Thursday, July 22, 2010

Retirees Not the Solution But May Be Part of the Problem




The following is my comment on a story called Retirees Replacing Teen Workers in Low-Wage Jobs :


    First, I agree with iridium53's comments why he/she hires older workers.

    Second, I don't believe a government program is going to solve the problem of hundreds of thousands of young Americans being unemployed. There is no way that a government program is going to instill a sense of having to take full responsibility for one's life in young adults. Many of these young adults have been spoiled by their parents, or even grandparents, who are now looking for jobs for retirement.

    The economic mess that America is in was largely created by the government including low interest rates and big time debt, but the government was playing up to the general population, a lot of whom wanted something for nothing.

    Too many Americans - young and older - have lost the sense of taking 100% responsibility for their lives and instead have a sense of entitlement from the government and taxpayers about their retirement planning and retirement income.

    There is also the more serious problem of a lot of jobs being outsourced to places like India and the Phillipines simply because the people there - including young workers - are more willing to earn their pay by doing the work that has to be done and not having a sense of entitlement.

    I am about to ourtsource some of my writing and webdesign and I intend to use workers from the Phillipines simply because they provide a lot more value than North American workers - young or old.

    Ernie Zelinski
    Author of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

Here is a retirement quote to help you contemplate retirement.


    "It [retirement] was absolutely boring. You can't go and say, 'I'm
    retired now. That's it!' It won't take long and you're really gone
    for good and someone throws the last shovel of dirt on a coffin with
    your name on it. That's the moment you're really retiring — when
    you die."
    — Ozzy Osbourne

Monday, July 19, 2010

Perhaps You Won't Need a Retirement Job


So what is the new retirement with so many people expecting to have some sort of retirement job?

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 77 percent of American employees include working for pay at a retirement career as part of their retirement plan.

Most of these American soon-to-be retired surveyed say they'll be working because they want to, not because they have to.
Don't count mentioning a retirement job in your retirement speech, however, or braggin about your great retirement job on your retirement T-shirts.

Pew, however, finds those statements out of step with the experiences of people who have already retired. Just 12 percent of the American retirees Pew surveyed say they are currently working either full or part time in a retirement job for pay. And according to the results of another survey cited by Pew, only 27 percent of current retirees have had any sort of retirement job doing anything for pay during their retirement.

What this means is that retirees or the soon-to-be retired who plan to have a retirement job should think again. Of course they create any one of many unreal retirement jobs. For instance, they can take up writing and self-publishing as I have done.

Perhap not as many people will need to work in retirement as think they will have to.

Currently, most American retirees don't have a lot of retirement income.

Here, according to the 2007 American Census, is the total retiree income for households age 65 and older in the U.S.:

    • Under $5,000 (2.4 percent)
    • $5,000 to $9,999 (7.7 percent)
    • $10,000 to $14,999 (13.3 percent)
    • $15,000 to $19,999 (11.4 percent)
    • $20,000 to $24,999 (9.3 percent)
    • $25,000 to $34,999 (15 percent)
    • $35,000 to $49,999 (13.7 percent)
    • $50,000 to $74,999 (11.9 percent)
    • $75,000 to $99,999 (6 percent)
    • $100,000 and over (9.3 percent)

Note: Don't forget to include your spouse in your retirement plan.


    "It [retirement] was absolutely boring. You can't go and say, 'I'm retired now.
    That's it!' It won't take long and you're really gone for good and someone throws the last shovel of dirt on a coffin with your name on it. That's the moment you're really retiring — when you die."
    — Ozzy Osbourne

    The Ideal Retirement Plan: "Marry an old rich broad and wait for her to die."
    - Ivan Wilson (commenting on an online article about retirment.)

    "I used to have dreams that I died at my desk.
    Now that I've retired, I don't have those dreams anymore."
    - Haselback (commenting on an online article about retirement.)

Ernie J. Zelinski
Best-Selling Author, Innovator, and Creativity Consultant
Author of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 125,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
and The Joy of Not Working
(Over 250,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)

Saturday, July 10, 2010

It Is a Lot of Work Writing about Not Working

Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Work Week, stole a line from me before I was about to think of it and use it in one of my books.

Tim writes, "The truth be told, it is a hell of a lot of work writing about not working."

The nerve of the guy!

As the author of The Joy of Not Working, I should have exlusive right to this line.

Perhaps I will have to sue him.

As Mark Twain once said, "I can’t do any more writing because I’m contemplating a gigantic lawsuit and looking around for a defendant."

Here are a few more quotes about writing by writers.


    I you want to be a writer - stop talking about it and sit down and write!
    - Jackie Collings

    Write drunk; edit sober.
    - Ernest Hemingway

    I'm a lousy writer; a helluva lot of people have got lousy taste.
    - Grace Metalious

    When I had got my notes all written out I thought I'd polish it off in two summers, but it took me twenty-seven years.
    - Arnold Toynbee

    The three great essentials to achieving anything worthwhile are; first, hard work, second, stick-to-it-iveness, and third, common sense.
    - Thomas Edison
(Over 125,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages.

Monday, July 5, 2010

No Retirement Income Is Not as Appealing as Dying

Would you rather run out of retirement income or die?

According to a recent survey by Allianz Life 61 percent of the 3,200 baby boomers and retirees (ages 44 to 75) said they feared outliving their retirement income more than they dreaded dying.

More than 90 percent of baby boomers feel the United States is facing a retirement crisis. Respondents indicated that they were aware that they may be contributing to that crisis by not saving enough so that they have an adequate retirement income:
It appears that few retirees have asked that important question: How Much Do I Need to Retire?

Most of the soon-to-be-retired said they don’t know how much retirement income they will require once they retire and they fear that they will outlive their retirement income.

The study, titled “Reclaiming the Future: Challenging Retirement Income Perceptions,” was conducted in May 2010 for Golden Valley-based Allianz.

Respondents also said they expect a lot from retirement — 79 percent said their retirement lifestyle must surpass their parents’. (In my opinion, these people are nuts - delusional, in fact.)

Survey results showed that the median annual retirement income retirees and the soon-to-be retired targeted is $59,000, but baby boomers’ savings are on track to provide only about $20,000 (one third of that retirement income that they would like).
Perhaps some of these retirees can take up writing and self-publishing books as one of many retirement jobs to pursue as I have done to provide me with a residual retirement income for many years.

This is an e-mail that I sent to one of my friends about how he can retire with a little more retirement income:

    See, you are richer than me because I have no kids to sue.

    And you know what that means if you sue your kids successfully.

    More money for beer ! ! ! ! ! !

    Ernie Z.