late nights at work to try and get that promotion, you’re more able to follow your dreams.

What is it that you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t had the chance to? Sixty might be just the right time to think about doing it.

There is a much celebrated poem, Warning, by the British poet Jenny Joseph, in which she describes the freedom she’ll have as she gets older:

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.

Later, in the poem, she says:

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

Does that sound familiar? Joseph speaks for many when she describes how she has lived, always having to be sensible and to do the ‘expected’ things. There is a great pressure, when younger, to always be pushing forward on a particular trajectory. At sixty, that pressure is lifted.

After sixty you might be in a better position to enjoy your life

Get out and enjoy doing the things you’ve always wanted to do. It may be difficult to feel that the years are passing, or that you’ve lost your old life, but you cannot do anything about your age. What you can change, is how you use the remaining years of life after sixty you have left!

These days, you’re likely to have quite a few of them. Average life expectancy at birth in the US is now 78, but if you’ve already made it to sixty in relatively good shape, you can expect to live longer than that. These are just some of the things you could do with the ‘extra’ two decades that you’ll have, which those born a couple of generations earlier would not have been able to do.

Start a business

Retirement provides an opportunity to work without needing to worry about making enough to pay the bills. The internet means anyone can be an entrepreneur. If you have a hobby — making jewelry, baking cakes, sculpture — then why not use it to make some money? Very little investment is needed to set up a website and have a home business.

Live abroad

Most of us have unfulfilled travel dreams, and taking lots of long holidays when you retire is great, if you can afford it. It can be more fulfilling and much more affordable to actually live abroad. Some people choose to spend their whole retirement abroad, but that’s not for everyone (especially if you want to be around for the grandchildren).

Spending six months or a year enjoying another culture can be a fantastic experience, and your social security check will go much further in many places than it will in the US.

Write a book

It’s often said that ‘everyone’s got a book in them’. What’s yours? You don’t have to write a novel or even look for a publisher. A book about your life, family and experiences might be just as fun to write, or you might enjoy researching something related to local history or a particular interest. Print on demand publishers can bring it to life for you without much outlay.

Learn a skill

Use your time to do something you’ve always wanted to do, or challenge yourself with something you’d never thought of, from yoga to metalwork!

Betty Jameson is just back from a Caribbean Cruise where she met a couple in their 60′s who were staying in the beautiful Dominican Republic for a month after the cruise finished. Betty, on the other hand, is back to work.

Image by Wikipedia: World Map showing world life expectancy in 2007

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How Could You Get Some Kind of Home Business Up and Running?

Fran Civile — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 00:13:19 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The news is full of stories about the thousands of boomers who will be retiring every day beginning this year and much of the political discourse seems to be centered on the viability of Social Security and Medicare entitlements, causing concern among many middle-aged citizens

Before Social Security was enacted in 1935, men and women who became physically handicapped or too old to work depended on relatives who often didn’t have much to share; children who lost their father were often treated as a burden to others or sent to an orphanage.

There are some big lifestyle differences between those first generations of Social Security beneficiaries and the present generation of retiring boomers.

Well into the third quarter of this past century, workers avoided accumulating debt and aspired to pay off their mortgage before they reached retirement age. It wasn’t until sometime in the 1970′s that the banks started
stepping up the promotion of credit cards and home mortgage refinancing.

Offsetting this dreary financial situation is this generation of baby boomers’ attitude… they generally believe in staying fit and keeping their mind and social life active. Many of them are thinking about producing an extra income to supplement their Social Security check.

In earlier days, producing some extra income wasn’t easy; it meant getting a part-time job in a company or the local hardware store, teaching a skill or providing a needed service, such as small house repairs, gardening or cleaning services. Starting a small business could be an option, but that required some capital and a big time commitment. Any of those endeavors required some commuting!

Today, the Internet is providing practically unlimited means of communications with no geographical limitations, making it fairly easy to start a successful home business. A boomer facing retirement could be looking for answers to the following questions:

* How does my view of retirement differ from my parents’?
* How could I get some kind of home business up and running?
* How does knowing that I’m probably going to live longer than previous generations change my outlook on life?

With plenty of time to do research answers to those questions and many more can be found on the Internet;there are many dependable websites and blogs offering free or low cost step-by-step instructions for planning a home business and making it work.

Here at Apprentice Marketer Gazette, I share information I’ve learned over the past four years and continue to get through daily contact with other bloggers and marketers.

What are your thoughts about extra income possibilities? Do you have some
suggestions other readers would like to read about? Please share!

Fran

Photo: Ida Mae Fuller, the first SS recipient, photo information at Wikipedia

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Retirement:Are You Getting The Life you Wished For?

