Continuous Care – A Great Place to Live

If you have a senior family member, or you are a senior family member yourself, it is only natural that you want the best health care possible. This is the case with continuous care. Seniors may find continuous care communities a great place to live once they’re retired from their jobs.

Seniors in continuous care are given the chance to continue with independent living as long as they are able to do so. They are also given the chance and the means to establish a community among themselves. This is a tremendous help, especially as seniors may later on find that their families and other acquaintances need to tend to their own lives. This provides the senior’s social lives with much-needed stability and security.

Housing, service and nursing care are provided for in these homes, and there is no need to move from one location to another. Seniors may also be happy to know that in some continuous care homes, things such as religious affinities and ethnicity are also taken into consideration. There are also some living facilities or continuous care communities that remain neutral, or are not affiliated with any religious or cultural groups at all.

There are a variety of services offered in continuous care communities. For instance, transportation and housekeeping may be provided. Special meals or diet plans can also be offered. There is also emergency help, and you’ll be glad to know that personal care is on stand-by should the senior citizen require them. There is also this so-called Assistance with Activities of Daily Living. Of course, recreational activities which can encourage members of the com

Best Retirement Cities

Once more, “baby boomers” are contravening the rules. This significant group has bumped traditional retirement off its precedence. While retirees before flee to Leisure Worlds, boomers are considering what to do in the next phase and where. Studies estimated seventy percent of those forty-five years old and older are planning to continue working in their “retirement” years. Financial stability is not the only reason, pure enjoyment of work or desire to try something new are reasons that keep these boomers on the job.

Amongst those people aged forty to fifty-four, only 4.7 percent, which is fewer than one out of twenty, will move across county lines every year, although even a fewer will move across state lines. A large portion of them will stay put but with some occasional traveling here and there. The reason for this is that a lot of boomers see their homes as legacies. Still some would look for the best retirement cities where they can live, work, and relax all in one.

For those who decide to move, sometimes the draw of the “familiar” is an answer. A lot of them will move to be near family; the divergence between baby boomers and older “silent generation” is that the younger faction is not rebelling against their family ties, in fact remaining close to their family ties. Some of the most common settings or the best retirement cities surroundings that baby boomers look for include: college towns for a familiar feel; a new locale, one with appealing cultural and recreational activities; purchasing vacation homes with view to being there in the future.

A research team viewed ten criteria considering the interests, needs, and tastes of Americans age fifty and older to come up with some of the best retirement cities for the baby boomers. Although not all towns stand out in every category, each town ranked high in several and a lot scored high in nearly all. The criteria included: availability of jobs given that this group will work beyond the age of sixty-five; affordable housing; culture and entertainment; access to outdoor recreation; safety; colleges and universities; sense of community; proximity to complete well-regarded health care facilities; good public high schools since many of them will have teens at home; and ease of getting around.

The three of the best retirement cities from the set criteria include: Loveland/Fort Collins Colorado is one of the best retirement cities both for its older residential areas of single-family homes under huge trees and the newer outlying neighborhoods the spring from grassland summons visitors with stunning mountain views and easy access to year-round outdoor fun. Both places are just forty five minutes from Denver and are neighboring cities facing the majestic Front Range of the Rockies.

Median house price: $198,655 in Loveland and $221,714 in Fort Collins

Bellingham, WA

This western find is located on a bay along the Pacific Northwest coast in the middle of Seattle and Vancouver. Set with a seaside marina, lush forests, freshwater lakes, Victorian historic districts, and to the east is the snow-capped Mount Baker. All the natural charms combined with affordable neighborhoods and recreational opportunities make it one of the best retirement cities, and have enticed a slew of transplants in recent years. Median House Price: $163,000

Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, North Carolina

These places are deemed to be one of the best retirement cities with its dynamic city area anchored by the state-of-the-art and biotechnology facilities situated in its Research Triangle Park and through more then ten higher-education institutions, just three hours from seashore and close to mountains, plus the most affordable and flamboyantly diverse of three towns. Median House Price: $147,000

Other best retirement cities include: Sarasota, Florida; Fayetteville, AR; Charleston, SC; Asheville, NC; San Diego, CA; San Antonio, TX; Santa Fe, NM; Gainesville, FL; Iowa City, IA; Portsmouth, NH; Spokane, WA; and Ashland, OR.

