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Interesting Retirement Information

Our latest press releases

Interviewing Tips for the Older Job-seeking Population

Reverse Mortgage could be your answer

Retirement Planning is IMPORTANT!

Great tips for your tired eyes

Uncovering your hidden income

www.retiredbrains.com - Great informational site for the work related, active senior.

Health Information

http://www.medicare.gov - This site contains an overview section that explains eligibility, enrollment and how to file a claim. You’ll also find a directory of Medicare-participating physicians and suppliers. There is a section on prescription drug assistance program, as well as supplemental insurance policies that cover expenses not paid by Medicare. There is also a helpful section that compares nursing homes around the country.

Join Gordon in his CENTENARIAN MARCH to good health through a sensible regimen of weight training. Gordon introduces a weight training concept designed to enhance muscularity, strength, and flexibility regardless of AGE!

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“Red Alert … An Over-50 Jobseeker Has Just Entered the Building”
Interviewing Tips for the Older Job-seeking Population
Written by Teena Rose of Résumé to Referral
http://www.resumebycprw.com

A red alert is probably melodramatic, but I’m sure jobseekers in this age bracket probably feel there is one. The bulk of the job-seeking population is currently facing job-search woes that the elderly population has been experiencing for years.

In recent years, I’ve seen that over-50 jobseekers have wised up to the fact that age bias is still existent in America’s workforce. Armed with this information, these jobseekers are redesigning their résumés so that obvious red flags are no longer present. Employers are finding it more difficult to “guesstimate” someone’s age because these individuals are eliminating older positions, degree dates, and shaving information from the backend of their career; information that generally makes a résumé lengthy and less focused. With a targeted and lean résumé, an over-50 jobseeker is likely to obtain more interviews than with a heavy, all-telling version.

Other factors older jobseekers should consider are personal hygiene, attire, and language skills. A person who takes the time to adequately prepare a résumé should also take enough time to work on personal appearance and traits too.

I’m certainly not recommending that an individual run out and get thousands of dollars worth of plastic surgery or spend an insane amount of money on a new wardrobe. I am, however, recommending that you take a good look at your appearance. Ask yourself, could a new hairstyle or an attractive new business suit provide an added edge? Willingness to change your appearance is solely up to you. Keep in mind that you’ll likely be interviewed by someone younger, so trimming a mustache, wearing a new pair of shoes or shirt, and using ageless words during the interview, will likely make a substantial difference.

Interviewers will ask loaded questions if he or she wants to determine your age. Watch out for questions, covering age of grandchildren, possible retirement date, or health status. These questions are considered illegal; and although they’re not jail-worthy, they will give him or her the ammunition to make a tainted employment selection. Contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), if you suspect a company of being age-biased.

Staying ahead of the technological curve, and representing this in the résumé and during the interview, will allow you to speak to the interviewer using acronyms and jargon that’s familiar to that person. A knowledgeable individual, regardless of age, will impress an interviewer and leave a positive impression.

Keep a positive mindset and you’ll appear young and lively. An optimistic outlook is not always easy, particularly when you’ve gone on several interviews that don’t result to job offers. Support and golden age groups — provided by county career centers and sponsored by colleges — will provide support, a networking forum, and employment contacts that will make your job search flow smoothly.

An over-50 jobseeker can also benefit from the help of a career coach. A coach can help identify and resolve employment concerns, as well as, personal and life issues that may be hindering personal development. Filling a much-needed gap, career coaching is becoming a crucial tool for those seeking to career transition and advance — even at the youthful age of 50 or more.

Take the time to notice red flags in your résumé, concentrate on your appearance and language skills, and surround yourself with positive, resourceful professionals. I’m a firm believer that successful people are backed by a team. It’s your choice whether to play the game alone, or arm yourself with skilled players.

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Reverse mortgages cushion senior lifestyles
Their use is on the rise as a way to tap into home equity.
By Loretta Kalb

Retirees looking for ways to supplement fixed incomes and defray living expenses are increasingly finding the answer in their homes. Reverse mortgages are being used to tap the equity in homes and improve the quality of life, and lending experts say this trend will only intensify.

" If we look ahead seven to 10 years, these will be as commonly known as other financial products, like home equity loans or 401(k) s," said Peter Bell, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association in Washington, D.C. "Right now, people are just beginning to learn about them."

