Don’t rely on retirement to make you happy

There’s a lot of talk about retiring early. As someone now in their late 70s, I find it hard to get my mind around the idea. I attempted to retire at about 70, found myself terminally bored, and un-retired. With any luck, I’ll keep working about 30 hours every week for the rest of my …

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The new math of saving for retirement may boil down to this one, absurdly simple rule

It may sound simple, but making it happen for you may be very complicated. I think we’d all like less stress in our lives, but taking one simple step today to eliminate a major stress point in our future may be unrealistic. Nevertheless, this is worth thinking about. And if you can get yourself committed …

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The Coming Pension Crisis Is So Big That It’s A Problem For Everyone

If I believed it was so, I’d be writing that there’s no retirement problem looming over us. But there is a problem, and you and I alone cannot fix it. I’m not sure it’s fixable. All we can do is be aware of it and at a personal level, figure out ways to survive it. …

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One Nation, Drowning in Debt

Debt, in and of itself, if not always a bad thing. For example, China has lent the US many billions of dollars by buying Treasury bonds over the years. We pay interest to China, they in turn get a return on their investment commensurate with the risk they’re taking, and in due time, when the …

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Retirees and health care: Here’s what it will cost you and how to prepare

Some will argue that health care is not a basic human right. I disagree. I think that society, you and me and everyone else, has a built in obligation, if not an absolute mandate, to preserve itself. In other words, a biological imperative to bring new humans into society and protect them. It’s how evolution …

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Climate Change and Retirement

Retirement for many is a 30 year trek into the future. And climate change is going to influence how we live those years. Here in Florida, we have 8,436 miles of shoreline. By 2050, experts tell us to expect 3 – 4 feet higher sea levels along the southeast coast. What will happen to the …

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Build an Income-Producing Portfolio

My Comments: I’m increasingly reluctant to suggest what anyone should do with their money. But this article is consistent with what I’m doing with mine. The single most dramatic question when thinking about retirement is ‘Will I have enough money?’. It resonates with almost everyone sooner or later. With so many of us living longer …

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Don’t Be Shocked If Trump’s Economy Goes the Way of Bush’s

My Comments: We can all agree the economics is hard on your brain. There are so many variable and so few constants that talking about it is similar to describing the behavior of cats. Last week I attended a local economic summit where the featured speaker was Brent Meyer, an associate policy advisor and economist …

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Why Traditional Retirement Advice Could Leave You Broke

My Comments: I’ve now posted almost 1900 blog posts on this site since I started in 2011. Everyone of them, until now, has required you to read a sometimes lengthy article on some topic. This one is a video that impressed me with it’s relevance. I think it’s worth another 7 minutes of your day. …

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What The Charts Say About A Possible 90% Drop In The Stock Market

My Comments: I don’t believe we’re going to see a 90% drop in the stock market. Period. What I do believe is that the longer we wait for the next crash, the deeper it’s going to be. If you have money somewhere that you plan to use for your retirement, you need to be very …

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