Fran Civile — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 02:03:17 +0000

What’s that saying? Be careful what you wish for?

Retirement, the beacon of hope that winked at you for the past four or five years? Well, it finally was more like blinking and getting dimmer amidst more pressing signals: emails, telephone calls, 401k after shocks, official forms to fill out, and then finally goodbyes, laughter and tears, well-wishers envious or gloating in their youthful and blissful ignorance.

After a long and fulfilling work life, this is it … you’re free!

No alarm clock, no deadlines, no demands on your time! Is that great or what? Yes it is, at least for a few weeks or months, especially if you have a partner to share this new independence.

Times when you miss your busy life?

There are days though when you’re feeling lonely, lost and at odds with the perspective of having twenty or more years to look forward to … You do look forward, don’t you? Well yeah and when you do, you realize that a social security check does not meet all your needs – you’re eligible for Medicare but a Supplemental Policy is needed in order to have full coverage benefits.

Boomers who follow healthy eating and exercising guidelines, can expect to live until at least age 85!

If you’re the kind person who enjoys shopping with friends, playing a little golf, visiting the gym, there is plenty to fill your days but they take money! On the other hand you might be one of the boomers who contribute to children’s or grandchildren’s education … you’re involved in sports, you like to travel … you like nice clothes, you want to enjoy this wonderful new phase of your life, but how long can you afford it all?

You realize that having a part-time job might be the answer

For the 65-yr old boomer who would like to get out of the house and spend a few hours a week interacting with other people, it’s good to know that many companies these days only need part time help and they usually value the work ethics and experience a mature person brings to a company.

Seeking a part-time income could be a sweet experience devoid of all the urgency and pressing worries of earlier years when being able to pay the next month’s rent or mortgage interfered with the freedom to wait for a better opportunity.

What if you’re one of the boomers who doesn’t want to commute?

Not ever again, not for money, friendship, companionship or personal satisfaction! You’ve looked forward to this time of your life and you’re darn well going to make the best of it! You’re in luck, there are many ways to make money from home on the Internet.

You can have it all, retirement plus extra income and the freedom to be your own boss … finally!

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Freelance Writing and Job Sites Supplement Your Retirement Income

Fran Civile — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:04:49 +0000

Although it is sometimes thought that these jobs don’t pay as well, getting a freelance writing gig from a Job Site bid will give you experience and the opportunity to get a good rating from a satisfied client.

ELance

I want to share information about how to navigate the Elance Job Site.

My thoughts here are slanted toward a write-for-pay business because that is what I do but Elance has many, many work categories listed besides writing.

It’s a fact that you need some client feedback to help you get writing gigs and if you don’t have that or some work to show a prospective client it might take you longer to get a freelance writing order; besides it’s not unusual to have a mutually satisfactory client/worker relationship continue outside of Elance, and save the fees!

I have checked around the internet for opinions about Elance and found contradictory opinions:

It takes too much time to submit bids … answered by ‘they’re trying to get results with a free account’. The cost of the Professional category is $10 a month … that allows for:

Submit Proposals to Clients: up to 25

Profile Keywords: 10 (appear in more search results)

Hosted Portfolio

Add More Categories and Proposals

Preferred Placement in Search Results

I think it’s worth investing the $10 for one month membership to check the ins and outs of this freelance job site,and find out if this is the path to enhancing your life with some extra income.

You could also get up to 40 proposals to clients with 15 profile keywords for $20/month.

One comment was that it takes up to 20 bids to get an job awarded! I wonder if in those cases,it could mean that the job seeker didn’t:

Use adequate criteria in picking jobs to bid on?
Or was the submission missing important information, based on the assumption that the client would take the time to read the bidder’s profile
Or was the information in the proposal relevant to the job, without any superfluous details?

If you decide to try Elance out make sure you are not making these common mistakes:

Assuming the buyer is going to read your profile. They might, but they might not, so always include pertinent information in your proposal!

Not responding to specific points in the job description!

Not reading the entire job posting so you can address the buyer’s specific requirements!

Not providing relevant samples of your work with your bid, although you have already included those in your portfolio!

You cannot be sure buyers will check out your Elance portfolio so it’s a good idea to include one or two great samples with your proposal. This saves the buyer time, and reflects well on you!

If you want more, I highly recommend a home study course on how to make money on Elance. The course features Trish Lambert, a 6-figure Elancer who won $20,000 worth of projects on her first six weeks on Elance.

Trish spills the beans on her strategies, such as:

How to find quality projects in Elance (they’re not all junk!)
How to make prospects want to hire you, even if you bid higher than others
How to get feedback even if you’ve never won a bid before
A formula for determining your professional rates

And much more. You’ll find that the same principles Lexi and Trish
teach will work in other bidding sites as well, such as
ODesk and Rentacoder.