Just last year, homeowners took out more than 13,000 reverse mortgages, 68 percent more than the year before. The number of such mortgages will likely take another big leap this year because, with the low interest rates, more cash than ever is getting into homeowners' pockets.

Donald Chamberlin said his daughter told him about reverse mortgages - and that salvaged his deteriorating finances." My wife passed away a couple of years ago ... and my (monthly) income is only about $500," said Chamberlin, 74. When she was alive, her $500 in fixed income helped with the couple's $400 house payment. Without her, he said, "things were pretty tight." Since his needs are few, the loan taken as a line of credit made the difference.

A reverse mortgage, just like it sounds, is the reverse of a traditional mortgage. Instead of making monthly payments, the homeowner receives money, most often in the form of monthly payments from the lender, or a line of credit, or some combination of the two.
The amount borrowed against the home's equity is not repaid and the fixed monthly payments from the lender do not end - until the owner moves out or dies.

When Chamberlin took out a reverse mortgage in Sacramento, he eliminated the old-style loan and, with it, his $400 monthly mortgage payment. Bonnie Daniel, a co-owner of Sacramento-based California Reverse Mortgage where he went for his loan, said Chamberlin's experience is not unusual.

When one spouse dies, she said, income from Social Security and other sources can fall by half. " You would be amazed," she -said. "People are living on $600 to $700 a month."
If they own a home, especially one with little or no existing mortgage debt, they are candidates for a reverse mortgage.

Borrowers discover they have, improved quality of life and -more financial independence, said Daniel, adding, "They don °have to ask the kids for help." The concept of reverse mortgages is not new. But many homeowners, as, they age, prefer to remain in their homes and are giving the loans new attention. Age, in fact, is a prime consideration in calculating the cash available from a reverse mortgage. The actual loan amount is, governed in part by a borrower age, home value and interest rate.

The 62-year-old owner of a home valued at $200,000, for example, could receive a line of credit equal to $122,900, or a fixed monthly payment of $645 or a combination of the two, Daniel said. An owner age 72, with a shorter life expectancy, could receive more - a $136,000 linen credit or a $790 monthly payment from the same home. " It's just phenomenal to me. How much money you can get - on a reverse mortgage now compared to what you used to get," said Ken Scholen, a nationally recognized reverse mortgage specialist for AARP.

" This week's rates, in particular, are the lowest they've ever been, period," he said. "And the amount of money you can get h really surprising." If a homeowner takes the mortgage as a line of credit, the - unused portion will earn interest. Borrowers should be preparing for the fees, however, because they tend to be higher than for "traditional loans. Fees are not based on loan amounts. Rather, for FHA loans 'they mainly are based either on the FHA maximum lending limit -for the metropolitan area ($261,609 in Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties) or on -the home's value, whichever is less.

For a $200,000 home, the fees in the FHA loan would be $9,000, an amount built into the transaction so there is little or no out-of-pocket expense. While reverse mortgages are available from a variety of lending sources, including Wells Fargo, relatively few lenders specialize. The nation's largest lender and service provider is Financial Freedom Senior Funding, a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers Bank FSB, which serves Northern California through its toll free listing.

Ninety-five percent of the loans nationally from all sources are written through FHA's Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program. A second product, Fannie Mae's Homekeeper, is often favored in some rural counties where FHA imposes reduced lending limits. In addition, Financial Freedom offers a "cash account" product suited to homes in the above-$1 million range.

Since loans are not structured like traditional mortgages, borrowers typically go through a session with a loan counselor before making a loan commitment. But Doris Crowley had no trouble figuring out the benefits of a reverse mortgage. She took out the first one seven years ago and decided a year ago to do it again, since her home had increased in value.
" I'm 85 years old and my family is all gone except for one son, who is a priest," she said. "He suggested I get this." I'm not flush. But I can live comfortably without a lot of extras. I figured, at my age, why not?"

Some homeowners are reluctant to borrow because it means tapping into an asset that they had hoped to leave to a son or daughter after death. Some wait for a nod from their children that it's OK to go forward.

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Retirement Dreams Fade
New study affirms baby boomers aren't saving enough for the golden years

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Baby boomers are falling woefully short matching their long-term savings levels with their retirement dreams and are confused about financial planning, a new study shows.

