Retire? - Most Baby-Boomers Near Retirement Age Are Broke

Check the story at the link below to find out how little American baby-boomers near retirement age now have in assets.

Near Retirees Net Worth Has Plunged, Report Finds:

Surprisingly, the median net worth with house equity is now only around $140,000. Now this is the median and not the average.

The average is much higher given that the top quintile of the age group has a high net worth. But once we get into the bottom 3 quintiles, the picture is pretty bleak.

Remember that this $140,000 median is for households headed by a babyboomer, so if the household includes a man and woman, the median net worth is approximately $70,000 per individual.

Here is the link to the PDF of the Study from which the newspaper story was taken. The Wealth of Baby Boomers Collapses

Note the items on pages 3 and 4, particularly the item about renters in two quintiles actuallly being better off than homeowners simply because during the so-called housing boom many homeowners became much poorer whereas the renters were better off.

Check out:

101 Really Important Things You Know, But Keep Forgetting

Don't Hurry, Be Happy

Happiness and Money in Retirement

Retirement Advice on the Retirement Cafe

The Lazy Person's Guide to Success:

Table of contents

• Preface:
• Chapter 1: To Be More Successful, Try Working Less and Thinking More
• Chapter 2: Relaxed Success Is Working at What You Are Instead of at What You Ain't
• Chapter 3: Your Creativity Makes You a Millionaire
• Chapter 4: Accept the Truth about Money and You Won't Have to Work As Hard for It
• Chapter 5: You Have the Money, But Can You Buy Some Time?
• Chapter 6: The Journey Towards Success Should Feel Better Than to Arrive
  
  
  Check:
  
The Lazy Person's Guide to Success: How to Get What You Want Without Killling Yourself for It


Ernie Zelinski's Books on Open Library

Funny Speech Topics

No Job and Little Money But Still Inspired

Here is the latest e-mail that I received about my books:

----- Original Message -----
From: Nadine Myers
To: vip-books (at) telus
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 7:54 AM
Subject: You're Awesome!


Hi Ernie!

I just needed to contact you today because a fire has been lit in my belly and I have to say that I believe that it is mostly because of you!

A couple of years ago a few things happened that made me realise that the corporate world was not for me. I tried network marketing around my day job which I also found was not for me, so just went from contract role to contract role and decided I needed a bigger change and there seemed to be a big pull towards Canada. So here I am!

I am back working in the Corporate world but with the mentality that I will only be here until I get bored then I will move on. I am busy with a non-real job outside of this (www.NabThatJob.com), however I am not earning enough money yet from this to leave my day job.

I also have a lot of debt (not unlike yourself when you first started your life of freedom) and no money behind me, as well as some investments that require payments every month.

I first came across The Joy of Not Working in a second hand book shop and reading about how you started lit a flame in me and inspired me further.

After many frustrations in my current job I was lead to your new book, Real Success Without a Real Job and as soon as I started reading it last night I could not put it down!

You are such an inspiration to me and I want to thank you because I know that I will be there one day very soon.

I am weighing up options and at this stage I'm thinking I will stick out this job for one year to get my debts cleared and reduce my outgoings every month. I will then be able to comfortably live on minimum income and therefore will have less pressure to pay bills etc. I do not have many friends in Canada and so no-one to fall back on here, although that does not scare me.

I just needed to thank you for leading such an awesome path and for writing these materials to help people like me to feel more comfortable about this leap out of society!

I look forward to bumping into you in one of your many offices (i.e. a coffee shop) one day!!

Have an awesome day & rest of the week!

Cheers,

Nadine


Nadine Myers
Nab That Job in Australia!

Check out:

Fun Things to Do at Work Until You Retire

Jobs for Retirement

Aggravations of Work

Aggravations of Work

Here are some quotes about work and the problems that accompany it:

If you have a job without aggravations, you don't have a job.
— Malcolm Forbes

You are no bigger than the things that annoy you.
— Jerry Bundsen

It's only work if somebody makes you do it.
— Calvin in Calvin and Hobbes cartoon by Bill Watterson

Employees who think they know everything are very irritating to those of us who do.
— Unknown wise person

Boy, the things I do for England.
— Prince Charles (on sampling snake meat)

Depressed about not being able to retire as early as you would like? Then check out:

Office Humor

21 Retirement Websites and Blogs That May Help You Retire Early

More Japanese Interest in The Joy of Not Working

Cover of Japanese Edition of The Joy of Not Working

I just received this e-mail from a Literary Agency in Japan:

----- Original Message -----
From: Owl's Kohei
To: vip-book ( at ) telus.net
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2009 7:30 PM
Subject: Request: THE JOY OF NOT WORKING


Dear Ernie Zelinski,

How do you do. I am writing to you for the first time.
Please forgive me to introduce myself: My name is
Kohei Hattori, and I am a literary agent working at
Owls Agency located in Tokyo.

I am very keen on handling the Japanese translation
rights of your book THE JOY OF NOT WORKING"

If such rights are still free, I appreciate it a lot, if you could let me
try to sell the rights, and send me one reading copy at your earliest
opportunity.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you in advance, and I look forward to hearing
from you soon!

Best wishes,

KOHEI HATTORI
OWLS AGENCY, INC.
kohei - 1 (at) owlsagency.com

1-7 Ganshodo, Kanda-Jimbocho,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0051 JAPAN

This was my response:

Hello Kohei:

Thanks for your interest in the Japanese rights to The Joy of Not Working.

Actually, this book was first published in Japanese by Kodansha.

After Kodansha let it go out of print, the book was again published in Japanese by Voice Inc. (arranged through the Tuttle Mori Agency).

Perhaps you can interest some Japanese publisher in either of the following two books of mine:




• 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting


• Career Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations




For your convenience, I have attached the PDFs with the complete book for both titles.

These are the foreign editions published so far for 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting:





• Published in Spanish by Amat Editorial, Barcelona


• Published in Russian by Gayatri Publishing, Moscow


• Published in French by Stanké International, Montreal


• Published in Chinese by Yuan-Liou Publishing, Taipei


• Published in Chinese simplified characters by CITIC Publishing House, Beijing


• Published in Korean by Mulpure Publishing, Seoul


• Published in English in Malaysia by TrueWealth Publishing, Kelana Jaya


• Published in English for the Indian subcontinent by Macmillan India, New Delhi, India




These are the foreign editions so far for Career Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations:






• Published in Spanish for Spain and Latin America by Amat Editorial, Barcelona, Spain


• Published in Russian by Gayatri/Livebook Publishing, Moscow, Russia


• Published in English for the sub-continent of India by Macmillan India, New Delhi, India
  



Note that Career Success Without a Real Job was first published in September 2007 with the title and subtitle Real Success Without a Real Job: There Is No Life Like It. It is being released by Ten Speed Press in March 2009 with the new title and subtitle Career Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations:

I can send you a hard copy of the English edition of each of the books if you would like keeping in mind that I will have to send you a copy of the first edition of Career Success Without a Real Job.

For your information, I also have two other books not published in Japanese. The books are:






• Life's Secret Handbook for Having Great Friends


• Look Ma; Life's Easy: An Inspirational Fable
  



These two books have been published by foreign publishers but not in English. So, I can only send you PDFs of these two books.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Best regards and so long for now,

Ernie Zelinski
Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 100,000 copies sold and published in 7 foreign languages)
and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)



Check out these resources:


25 Websites and Blogs about Money That Will Make You Smarter and Richer!

How to Become a Millionaire Instantly

Why You Should Seldom — If Ever — Lend Money to Friends