Moving On To Sixtyandsingle.Com
As I write this, a good friend of mine is home with her husband of more than 20 years who is dying of cancer. She and her family have turned to Hospice for support and to Caringbridge.org an online Web site where she can post daily updates for friends and family.
Retirement Funding May Include An Immediate Annuity, Or Not
Annuities scare me because I've heard so many bad things about them. Financial planners like them because selling them means a big commission. Basically, you give an insurance company a big chunk of your nest egg and the insurance company guarantees you an annual income for life. There are several kinds of annuities. Today's Wall Street Journal deals with an immediate annuity but cautions against them right now.
At Retirement, How Do We Measure Success?
A work colleague of mine was prompted to respond today to a recent 60 & Single posting, which included a note of encouragement from a former workmate named Don. Here's what she had to say:
Retirement: About Cobra Health Insurance Coverage
The logistics of retirement continues as I enter my last two weeks of employment at The Columbian. In the past couple of days I've learned that the IRS wants a 25 percent cut of any lump sum early retirement payout. I'll most likely get a refund next year, but I hate giving the government more than it deserves sooner than it deserves it.
Spousal Benefits At Social Security. It's Better If The Ex- Is Dead.
Social Security has a provision that allows people to claim benefits on an ex-spouse's account, if they were married to that person for 10 years or more. But there are several catches:
Feedback On Retiring - Two Categories
Congratulatory notes are coming in this week as news of my Feb. 26 retirement gets around. So far, it looks like comments fall into one of two categories: There are the "You Go Girl," fist-pumping cheerleader notes that congratulate my survival in an evolving male-dominated industry for the past 20-plus years. Then there are the more counselor-ish notes that attempt, in one way or another, to reduce my anxieties about an undefined future without a job.
Retirement: 'You'll Never Regret It'
Now that I've announced my retirement I'm getting encouragement from some who already are there. Below is a note from Don, a former Columbian colleague: "There’s a lot of hand wringing over retirement and how much money you need. When I began thinking about retiring, I looked at many formulas and guides, and read advice from so-called experts. My mind became more twisted than usual. Then I realized that none of the experts were retired themselves, so they didn’t know any more than I did. Experts are good at telling other people what they need. Like politicians. Common sense told me that before I started to think seriously about retirement, I needed to pay off my debts. It doesn’t take a genius to know that if you go into retirement owing money, you’re asking for trouble. So, for the 20 years prior to retirement, I used every pay raise to pay off two mortgages and sock away anything left into an IRA. I also always put the maximum in my 401k. My brother retired early and continually harassed me about doing the same. He argued that I shouldn’t work my life away. When he died at age 64, it underscored how short life can be, and the importance of things other than work, regardless of how rewarding it may be. When I was 59, I looked at my nest egg and decided it could provide an acceptable income for 28 years, without factoring in Social Security or any interest from the investments. And I had a beach house and a Vancouver condo that could be sold if times got really hard. It was time to go ... and I did. And I’ve never looked back, never second-guessed the decision. Aside from the aches and pains of age, this is the best time of my life. So congrats on your decision to retire. You won’t regret it." Cheers! Don.
63 & Single, Hey, I'M Retiring!
Hey, I'm retiring!
Vancouver Attorney Launches Divorce Blog
Vancouver divorce attorney Dru Horenstein has launched a blog at the Scott Horenstein Law Firm Web site called vancouverdivorcelawyer.com. click here for a look. Among her most recent postings... "Dividing retirement assets in a divorce," "What about the house?," "Divorce Myths," among them that you'll never be happy again and ...
Joyce Carol Oates On Loss, Love And Remarrying At 71
In a 60 & Single posting last year I shared thoughts about Joan Didion's memoir,"The Year of Magical Thinking," in which she documented the sudden death of her husband of many years and its aftermath. Now, author Joyce Carol Oates has written a book that sounds equally engrossing on the ...
60 & Single, On The High Wire
Household budgeting, retirement planning, travel options and investment strategies all have been on my mind this week as the New Year gets started. No one topic pops out for blog treatment maybe cause everything is related. Budgeting, saving, investment planning have to be done together. Travel planning is part of ...
60 & Single Resolutions For The New Year
Just this minute I started thinking about New Year's resolutions. My mind whirls with thoughts of losing more weight, getting more exercise, spending more time with my grandson, finding a peaceful center to my life. Oh yeah, saving money. Ha! The 60 & Single women I know don't have time ...
60 & Single: Spending Pressure During The Holidays
During this week of holiday visits from children, I came in for some subtle criticism that I'm cheap. My daughter-in-law said that it was nice to have real toilet paper in the bathrooms for a change, since I usually purchase the billion-sheet thin-roll kind. I heard from my older son ...
60 & Single: Finding Beauty In The Moment
Ah the holidays.... a time of celebration and renewal, of family gatherings, gift-giving and for some, also a time of intensified sadness. Remembering past times when a lost loved one was with us becomes more acute at the holidays. In my small circle of friends, there are people feeling the ...
60 & Single, Losing Sleep Over Retirement Planning
A financial planner told me over lunch the other day that he knows people who are losing sleep over retirement planning. How much money will they need? Where will it come from? Those are the burning questions that whirl around in peoples' heads in the middle of the night. Advisers ...
It's Possible To Lose Weight At 60
For years, I would put on between five and eight pounds over the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Years time frame. The extra calories showed up in small doses...a cookie here, a few pieces of fudge there. Increased alcohol intake added another 300 to 500 calories per drink. In my mid-50s, I peaked out ...
Crunch Time At Christmas
It's the week before Christmas and my commitment to budgeting is beginning to slip away. I've been online shopping for presents for five-year-olds. I've been to Amazon.com and Powells.com to find books that some of my favorite people might enjoy. Now I'm putting together a holiday schedule of dinners at ...
Financial Advice For Jenny Sanford, Elin Nordegren
OK, I admit it. The infidelity coverage of Tiger Woods and South Carolina Gov. Terry Sanford and their wives has grabbed my attention, partly for the satisfaction of knowing that even the wealtiest, most talented and smartest people screw up. But once I get past that, I am reading with interest the details of how these couples will deal with infidelity, a failure of trust and the damage brought to the relationships. And how they will sort things out, financially.
Women And Holiday Spending
My holiday spending has begun with an online foray last night in search of toys for five-year-olds. I scored with two purchases for my grandson that do NOT require batteries. The spending continued this morning at Walgreens where I picked up some personalized greeting cards and spontaneously bought some stocking stuffers.
Christmas Saving Versus Giving
... uh oh, where are the presents? As I was putting holiday decorations around the house, the pressure in my mind began to build. I so far have made very few Christmas gift purchases. There are new people in my life on my list.
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