You’ll be a few jumps ahead of most newbie bidders when
you’ve read:How to Make Money on Elance … Just check it out
and decide!

Fran

PS. I will be glad to answer any questions you leave in a comment … don’t hesitate to ask!

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Retirement: Baby Boomers Can Take Action to Create Internet Income

Fran Civile — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 07:41:41 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Thousands of baby boomers are hitting 65 beginning this year and going on for the next 19 years – and many are not cash-ready to retire! Many of them are turning to the Internet to look for work at home job opportunities, and there are plenty of options.

Finding a way to boost their income is almost mandatory for most retirees. With the rise in cost of living, medical needs and the economy in a downturn, boomers are thinking about new careers that will supplement their income and keep their minds active.

Some knowledge and talents from former careers or jobs can be turned into a money-making home business on the Internet. Unless you’re thinking that you need more social interaction, meaning an online business may not work for you. However, if chatting online with others partly fulfills your socializing needs, it may be a good fit.

Just a couple possibilities to get you thinking are:

* eBay – there are many ways to make money on eBay, selling products you are somewhat knowledgeable about, with classified ads or even your own store and managing the whole thing online.

* Tutoring – Taking advantage of all that you’ve learned in the past and teaching others. It can all be done online and in the comfort of your home choosing your own hours and without any special equipment, besides a computer and a broadband connection.

* Writing – Good writers can definitely find jobs on the Internet. At first, you may have to charge less than you know you’re worth to establish a reputation. Sites such as elance.com cater to writers and those who need their services. Grant writing and technical writing are especially valued on the Internet.

• Web Content and Web Design – If you’re one of the boomers who is fluent in ‘computereze,’ you could put healthy sums into your bank account by helping the many less experienced internet beginners.

Of course, those are limited examples but you know what your own skills are and when thinking about work at home jobs after your retirement, you probably have considered your motivation to work and how many hours you want to put in to your new career.

There may be skills you haven’t quite mastered but would love to learn and you’re in luck! If you have time to invest in research, there is unlimited information on the Internet, both free and some sites offer free or inexpensive step-by-step training in a chosen area.

Begin by entering your search words in Google and you will get lists of websites and blogs to scan through … as you familiarize yourself with the overwhelming amount of information, you will become adept at refining your searches … I did it a few years ago and you can do it too!

But beware of online ads for work at home jobs that require start-up fees – you really can get started on a shoestring budget.

As you head out for an ‘encore career choice‘, it’s important that it be satisfying for you as well as something that will fatten your bank account.

What are your thoughts and comments on the subject?

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RetirementGiftShop.com Expands Retirement Gifts and Retirement Party Supplies

Fran Civile — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:19:08 +0000

Auburn, NY (Vocus) May 27, 2010

RetirementGiftShop.com announced today that it is expanding its retirement gifts to include additional retirement party supplies and more personalized retirement gifts. RetirementGiftShop.com has been selling retirement gifts for over 10 years. They sell a variety of different retirement gifts, including retirement gifts for women, retirement poems, retirement t shirts, retirement party supplies and more.

“The growing trend in retirement gifts is to offer more personalization options to the customer,” according to Lisa Klima, owner of RetirementGiftShop.com. “We are committed to giving customers more choices in retirement gifts via prices, product selection, and personalization options to give customers the best retirement gift buying experience.”

In the retirement gifts section, they have added more retirement gifts for women and retirement gifts for men. For example, the retirement gifts for women gift basket includes retirement mugs, retirement candles, a retirement frame, and many other retirement gifts for a woman. The gift basket is ideal for company employees to buy together as a joint retirement gift to be given to someone leaving the company.

For the gentlemen, similar retirement gift baskets are popular retirement gifts for men.

Also in the retirement gifts section, they offer a retirement afghan with retirement quotes on it, a retirement photo album, and a personalized retirement frame, where the buyer can add the retiree’s name to the bottom of the frame.

For retirement gag gifts, RetirementGiftShop.com sells a retirement countdown clock, which counts down the days until someone retires. For funny retirement gifts, they sell funny retirement doormats, and several other retirement gag gifts like retirement pills, a retirement cane and other humorous retirement gift ideas.

In the retirement party supplies category, they sell retirement party supplies such as retirement decorations, retirement plates, retirement napkins and other helpful retirement supplies to organize a party. If the buyer needs additional decorating materials, there is retirement confetti to decorate table settings and retirement cake toppers for the cake. For party guests, there is a retirement signature plate which will give the guests a place to make their retirement wishes for the newly retired employee.

