Investing over 50 – Tough reality of today – A silver lining?

Anyone, in or near retirement is painfully aware of the uncertain time we have been living in the world of investing.   When it comes to retirement planning there are two realities that must be understand.

First,  in year 2013,  common interest bearing investments are paying close to zero so you have to have an extraordinary amount of assets in order for your investments to support your living expenses because the yield is so low.  The other reality is historically, we are living longer and we are enjoying greater health all the way up to the end.

And there is the silver-lining.  You have greater life expectancy and greater health expectancy during your lifetime. And so seniors are enjoying more robust health in the much later years than they did previously.

Financial Coach Todd Tresidder and owner of Financial Mentor explains,  partly because of those two factors, more retirees are no longer defining happiness as working like a dog for 40 years, until they hit the magical age of 65 and then doing nothing of substance for the rest of their lives.  He says more people are looking toward encore careers, part-time or occasional careers to supplement their income.

So for retirement planning, Tresidder says now is the time to question the underlining premise of retirement.   Retirement is no longer the cessation of all activity.  There is no reason to define retirement that way. You can actually enter a whole second phase of life, all the way until 70 or 80.   During that time you can be earning enough to take the pressure off your assets and just enjoy the heck out of your life.

So when retirement planning was once synonymous with financial planning, today active seniors can include an encore career into their calculations.

 

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