Half of the people surveyed by ING Aetna Financial Services said they'd like to retire by 55, but only one in five said they'll have enough saved. "By most indicators, retirement by 60 is not a very realistic prospect for most people," said Thomas McInerney, chief executive of ING Aetna. "We're talking about a serious disconnect between the golf course and the grindstone." McInerney appeared Thursday on CNNfn's The Money Gang to talk about the findings. Baby boomers are the influential group of 80 million Americans between the ages of 35 and 55. ING Aetna surveyed 500 people who earn between $50,000 and $125,000.

The study found 44 percent of boomers spend one hour or less on financial planning in a typical month, compared with 120 hours of television viewing. "Some of this may be because financial planning is confusing," McInerney said. And 44 percent of those surveyed said they find retirement planning "overwhelming or confusing," or they don't think about it at all.

Baby boomers blamed a late start on retirement planning and living beyond their means for their lack of preparedness. About half of those surveyed said they don't expect to receive any inheritance money, although many financial pros have been saying for years that baby boomers are set to inherit millions from the wealth accumulated by their World War II parents.

But McInerney said new laws that raise the savings limits for retirement plans will help baby boomers get back on track. President Bush signed legislation recently that raises the savings limit to $15,000 from $10,500 for 401(k) plans by 2006 and to $5,000 from $2,000 for IRAs by 2008.

We at Retirement-4-U can take the feeling of being overwhelmed or confused out of the retirement planning process. Click on our affordable retirement planning services to find out more information.

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Aging Eyes by Sandy Berger

One minute you feel like you're eighteen. The next your bones ache, your energy levels (not to mention your skin) sags, and the print on everything seems to be getting smaller and smaller. The years catch up with us quickly, and nowhere is this more noticeable than with one of our most precious gifts, our eyes.

As we get older, our eyesight diminishes. Physical changes occur altering the capacity of our eyes to receive an image and transmit it to the retina. Conditions like "night blindness" become more common. As we age, we also become less sensitive to color, particularly the short waves (blue and green). And that is not all. Unfortunately, according to the Better Vision Institute, a number of vision-related problems associated with the aging process like cataracts, glaucoma, and presbyopia await us.

The retina, a thin lining on the back of the eye, is made up of cells that receive visual images and pass them on to the brain. Retinal disorders are a leading cause of blindness in the United States and include age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal detachment.

Working on the computer can make things worse. The computer is a very vision oriented device that can add stress and strain to our inevitably aging eyes. There are some great products on the market to help with existing eye problems and to avoid future ones.

As our eyes age, focusing on small print becomes difficult. This condition has a name all its own called presbyopia; it impacts nearly everyone over age forty. Presbyopia can begin in the late thirties, but by the age of fifty-five, close to 100% of the population is affected. You will probably know when this aging problem begins to appear. Letters look fuzzy when reading up close. Reading in low-light situations is difficult. Although presbyopia will not threaten your eyesight, it is a progressive condition that should be properly diagnosed and treated by an eye care professional. If you would like to see what presbyopia and other eye problems are like, visit the SOLA Web site.

Run your mouse across a picture and see the same type image as someone with cataracts, macular degeneration, and other eye conditions.

Bifocal lenses, which solve the problem of presbyopia, present another dilemma for computer users. Bifocal wearers frequently move their heads up and down to switch between the close and distant viewing sections of their glasses when working on the computer. If you wear bifocals and use the computer, you will want to check out ®PCLens, a clip-on product that provides an inexpensive solution for bifocal wearers.

For years, I wore special bifocal lenses made specifically for computer use (Access lenses by Sola). Recently, however, I found a new product that I am especially excited about. Melanin glasses. If you don't know what melanin is, don't worry; I didn't either, until I found these glasses. It turns out that melanin is a pigment that occurs naturally in your body. It gives your skin and hair its color, and, in the eyes, it protects against damaging light rays. You guessed it! Aging eyes are deficient in melanin. By age fifty, about 25% of our melanin is lost.

Melanin soaks up light over a broad spectral range absorbing higher energy light more strongly than the lower energy light. So it absorbs Ultra Violet more than blue, and the blue more than green - and so on. In this way melanin provides protection to the lens of the eye against UV. Many say that this decreases the risk of cataracts. Melanin provides near optimum protection to the retina by filtering the different colors in proportion to their ability to damage the tissue of the retina, thereby also reducing the risk of macular degeneration. Because the blue light is reduced, so is the glare, and vision is thus enhanced.