The Purpose-Driven Retirement

What is so hard about retirement? This sounds like a made up question. Many people feel retirement is no big deal; you just stop working! But, let us ask the question another way: what is a good retirement? After all, we pretty much know what a good education is and have some ideas about a good career, but what are the qualities which make a “good” retirement? If you believe the ads from financial service companies, you probably think that money is the answer. And certainly money is important. But there is a lot more to it than that.

A friend of ours, Bill, got a new puppy, and hired a dog trainer. The trainer arrived at his home, introduced herself, and asked, “Now exactly what is this puppy going to do?” “What do you mean,” Bill replied, “he’s going to be a puppy!” “No, no, no!” she exclaimed, “Is he going to fetch the newspaper? Is he going to guard the house? Is he going to heard sheep? If he’s going to be happy, he has to have a purpose!”

Just like that puppy, we all need a sense of purpose in our lives, and we continue to need it after we retire. We had a sense of purpose when we were in school. For some of us, it was qualifying for the next grade or the next level. For others it was getting through to get out. No matter. During our working years, we also had a sense of purpose as we built our careers and raised our families. Our careers were central in helping us define who we were by what we did and it occupied the bulk of our days. And we knew what it felt like to be successful, to be recognized for our contributions. And we could usually find a way to measure our progress against others.

But retirement is different. What are the measuring rods? Thank goodness, you say, I’m glad I’m getting out of all that competitive stuff! And perhaps you do want to give up the aspects of belonging to a stressful, competitive community (like the workplace). But there is always a need to find a sense of purpose, of making a contribution. Previous generations choose one of three general ways forward: (1) a hedonistic pursuit of “not working,” (2) a dedication to non-profit causes, or (3) grandparenting, which was work but not for pay. And for many people those directions satisfied the few years they had between retirement and either physical frailty or death.

The baby boomer generation is different. If you are now in your 50s or early 60s and active, the chances are that you will live another quarter of a century or more, and for most of that time you will be in good health. What are you going to do with this new time, which some call the “30-year bonus round.” There are no real models to guide you. History has few answers. For 99.9 % of human existence, there was no such thing as retirement. We worked until we dropped. When the first government-supported pension program was started in 1889 by Germany’s first chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck, pension payments began at age 65, at a time when the average life expectancy was 47! So most people died before they ever saw a check! And our families do not offer much help as a reference. Oh yes, there is usually someone in the family who lived to be 93 or more, but he or she was usually living most of those later years in a state of physical, and frequently emotional, frailty.

So how do we find our sense of purpose, or how do we recreate one? In our book, “Your Retirement, Your Way,” we explain two different but complementary methods for finding a sense of purpose. The first can be done at home on your own time. We encourage exploration of times in your life when you have experienced an extreme sense of purpose. And we train you to mine these memories, helping you to explore and analyze them. Like an anthropologist, an explorer, or acting as your own psychoanalyst, you explore your motivational needs when you were deeply engaged. Now frequently the information may be coded. If you remember loving to play football, for example, that doesn’t mean you want to be a football player in retirement, but it can mean that you love being part of a team and having a schedule! And that is what you need to do: understand what motivates you.

The second method involves a process for analyzing your own personality. We use the Birkman Personality Profile (a customized brief version) in our book. Having a deeper understanding of your own personality will help you create a retirement lifestyle that will complement that personality. The point is to get enough information to become the architect, the visionary, and the author of a retirement lifestyle which will give you a sense of purpose and also make you feel satisfied and fulfilled.

Compiling this information will help you begin the planning of a journey, one which may be exciting enough to last a quarter of a century or more! And it has been statistically proven that happy people live longer.

Best wishes for a wonderfully long retirement, full of meaning, excitement, and purpose.

Future Years: Retirement Planning

 

Future Years helps makes it easy for everyone to plan their retirement. It does not matter if someone has just started a professional career, or if that person is nearing retirement age, Future Years has lots of information to cater to the retirement planning needs of people of different age groups. From selecting a retirement location or home, to health insurance, Medicare, and travel plans, this site proves to be a useful guide for a large number of people, including baby boomers. The fact-based and interesting approach adopted by Future Years is one of the unique highlights of this site.

The section on top retirement locations offers comprehensive information about the best places in the United States for retirees. The listing of retirement homes in states like Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, should be particularly useful for seniors and for people who are planning for their second life. This particular section also provides information about assisted living communities in the US, and details about retirement locations outside the country.

