Something BIG in Retirement
Retirement is another opportunity to have an amazing life. What will make this stage of life amazing for you? What do you most want to do and accomplish over the rest of your life? What do you regret never having had a chance to do before? Stephen Covey, in his book...
Start Now to Reduce Taxes in Retirement
Is there any way to reduce your tax burden post-retirement? After all, income taxes will be one of your largest expenses in retirement, particularly after you turn 70½. Upon retirement you will most likely need some income from your investments. It is less expensive...
Use It or Lose It
Use it or lose it. If you don’t exercise, your muscles could atrophy. But the good news is that if you start to exercise, even at an advanced age, your capabilities can increase. You may even end up stronger than you were when you were younger. With regular...
Preventing Serious Investment Mistakes
Your investments will probably be a major component of your retirement income. So it is important to avoid two serious mistakes as you prepare your investments for retirement. The first mistake is taking more risk than you are comfortable with. If your investments...
Retirement is NOT a Punishment
Some people don’t want to retire, even though they have enough money to do so. They see retirement almost like a punishment. Especially for people who have had professional careers, their identity often comes from their work. This is how they see themselves and how...
Energy for Life
After my heart attack in 2000, my doctor said, “It’s simple – exercise or die.” When my father was 40, his doctor told him to stop smoking or die. My father wanted to live and he was a person of strong determination. He stopped smoking (cold-turkey) and lived a very...
Getting your ducks in a row. Part 1.
Do you like to travel? Do you ever wonder—can we afford such-and-such a trip? Or think—if we go on this holiday, will we bust our budget for the year? My wife and I love to travel, and now many travel companies send us their colorful travel...
The Time of Your Life
We live longer than previous generations. You may have more years ahead of you than you think. Perhaps you are familiar with current U.S. life-expectancy numbers for the general population: seventy-six for men and eighty-one for women. These are the numbers for...
Cello as my retirement adventure
I started taking cello lessons when I was 73. A friend told me that to be a really good cello player, I needed to put in 10,000 hours of hard work. I calculated that at my rate of practicing an hour each day, I would be good enough to play string quartets when I...
Enough money for retirement
How can you set yourself up so that you do not have to worry about money issues during retirement? The act of retiring has the feeling of being an irrevocable decision in an uncertain world. The stakes seem enormous. If you have a choice of when to retire, you do not...