Planning for Your Retirement - Get Real!

1. Roughly half of all working Americans don't participate in a retirement plan or don't have an employer-sponsored plan in which to participate.

2. A huge number of adult Americans - by one estimate 150 million of a potential 200 million - aren't saving for retirement in any meaningful way, if at all.


3. Dave Ramsey, a personal-finance expert and talk-radio host, cited a recent poll in which 80 percent of Americans said they believed their standard of living would go up at retirement.


4. "Our culture today tells us that we deserve to have everything we want because we can charge it," Dave Ramsey says. "Previous generations thought you could only have something if you could pay for it. Their lifestyles were much simpler, and retirement was a time to simplify even more."

5. Many Americans are counting on Social Security has helped lower cases of poverty among the elderly in the USA, but it stands on unstable financial ground.


6. The average total income for those 65 and older in America is $25,610, and the median is a meager $16,770, according to EBRI Notes, a publication of the Employee Benefit Research Institute. That means retirees are living on roughly one-third of their pre-retirement incomes. And that's a far cry from the 70% to 80% that income replacement experts suggest Americans need to maintain their pre-retirement standards of living.

Five Retirement Sayings and Retirement Quotes about Earning Money to Help Your Retirement Planning

Money will appear when you are doing the right thing in your life.
- Michael Phillips


I believe that the power to make money is a gift from God.
- John D. Rockefeller


Rise early. Work late. Strike oil.
- J. Paul Getty


Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million.

- Jean Jacques Rousseau

It's no trick to make a lot of money, if all you want is to make a lot of money.
- Everett Sloane in the movie Citizen Kane


To be clever enough to get a great deal of money, one must be stupid enough to want it.
- George Bernard Shaw

Check out Ernie Zelinski's Blog on Morgan James Publishing

Britons Searching for the Best Places to Retire

Where to Retire Is Determined by the Cost of Living

Britons who are retiring are not content to sit at home and relax, according to new research.

A survey of people nearing the end of their working life found they had a number of ambitions that they wanted to pursue as soon as they begin their retirement.

Interestingly, 19 per cent of Britons said that they wanted to relocate to a new area as soon as retire.

Of those who want to move, the majority are not satisfied to stay in England or the rest of the UK. Fifty-two percent said they want to move abroad.

One of the reasons that people want to relocate is that their cost of living can go down. Indeed, according to a recent poll by NatWest, nine out of ten British expats are financially better off since relocating abroad.

Note: See Where to Retire Quotations on The Retirement Quotes Cafe:


See The Best Places to Retire in the World on Squidoo for information on where to retire in California, cheap places to retire in Callifornia, and the best places to retire in Mexico.

Where to Retire: What to Look for When Choosing the Best Places to Retire

Where to Retire Factors and the Best Places to Retire criteria adapted from the retirement book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

According to International Living, "Once you allow yourself to look beyond U.S. shores for a place to retire, the choices get downright exciting. Mexico, sure. But how about Panama? Or France? Or Romania? The right spot can allow you to live the life you'd only dreamed of: crashing surf, mountain air, bustling cities. You can comb beaches to your heart's content, or you can find a place to learn. You can relax, or you can find new opportunities."

If you are thinking of relocating to one of the best places to retire in the world, but don't know where, the question that arises is, "Where to Retire? What makes a good place to retire?" You must examine your priorities: What type of climate do you want to live in? What activities do you like, and are they available in your list of possible cities or countries to relocate to? Do you care more about a low cost of living or health care? What about safety?

For The Top 22 Things to Look For and Enjoy in a New Retirement Location that will help you choose where to retire, see Chapter 8: Relocate to Where Retirement Living Is Best in the bestselling retirement book on Amazon.com called How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

Note: Another article about the best places to retire in the world by Ernie J. Zelinski was originally published with the title Retirement Planning Tips on the Best Places to Retire on several websites.

Check out Where to Retire on Squidoo:

The Coast Is Not Necessarily One of the Best Places to Retire

Retirees Urged to Rethink Retirement Plans for a Slower Retirement Life on the Coast as One of The Best Places to Retire

Recent research about where to retire released from Queensland's Griffith University in Australia suggests that a move to the coast may not help retirees realize their dreams or retirement plans. Indeed, the beach is certainly not one of the best places to retire for many retirees. Research team leader Michael Davies says city dwellers, adjusting to life after work and asking the question, "Where is the best place to retire?", can find it difficult to relocate to a quieter place on the coast.

Dr. Davies claims that people do not understand the shock that can come from leaving a busy work schedule and a network of friends to move to the beach. "Generally when you're looking at a transition like retirement you need to think a bit about what that change will mean for you," Dr Davies said.

"I guess for those who don't think long and hard about how they want to retire to maximise their opportunities and to maximise their lifestyle and well being, then I think there can be some problems."