Social Security, Medicare, and insurance, these are some of the terms which any person planning for retirement would be acquainted with? Well, this site is one of the largest offering information on all factors associated with the financial needs of a retiree, including Social Security, Medicare, and insurance of all kinds- travel, health and life. Future Years adopts a simplistic language and style to explain the various finance, health, medical and economics related topics, and programs and clauses, to its readers. A senior can also continue working after retirement, albeit with less stress. The careers section of Future Years is a storehouse of information for any senior looking for alternative career options or advice.

Retirement does not mean that a person stops enjoying life! On the contrary, one gets to do all those things which the heart desired, but due to paucity of time could not carry out earlier. Cruises, escorted tours, and active travel are some of the sections on Future Years that would interest any person who wants to lead an active lifestyle post-retirement. The site aims to be the top resource destination for information on retirement planning and related topics.

About FutureYears.com

Future Years is a Silicon Valley, joint-venture project launched by Jim Sutton and Karin Hollerbach.

Jim Sutton has years of experience in high tech industry, including a stint with IBM Research Division, and 12 years with Hewlett-Packard (finishing as General Manager). Jim has also been part of many Silicon Valley start-ups, working in the capacity of CEO.

Karin Hollerbach is the CEO of Taku Group, an organization serving as a business and finance advisory. Karin holds a PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering, and had earlier worked at various levels such as CEO, President, EVP, VP Technology, and VP Products, for multifarious organizations, at different points in time in her career.

 

For more information, log on to: www.futureyears.com

 

Choosing between assisted living facilities and nursing homes

There really comes a time in our lives when we find it difficult to look after ourselves. The change comes in dramatically like when we have just come from a recent illness or just suffered an accident. Whichever is the case, we are forced to stay home and seek the help of other people. It will be good if we have family and friends whom we can depend and who will extend their assistance. If this is not possible, then there are support social services such as the National Health Service or home care facilities that will provide district nurses to come and visit you. Yet others will be forced to stay either in assisted living facilities or in Florida nursing homes, whichever accommodation would satisfy them and be able to meet their needs.

Florida nursing homes, or if you wouldn’t be comfortable with that, could also called be called Florida convalescent homes, care homes, skilled nursing units, or just a rest home. It is a place where people who need care due to physical deficiencies or who could not sustain the activities of daily living will be attended to. While it may be very popular for the elderly and the seniors who have gone past their retirement age, it can also be a facility for younger adults, specifically 18 years or older, who have physical, mental, and emotional disabilities. Proper treatment and care are given them depending on their needs. There will be physical, speech, or occupational therapists who will focus to all their needs.

Among the services provided in Florida nursing homes are the services of registered nurses, nursing aides, and nursing assistants and a couple of therapists–speech, physical, and occupational. There are also recreational assistants and social workers who will likewise provide any kind of assistance that the residents would need. There are 4 nursing assistants for every 10 residents while 7 to 13 registered nurses for every 100 residents. Room and board for the residents are also among the services in Florida nursing homes. That is why in most nursing homes, care is facilitated and provided by certified nursing assistants but is strictly supervised by their skilled professionals.

As opposed to the concept of nursing homes, assisted living facilities are another option for those considering of senior care. It is another type of residence basically for seniors and elderly who can be independent but will need help in managing some of the basic day-to-day activities. Typical assisted living facilities would resemble an apartment community with each resident living in separate units. The staff would be there each day to check on them and help them with some of their personal chores while a licensed nurse would be on a 24-hour duty to respond to emergencies. Most residents in assisted living facilities would include individuals who still maintain an active lifestyle but for the peace of mind of their family members would admit them in assisted living facilities for constant care and assistance if and when needed. Some assisted living facilities would even provide transportation for their residents when they would go on a medical appointment or when they need to go out for a scheduled outing.

How to Plan Your Retirement Abroad

A growing number of international citizens are contemplating the concept of taking early retirement, escaping the hectic monotony of the daily grind and retiring abroad in a low cost location to make the most of their retirement savings.

If you’d like to live overseas to escape the high costs of living associated with countries such as American and Britain for example, this is a guide to planning your retirement abroad so that you don’t run out of money, you don’t run out of friends and you never lose your adventurous spirit.

