Retired At 48

There was a time when it was common to have a company pension to live on after you stopped working. These days, company pensions are rare and a large percentage of the workforce needs to rely on their own savings to fund their retirement years. How do you figure out how much you need to retire, and how many years that money will last? Do you dream of retiring early and wonder how you could make that happen? Retired at 48 documents one couple's quest to answer these questions and their path to achieving early retirement. It provides the steps they took to create budgets and track spending habits, the strategies they used to save and invest in order to grow their nest egg, the tools that helped them calculate how big that nest egg needed to be, and how many years it would last for. This book also describes considerations for reducing expenses after retirement and ways to structure investments to minimize tax burden, while creating a post-retirement income flow. This is not the typical financial planning or retirement advice book that describes theories and best practices. It is the practical, real-life recounting of the planning, thought processes and actions taken by an average couple, which resulted in the ultimate prize-a self-funded retirement at age 48.

"Dychtwald and Morison offer a brilliant and convincing perspective: an essential re-think of what 'aging' and 'retirement' mean today and an invitation to help mobilize the best in the tidal wave of Boomer Third Agers." —Daniel Goleman, PhD, Author, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ Throughout 99 percent of human history, life expectancy at birth was less than 18 years. Few people had a chance to age. Today, thanks to extraordinary medical, demographic, and economic shifts, most of us expect to live long lives. Consequently, the world is witnessing a powerful new version of retirement, driven by the power and needs of the Baby Boomer generation. Consumers over age 50 account for more than half of all spending and control more than 70% of our total net worth – yet are largely ignored by youth-focused marketers. How will work, family, and retirement be transformed to accommodate two billion people over the age of 60 worldwide? In the coming years, we'll see explosive business growth fueled by this unprecedented longevity revolution. What Retirees Want presents the culmination of 30 years of research by world-famous "Age Wave" expert Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., and author and consultant Robert Morison. It explains how the aging of the Baby Boomers will forever change our lives, businesses, government programs, and the consumer marketplace. This exciting new stage of life, the "Third Age," poses daunting questions: What will "old" look like in the years ahead? With continued advances in longevity, all of the traditional life-stage markers and boundaries will need to be adjusted. What new products and services will boom as a result of this coming longevity revolution? What unconscious ageist marketing practices are hurting people – and business growth? Will the majority of elder boomers outlive their pensions and retirement savings and how can this financial disaster be prevented? What incredible new technologies of medicine, life extension, and human enhancement await us in the near future? What purposeful new roles can we create for elder boomers so that the aging nations of the Americas, Europe, and Asia capitalize on the upsides of aging? Which pioneering organizations and companies worldwide have created marketing strategies and programs that resonate with the quirky and demanding Boomer generation? In this entertaining, thought-provoking, and wide-ranging book, Dychtwald and Morison explain how individuals, businesses, non-profits, and governments can best prepare for a new era – where the needs and demands of the "Third Age" will set the lifestyle, health, social, marketplace, and political priorities of generations to come.

The United States is in the midst of a major demographic shift. In the coming decades, people aged 65 and over will make up an increasingly large percentage of the population: The ratio of people aged 65+ to people aged 20-64 will rise by 80%. This shift is happening for two reasons: people are living longer, and many couples are choosing to have fewer children and to have those children somewhat later in life. The resulting demographic shift will present the nation with economic challenges, both to absorb the costs and to leverage the benefits of an aging population. Aging and the Macroeconomy: Long-Term Implications of an Older Population presents the fundamental factors driving the aging of the U.S. population, as well as its societal implications and likely long-term macroeconomic effects in a global context. The report finds that, while population aging does not pose an insurmountable challenge to the nation, it is imperative that sensible policies are implemented soon to allow companies and households to respond. It offers four practical approaches for preparing resources to support the future consumption of households and for adapting to the new economic landscape.

Increase your spending power, enhance your standard of living, and achieve financial independence with this “must-read” guide to money management (Jane Bryant Quinn). Laurence Kotlikoff, one of our nation’s premier personal finance experts and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security, harnesses the power of economics and advanced computation to deliver a host of spellbinding but simple money magic tricks that will transform your financial future.Each trick shares a basic ingredient for financial savvy based on economic common sense, not Wall Street snake oil. Money Magic offers a clear path to a richer, happier, and safer financial life. Whether you’re making education, career, marriage, lifestyle, housing, investment, retirement, or Social Security decisions, Kotlikoff provides a clear framework for readers of all ages and income levels to learn tricks like: How to choose a career to maximize your lifetime earnings (hint: you may want to consider picking up a plunger instead of a stethoscope). How to buy a superior education on the cheap and graduate debt-free. Why it’s smarter to cash out your IRA to pay off your mortgage. Why delaying retirement for two years can reap dividends and how to lower your average lifetime tax bracket. Money Magic’s most powerful act is transforming your financial thinking, explaining not just what to do, but why to do it. Get ready to discover the economics approach to financial planning—the fruit of a century’s worth of research by thousands of cloistered economic wizards whose now-accessible collective findings turn conventional financial advice on its head. Kotlikoff uses his soft heart, hard nose, dry wit, and flashing wand to cast a powerful spell, leaving you eager to accomplish what you formerly dreaded: financial planning.

"Retirement as Spiritual Pilgrimage: Stories, Scripture, and Practices for the Journey" offers a Christian perspective on the personal dimensions of preparing for and living life beyond full-time work. First-person accounts of retirees, reflections on relevant passages of Scripture, and suggested spiritual practices provide insight and guidance for each phase of this journey. Questions for reflection and discussion at the end of each chapter make this book suitable for use by both individuals and small groups (e.g., adult classes, small group studies.)

A brilliant and practical five year plan for all who dream of retiring while they're young and healthy enough to enjoy it. Provides clear advice on how to overcome the personal, financial and psychological obstacles.

The Evolution of Retirement is the first comprehensive economic history of retirement in America. With life expectancies steadily increasing, the retirement rate of men over age 64 has risen drastically. Dora L. Costa looks at factors underlying this increase and shows the dramatic implications of her findings for both the general public and the U.S. government. Costa argues that the rise of retirement is the result of a culmination of historical trends initiated more than a century ago, not the consequence of abrupt social or institutional change. She attributes much of the long-term increase in retirement rates to steadily rising income, but argues that increased income is not the sole explanation. Over the course of this century, men's retirement decision has become less sensitive to increases or decreases in income, perhaps because retirement has become a time of discovery and personal fulfillment, rather than a time of withdrawal from activities and dependence on family. Using statistical and demographic concepts, Costa explains trends in retirement data. Her examination sheds light on such important topics as rising incomes and retirement, work and disease, the job prospects of older workers, living arrangements of the elderly, the development of a retirement lifestyle, and pensions, and politics. She concludes with a look into the future and further evolution of retirement, addressing perhaps the most vexing problem of retirement policy, the impact of the aging Baby Boom generation on the Social Security System.