One one hand we hear the Baby Boomers are not planning on retiring at all.  On the other hand, we hear that they are all getting ready to flee the workplace simultaneously.  How can they both be true?  Perhaps the desire is there for retirement, but the funds are not.  It seems Baby Boomers have lived so much in the here and now that they don’t have the savings built up to kick back and relax at retirement.

Almost one in three boomers will lack money in retirement to pay for health care or long-term care, according to a study cited in a Minnesota Human Services Department report that’s part of Transform 2010, the first lap of the longer-range Project 2030. A risk index released recently by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College raises similar concerns. Thirty-five percent of early boomers and 44 percent of late boomers will be “at risk” at age 65 of maintaining a pre-retirement standard of living, the index reports.

For a generation that prides itself on being cool, that’s not cool at all.  In fact, this is very uncool.  This is a serious problem that is coming our way, and it is coming fast.  There is help, and although it won’t be easy, there are ways to fatten up that nest egg.  Reading this article is a good start – research your options and make the best decisions you can to increase your savings and secure your future.

Baby Boomers Lacking Retirement Savings 

Oh, the marketing experts are scrambling.  It is almost funny to watch them.  It must have been a hard switch – moving from attracting the disposable income of teenagers to going after the deeper pockets of Baby Boomers.  But with Boomers turning 60 this year, and one turning 60 every seven seconds, businesses want the spare change in their pockets.  Marketing is an exciting place to be right now!

The products we will be seeing range from the fun to the serious.  There are a variety of needs in the Boomer community; some are to assist with medical issues and others are for entertainment.  But all will cost the consumer and marketing experts know that and are eager to help.

One product is a game.  Called the “Ginko Memory Game,” it is, “about stimulating and activating vital memory centers in the brain. It connects to these particular questions like — tell a story about one of your favorite secret places.”  Another is aimed at correcting a problem that causes blindness in people over 50.  Novelios Pharmaceuticals is hoping to eliminate glaucoma.  “Our product is a glaucoma drug therapy that will have to go through the FDA approval process, but the technology is very encouraging in that it focuses on the root cause of glaucoma,” said Joseph Berryhill of the company.

Are these needs or wants?  Many are just things we want – things that will part us from the money in our wallets pretty quickly.  A cure for glaucoma?  That sounds like a wonderful idea.  But the others?  As always, the best advice for Boomers, and any other shopper is, “Buyer Beware!”

Meeting the Needs of Baby Boomers

Relocating is hard.  Just to pick up and leave your home and make a new home is more than what it appears to be on paper.  This is especially so for senior citizens who may be leaving the home they raised their children in, shared their marriage in, and lived the bulk of their life in.  There is a new service online designed to help seniors in making this transition in their life a lot easier.

“There are so many different options for today’s mature adults that it is mind-boggling,” noted Steve Peletz, manager of SeniorSF.com and CEO of Peletz & Company Real Estate in San Francisco.  “Having worked with many seniors preparing for the next phase of life, we designed SeniorSF.com to help mature adults review the various living alternatives available in the marketplace. We help seniors review lifestyle, geographic, and financial considerations. The many financial arrangements alone can confuse the most business savvy amongst us, but with a little help, senior citizens and their families can find the living situations most suited to their needs and preferences,” Peletz added.

It isn’t easy.  It is never easy, but with a little help it can be a process that isn’t as painful and even more, can be the start of a new and exciting part of life.

Senior SF

Is there such a thing as a plan for Social Security that could gain approval by both Democrats and Republicans?  I claim no expertise in things politcal, but I have to admit that were both parties happy with a solution, I would be worried.  I can’t imagine a solution to the looming problem of Social Security that could make anybody happy, let alone both major parties in the United States political system. But there is a plan in the works.

The plan was created by Jeffrey Liebman, who served as a special assistant for economic policy to President Bill Clinton; Maya MacGuineas, who served as Social Security adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during the 2000 presidential campaign; and Andrew Samwick, a former chief economist on President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.
CNN Money

The major changes within this plan are:

• Increasing the payroll tax rate.
• Raising the taxable wage cap.
• Raising the retirement age.
• Creating mandatory investment accounts.
• Cutting benefits.

Is it possible that the only reason they all will be happy with the plan, is that no one really likes it at all? 

Social Security: A plan both parties can love (and hate)

A Savings Calculator – How fast will your savings grow?