When contemplating retirement the majority of us seem pre-programmed to only consider the far reaching financial implications of never bringing in an income again! But the fact of the matter is that there are many more things to consider if planning on retiring abroad, not to mention the fact that many retirees overseas pick up odd jobs and part time positions advising and assisting other expatriates with their lives and businesses anyway!

However, as the financial implications of retirement are uppermost in our minds let’s tackle that subject first: –

By retiring overseas in a low cost country such as Mexico, North Cyprus or Belize for example, retirement money simply goes far further. Taxes on property and income are far lower in many overseas countries, property prices are amazingly affordable in plenty of emerging destinations, and the abundance and quality of fresh produce in many sun-blessed and affordable retreats means that day to day living costs are quite simply reduced.

There are considerations that those moving to less well developed but cheaper countries should bear in mind though – such as affording a decent level of health care cover – but in a country such as Northern Cyprus for example the cost of receiving quality medical treatment is so low that an insurance policy’s excess is usually higher than the amount having to be paid out anyway!

It’s important to research a preferred destination to discover the true cost of living there as well as the likely realities of daily life, and researching all options and alternatives is an absolute must for those planning an overseas retirement before making a firm commitment to retire abroad to any particular affordable haven.

Other than the financial implications there are a number of social considerations that those planning on retiring abroad should think long and hard about. By moving physically away from friends and family, homesickness and longing for familiarity can be intensified which can make it harder to settle in abroad. This feeling of displacement is entirely natural and will be experienced to a lesser or greater extent by all those who move abroad – but it is a feeling that can be overcome by making an effort to meet new friends and establish new bonds with people – which means that sociable types who find it easy to make friends and acquaintances will find it far easier to retire abroad.

Those with a tolerance for alternative cultures and values will also find it easier to settle in an unfamiliar country where things are quite simply ‘done differently’! Those who are resistant to change and who plan on living abroad in an expatriate community where they hope to be surrounded by familiarity will still have to encounter local people and accept local values, therefore such people should really think seriously about whether they can adapt to a totally new way of life. If they feel they cannot then they will be wasting precious resources moving abroad only to discover that they hate it and have to return home!

This brings me on to my final point – having a Plan B! Sometimes people retire abroad and for one reason or another they cannot settle and wish to move on or move ‘back home’, alternatively some unlucky people are forced to return home as a result of a change in circumstances. Therefore it is always important to have at least the rudimentary workings of an exit strategy or a plan B in mind. If possible squirrel away a little money so that if the worst comes to the worst you always have a way out or a way back home – even though statistics show that the majority of those who retire abroad in an affordable and sun kissed location love every minute of their life and never want to change it!

How to Break Free of Fears About Retirement

Many people anticipate boredom, misery and uselessness in retirement. In fact, many people are living this kind of retirement right now. These fears often weigh people down and actually stand in the way of enjoying a fulfilling and happy retirement. But you don’t have to be one of the people dreading retirement. You can take charge of your life right now and start moving toward the exciting life you dream about for your retirement years.

If you deliberately take just five steps in the right direction, you can be on the path to making retirement the very best years of your life. I know some people say the best years of our lives are in our youth. But I am here to tell you – from personal experience – that the best time of your life can actually be those years in the prime of your life.

Take these five steps to set yourself on the path to firing up your retirement:

STEP #1: Find a new focus for your life. We simply are not a generation that will be content sitting in a rocking chair watching a cat sleep. We want more from life. So decide what makes you happy. Decide what gives you a sense of purpose and meaning in life. Choose what you want and make it happen.

STEP #2: Expand your connections with others. Staying home alone in front of a TV is just not good for you. You need to be connected to other people. So, get off the couch or out of the chair and go find ways to spend time with people you know and build connections with people you don’t yet know. Join a group or a club or get involved in a sport or other activity. Go where the people are and make connections.

STEP #3: Keep learning new things. Learning keeps us connected and vital. Learning keeps us young in spirit. Learning keeps the mind sharp and engaged with life. Think of something you have often wanted to learn more about, but never had time. Think of something you could learn and then use to benefit others. Go learn and, by learning, grow.

STEP #4: Make a difference and give back. When you get involved in the community in some meaningful way you reap countless benefits. Not only will you help someone else, you will help yourself by engaging in purposeful and rewarding activity. You have knowledge and experience. You have causes that you care about passionately. You can make a difference. Get out there and change lives.