The biggest product expansion from RetirementGiftShop.com is in the area of retirement poems. In each retirement poem, the customer now has the option of altering the title of the retirement poem, and also personalizing the bottom of the retirement poem. In addition to customizing the retirement poems, the customer can now choose from two poem versions: a talking or regular version. The talking version of the retirement poem comes with a 10 second recorder unit attached to the back, that allows customers to record their own 10 second message to the poem. For example, they could say “Congratulations on Retiring John from the Acme Company” into the recorder unit and the message would play back whenever the button is pressed. The recorder unit is an enhanced feature available for a small additional charge. The regular version of the retirement poems means that the poem comes framed and personalized but with no recorder unit attached.

In addition to regular retirement poems, they offer military retirement poems. The military retirement poems are available for anyone serving in the Army, Air Force, Navy, or Marines. The military retirement poems are printed on artwork representative of the branch of service they belong to. For example, the navy artwork shows a naval aircraft carrier on the artwork. The customer can choose from an army poem, navy poem, marine poem, or air force poem. All the military poems can be personalized with the serviceman’s name, rank, branch of the military and can include a thoughtful message about the importance of their service at the bottom of the poem.

For a lighter retirement gift idea, RetirementGiftShop.com has added additional retirement shirt ideas and retirement hats to choose from. These retirement t shirts include funny retirement shirt slogans such as “I’m Retired, Do it Yourself” or Retired- Every Day is a Weekend,” designed to make the retiree laugh when they receive the retirement present. One of the most popular retirement hats is the retirement day planner cap, which has an amusing spinner on the cap that the retiree can spin to find things to do during their day, such as “golf,” “nap” and more.

For a more affordable retirement gift, or a retirement gift for someone who is more of an acquaintance, RetirementGiftShop.com has a variety of retirement mugs and retirement coffee mugs. These retirement mugs vary in terms of slogans between funny retirement mugs, such as “Retirement- no worries, no stress, no paycheck,” to sentimental retirement quotes such as “Life Begins at Retirement.”

For teachers and nurses retiring, RetirementGiftShop.com sells teacher poems that students can give their teacher as a teacher appreciation poem or teacher thank you poem. The teacher poem can be personalized with the teacher’s name, school name, the number of years they have taught there, and can contain a personal message from the child to the teacher at the bottom of the teacher poem. Retiring nurses are covered too. They offer a nurse mug with a sentimental slogan about nursing on it as and a nurse shirt that lest everyone know how tough it is to be a good nurse.

For the retiree who is a golfer, the customer can choose from two retirement golf gifts. There is a funny golf shirt about the love hate relationship between golfers and golf, and also a pack of three retirement golf balls with happy retirement wishes stamped on the retirement golf balls.

RetirementGiftShop.com offers exceptionally fast shipping for their poems and all retirement gifts. All orders to customers ship out the same day if ordered by 3PM eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Lisa Klima, is the owner of RetirementGiftShop.com, which has sold retirement gifts for over 10 years online.

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Creating Your Own Digital Pension Income

Fran Civile — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:32:34 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

In the Industrial age people planned to survive their retirement by means of a pension income. These pension plans were funded by the next generation of workers contributing to the pension plan of the former generation. The flaw in the system was that it did not account for declining population. As the industrial age came to an end the population declined and therefore there was less labor force to contribute to the pension funds. Some pension funds went bankrupt leaving a large number of retirees not knowing what to do next.

There are some things that you can do
to ensure that your retirement income is not solely dependent upon a pension income from the former job. One of the most strategic moves that you can make would be to start some kind of a business of your own. The advances in the Information age have made it easier than ever to ensure a successful retirement income for you and your family. Thanks hugely to technologies like the World Wide Web, setting up a small business to fund your retirement and create your own ‘digital pension income’ can be the answer you seek to secure a financially stable retirement.

As a boomer near retirement age
or if you are already there, you should consider setting up a small business to supplement your pension income. Many types of Internet businesses can be built or even bought to generate passive income, very similar to retirement in that you will get a check each month that is generated from work you did once but no longer do. There are other types of web businesses that will require management and perhaps even operations, but they are quite lucrative and can be used to leverage the necessary tasks for creating, buying, or building the types of web businesses that offer passive income.

The Internet has created so many new industries
that the opportunities to create income, both passive and earned, are surpassing the opportunities created by any other industry in history. The need to depend on pension income in retirement is no longer the only way you can plan to retire in comfort. You can be responsible for your own retirement income and not live with the dark cloud of fear of your former employers pension program going bankrupt.

Another important note on setting up a Internet home business
to create your own digital pension income is that you aren’t limited to making only a percentage of what your pay at your former company once was. By setting up an Internet business based income, you can create as much income as you want to.

With The Pension Plan the limits have been removed.

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