Melanin has been successfully added to both prescription and non-prescription lenses for sunglasses, computer glasses, and night driving glasses. I have heard from numerous sufferers of macular degeneration that melanin glasses helped their vision. Healthy-eyed wearers as well as those who are suffering from macular degeneration and other eye problems have raved about the glasses.

When dealing with the computer, whether you need the help of glasses or not, there are good habits and practices that can help those poor old eyes.

Establish an eye-friendly environment for your computer use.

Position your monitor 20" to 26" from your eyes and about 4" to 6" below eye level.

Dim the lights. Most offices, especially those with florescent lights, are too bright. Flickering florescent lights should be eliminated.

Use proper lighting. Eliminate reflections on the computer screen. Reduce excessively bright light both inside and out.

Match the computer screen to the brightness of the environment.

Adjust your monitor for contrast and brightness. In general, dark letters on a light background are easier for most people to read.

Minimize glare on the computer screen. Use window shades, blinds, or drapes to block excessive sunlight.

Move the computer to a location that causes no glare on the screen or use an anti-glare screen guard or hood.

If you are seated in a draft or near an air vent, try to eliminate the flow of air past your eyes. Make sure you sit straight in front of the monitor rather than off to the side.

Take a 5-minute break every hour or two to reduce eyestrain.

Blink more often. When staring at a computer, people blink about five times less frequently than normal according to some studies. Blinking lubricates the eyes. If you don't blink, tears that coat the eye evaporate causing dry eyes. Dry air in the computer room can aggravate this condition.

Every fifteen minutes, focus on distant objects to relax your muscles.

There are ways to keep the twinkle in your eye by following good habits and using some clever vision aids. Although the years add up much too quickly, let's do our best to take care of one of our most precious gifts, our eyes.

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Hidden Source of Income

Are you one of the many people who have worked at several companies during your working life? Maybe you worked for company X for say, 10 years. Were laid off, when to work for company Y and worked there for 7 years. You then found a better job and have worked for company Z for the last 20 years and are now thinking of retiring. Do you know if you have retirement benefits from companies X and Y?

The Social Security Administration can help you figure out whether you have a pension waiting for you at one or more former employers. But in order for you to maximize your benefits you must be proactive and act fast.

What we are talking about is called "deferred vested pension." Let's say you worked at company X for 10 years and company Y for 7 years before settling down with your current company. If company X has a defined-benefit pension plan and you left the company before you reached the eligible retirement age, which is normally 55, any pension you earned would be "deferred." The benefits would sit there until you reach the plan's retirement age, at which point you could claim your pension.

Now keep in mind, years ago former employers were obligated to remind you of your earned benefits, however, that’s not the case anymore. If you can’t remember those past employers or if you lost contact with them, the Social Security Administration can be of considerable help to you.

The Social Security maintains a database courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service that identifies individuals who have qualified for pension benefits under private retirement plans. When you first file for Social Security benefits, the agency will match your name against the database and notify you if you appear to be eligible to collect a pension from an earlier job.
Remember when we earlier said to act fast? The key is when you first file for Social Security benefits. Let's say you file at age 62, at which point you learn about a pension or pensions that you would have been eligible to tap at age 55. You would have lost the opportunity to collect 7 years' worth of retirement savings. This amounts to a missing source of income for retirement.

The Social Security Administration says individuals can contact the agency at any point in time to learn whether they're part of the pension database. The database currently holds 27.2 million records of pension obligations.

The Social Security Administration should be able to tell you the name and address of your pension plan's administrator. When contacting the administrator, ask how to determine the amount of the pension at different retirement ages. This could make a big difference on your benefit and when you should withdraw from your plan.

Usually, taking benefits from most retirement plans at an early age, like 55, often means a big reduction in those benefits. The longer you wait to collect most pension benefits, the larger the benefits.

Keep in mind, deferred vested pensions stem only from traditional "defined-benefit" retirement plans, not "defined-contribution" plans like 401ks. You also had to stay at your old job long enough to qualify for the firm's retirement plan. Finally, the pension itself probably was frozen at the point when you left the company and hasn't been growing in value.

So, while found money is always a treat, don't expect millions. However, every little bit helps.

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