STEP #5: Organize your life to achieve happiness. I’m not just talking about getting organized. I’m suggesting that when we organize our lives we get things in perspective and in balance. This allows us to keep our focus on the things that matter most to us and pursue our dreams. When we focus on what is most important to us, we don’t waste time chasing things that just fill time. When we pursue what matters most to us with focus, we find happiness.

I promise you that when you take these five steps you will be on the path to a fired up retirement lifestyle. These steps can take you beyond your fears about retirement and give you the assurance that the second stage of your life will have purpose and pizzazz.

Copyright 2007 by Dr. Cynthia Barnett

Fighting the Inflation That is Making it Harder to Retire

First things first. Financial Freedom is really just plain old freedom to do all of the the things you want to do in your last article I discussed what I believed to be some of the definitions of financial freedom, but I would like to briefly delve into what actual freedom is, or what it feels like. I am sure that many of you think you know, but I guarantee you have forgotten the feeling. I realized this for myself when I was watching my son play at the park and I couldn’t help but feeling enamored not only by the joy he was experiencing, but more because he was experiencing it in such an undistracted way. It’s probably been a long time for many of us since we’ve been able to go out to dinner during the week and not think about work, or go on vacation and not think about our financial lives; probably because we are thinking about how we can have the money to make our lives more like the vacation. So, in a nutshell the concept I am trying to propose is “joy without distraction”. When is the last time you felt this for longer than a few hours at a time? This single concept made me think from a financial perspective how a successful, active adult of any age could experience a life full of joy without distraction. One of the main conclusions is that having enough predictable passive income to take care of your day to day life, extracurricular activities you desire, and the ability to add to your principal to keep up with inflation gets us to financial freedom and the ability to maintain it on an ongoing basis. If this is starting to sound like joy without distraction then the next step is finding out how to get it? (Assuming that an individual must be responsible enough to know how much it costs them to maintain their lifestyle)

The following rules are a good start to making this happen:

1. Double digit returns

2. Capital preservation through diversification and asset backed investing

3. Having every available dollar working for you – something I call the “Hotel Theory”

The 1 rule is pretty straight forward, but to illustrate more clearly let’s go back to the same million dollars we were discussing in Part I and put it through the rigors of the three rules. If you had $1million earning 10% instead of 6.6%, the annual result would be $100,000 or $33,000 more than a 6.6% annual return would yield. Take a federal tax rate of 25% and a low state income tax rate of 3% and now you have $72,000. If you take the true rate of inflation at 9.5 % this leaves you with a net $65,880. So far, does a net $5,450 per month compared with $3,620, which is an extra $1,830 each month, sound a little closer to financial freedom?

All of this income sounds great, but again we only get the “joy without distraction” if that income is predictably constant. To keep it constant we need to follow the 2nd rule very closely.

We could really get excessive with the double digit returns and want to make investments that promise upwards of a 15% to 20% return, but many times capital preservation is compromised. Investing in asset backed investments that are diversified is one of the better ways to help ensure your capital is not lost. Most investors realize the importance of not putting all your eggs in one basket, and diversification should be part of any plan. In addition, if an investment is asset backed, in the long run there is something tangible behind the investment to liquidate for principal recoupment. In short, big returns are great, but not at the cost of our principal investment.

The 3rd rule is something I call the “Hotel Theory”. In the hotel industry, it is common knowledge that if the rooms aren’t rented for a night you can never get that night back again, and hence you can never recover the lost revenue. Time can be a hotel’s worst enemy, and the hotel sales model is not like a normal product model where you always have another day to sell; every night of vacancy is lost income. Much like a hotel, if your money is not always in something that is producing a return, then that time is not recoverable. So, to follow the hotel theory, all cash should be sitting in something that is earning returns at all times. It sounds simple but perform a quick litmus test on all of your accounts and see if every dollar you have is earning a return at this moment. As elementary as this test might be, I’m willing to bet you’ll be surprised by how much idle cash is sitting around.

If you have worked your whole life to come up with the nest egg to provide the passive income necessary for financial freedom, then you need to protect it. Creating plenty of predictable passive income that doesn’t affect financial freedom negatively, but has all of your nest egg constantly working for you is the solution. The factors affecting There are many alternative investments out in the world today that provide all of the rules above, and they are becoming more and more accessible. In fact, alternative investments are seeing unprecedented inflows of investment dollars, probably due to a rough first half of the year for the stock market and the unpredictability going forward. An investment plan that is based on the hope that inflation will cease and the world will not continue to change is not a plan at all. Prudent planning with a healthy degree of caution is the path to finding the type of freedom that will provide the ever important joy without distraction.

Copyright Regent Global Funds 2008

 

Part I of this article can be viewed at http://investingsymposium.com

If you’re interested in a more in depth look at the three rules above please view the complete set of rules “5 Ways to Make Your Money Work Harder for You” report at Regent Global Funds ( www.rgfunds.com).

The Next Crisis In The Perfect Storm – Unfunded Retirement Accounts

One financial area not receiving media attention in our present economic situation is the large deficits in federal, state and local retirement accounts. In fact the silence is almost deafening. According to the Pew Center on the States, “state government employee pension plans nationwide alone, have racked up nearly $360 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.” Research indicates there is also in excess of $380 billion in unfunded liabilities for other retirement benefits, including health care.

Both political parties have blamed unfunded pension liabilities on factors outside their control, such as lost tax revenue and the stock market downturn. Sagging returns have not helped pension investment portfolios, but they account for a fairly small portion of the problem. Many states have been diverting billions in pension payments to other state spending year after year, digging the hole deeper.

Politicians and administrators at all levels of government have “guaranteed” generous benefits, while pushing the costs onto future generations of taxpayers by failing to fully fund the pensions. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that in the past 15 months, and most notably in the past few months, employee retirement accounts have lost $2 trillion in value. By law, the trillions lost in public pension obligations must be paid out… and taxpayers will be forced to foot the bill.

While on vacation last spring in the Napa wine country of California, my wife and I listened in disbelief as the local news announced that the city of Vallejo had filed for bankruptcy. This was as a direct result of the more than generous retirement benefits paid to its employees. We should not have been surprised as the same thing has happened in the past in Orange County and San Diego. Many other municipalities across the nation are facing this same scenario.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out with States needing billions just to keep operating day to day and the millions of government employed baby-boomers getting ready to retire. With the high unemployment, personal debt running at an all-time high and high personal and property taxes, where will the states get the money to pay retirees? Where will the federal government get the funds to satisfy social security, Medicare and the unfunded retirement obligations?

There does not appear to be a definitive or even an estimated amount that the federal, state and local governments are short, in funding retirement accounts. The collective figure is definitely much bigger than the stimulus package just past and signed into law. Add to the government shortages those of the private sector, the future does not look good for those retired or thinking of retiring.

If you are retired or planning to retire in the next few years, contact the agency or your retirement account administrator; find out what condition the funding is in with regard to future retirement disbursements. This may put your mind at ease or cause you to save more of “your money for your retirement.” Additionally, you should contact your local, state and federal representatives and communicate your concern. Possibly suggest they do not pass more spending bills until all unfunded liabilities are covered.

Why Some People Don’t Want to Retire?

When people are young, the word retirement is not something of much concern. It is 20 or even 30 years away and a lot can happen during that time. It is something that slips in and out that is given little thought.

Some companies offer early retirement to its employees. Even if the age of retirement is officially at 65, there are some who are not yet willing to leave and would rather work some more instead of enjoying the other pleasures that life has to offer.

A job or a profession to some is what makes the person a member of the community. It makes the person feel important for the years of service given and the number of accomplishments one has achieved. These are things that some people hold on to which makes retirement hard to accept.

The psychological impact makes it hard for someone who has lived in a fast paced world to adjust to a life that is at a more leisurely pace. Some forms of leisure after working for so long can be done by spending more time with family and friends, playing golf or cruising around the world.

Another reason is perhaps the person who is still employed is just waiting for the right moment or package that the company will give out to its employees. Such issues are whether or not the retirement package that is being offered is higher than the projected earnings if one stays employed or if the retirement fund can be used immediately once it has been given.

Some people can get more just waiting for the normal retirement age than accepting the company’s early retirement plan. Instead of saving, one might end up forfeiting and miss out on opportunities to make additional contributions to the plan.

People who don’t want to retire yet are also concerned if the offer given by the company includes post-retirement medical insurance. This is because Medicare doesn’t start until one has reached the age of 65 and the cost of getting private insurance is expensive.

There are risks in deciding to stay if a retirement offer is on the table. Business may not be doing well prompting the company to lay off workers or even have the position one has eliminated due to redundancy.

The most important reason that makes some employees still stay is that regardless of age, one strongly believes that one can still do more being at the job.

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