Get ready for a surprise because believe it or not I’ve given this question a lot of thought!

Continue and read more…

http://www.boomersretirementnetwork.com/blog/2010/02/09/49/

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As we enter our 50′s and 60′s, in turbulent times, and as the months and years roll on, it helps to be reminded constantly that “This Is It,” it doesn’t get any better than this.  It’s all about the life you can create for yourself and your loved ones and making the best choices today.   There’s no time to waste.

That’s why I’m so committed to the mission of the Baby Boomers Retirement Club and the Baby Boomers Retirement Network. We’re here to help you make the most of what comes next, in your life, and the lives of your loved ones.  See you there!

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5. Open a Roth IRA.

Hedge Your Bet Against Future Higher Taxes-By Having More than One IRA. A Roth IRA uses after-tax money to build it and gives you more options in how you take money from your retirement savings after your retirement. With both a regular IRA and a Roth IRAs, you can choose whether to withdraw either taxable or non-taxable income in a given year, or a mix of both, depending on the income and the tax rates you will face that year. You see, it’s not just how much you save on taxes today with your retirement account; it’s how much you’ll save tomorrow, when it’s time to take distributions (including, mandatory distributions after age 70-1/2). How would you like to have the added flexibility to withdraw from after-tax money (with a Roth IRA or Roth 401k)? The net result is that your money grows tax deferred in both cases, but because you get to keep more of what you take out each year (because the tax man gets less), you deplete your savings more slowly. Pretty smart huh?

Final Word

It’s important to have a stream of financial advice and resources you can trust from a source that acts as your advocate, with informed, unbiased perspectives and second opinions. While not always easy to find, the right sources can help you gain confidence that you’ve covered all the right bases in the future, help you evaluate your investment options, assure continuing income, and take the needed steps to prepare for a future without fear.

Above all, it’s time to choose every financial move you make starting in 2009 with a new, hyper-awareness and care in the selection process: from here on out, it’s got to be all about how you select the PRODUCT, and how you select the COMPANY.

The Baby Boomers Retirement Network (BBRN)^TM and our Baby Boomer Retirement Insider’s Club (BBRIC)^TM offer advice, resources, and second opinions that baby boomers need to stay afloat in the current economic crisis and in the challenging years ahead.

The Club provides a proven easy-to-use 3-step process everyone can use to clarify their priorities, develop confidence, create a sound action plan, and find the right resources to get the job done the right way,  regardless of the declining economy. To get started, you’ll find free tools and calculators at www.mybbrc.com that can help you develop an intelligent and workable roadmap and financial plan for your retirement years.

Go there now and take the free 10-Minute Quiz. You’ll be amazed at what you learn.
For more information on the benefits you’ll receive by joining the Baby Boomer Retirement Insider’s Club (BBRIC)^TM , go here.

We’ve all had too many surprises and upsets in the past year, but it’s still going to be a very scary economy for the next few years ahead. You can count on this for sure: no one is going to be as informed or as concerned about your well-being, and your future security, as you are. We’ve now got to take matters into our own hands, not assume anything we are told or read is 100% true, and investigate the costs, risks, and fees of every product ourselves, until we truly understand what we are buying and why, as well as the Company that is providing the product and what kind of financial stability is underlying it.

Please comment. I would like to know what you think about this five part series.

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4. Research and get quotes for long-term care insurance before you are closed out for health reasons.

Make an informed decision now about whether or not long-term care insurance makes sense in your situation. Then purchase the right policy as soon as it makes financial sense to do so, rather than waiting and having monthly premiums increase.  There are web sites (including ours) that can help you easily calculate the cost of waiting to buy a long-term care policy, so you can decide when it pays best to do it.  But no calculator can tell you if an unexpected health condition is going to prevent you from obtaining it.  So do this research now (our site at www.mybbrc.com can help you get quotes from the best companies quickly).  Make A Decision NOW Whether to Buy-or Not to Buy-So You Won’t be Closed Out, and You Will Have No Regrets Later.

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3. Get started on an accelerated debt reduction plan that also gives you a 10-year or less roadmap to financial security.

Whether you do it yourself, using widely available budgeting or money management software, or invest in an automated debt repayment acceleration system such as the United First Financial Money Merge Account (UFirst), make putting the power of compound interest to work for you a top priority this year.  This system should be easy to update (at least monthly) and should give you a little flexibility, while showing the exact long-term cost in compound interest of your spending decisions.

Get a free, no obligation analysis that shows you how much money this system will save you, and how much sooner you’ll achieve your goal of financial security, by calling 877-246-2804 anytime, day or night, or go to http://www.livefreeandclear.com.  Use the code BBRNW and you will receive preferred service.

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2. Take extra steps NOW to safeguard your health.

We tend to focus obsessively on our financial capital, but it’s our human capital-our “aliveness”-that is really the engine that makes a long life continually worth living.
Make the time now to improve your fitness and stress management or try yoga or meditation. Raise your awareness of what to do in the event of a stroke or heart attack (a fast response, including taking aspirin at the first sign of a possible stroke, can reduce any long-term harmful effects).  A new member of our staff discovered, at age 50, that due to neglect and overwork in prior employment, his health and stamina were that of a feeble 75 year old.  Don’t let that happen to you. -Turn it around (as this staffer did) before it’s too late.

Eat a healthy diet. “‘You want to eat as close to a natural foods diet as you can,’ says Donald Novey, MD, an integrative medicine physician with the Advocate Medical Group in Park Ridge, Ill.  That means a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and fewer processed foods.  Avoid foods and beverages that are high in calories, sugar, salt, and fat.[1]

“Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in America, but plenty of exercise can help keep your heart healthy. You want to exercise at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week, if not every day. Aerobic exercises (walking, swimming, jogging, bicycling, dancing) are good for women’s health in general and especially for your heart, says Sabrena Merrill, MS, of Lawrence, Kan., a certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor and a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise. [2]

“No matter what stage of her life-daughter, mother, grandmother-a woman often wears many hats and deals with a lot of pressure and stress.  ‘Take a few minutes every day just to relax and get your perspective back again,’ Novey says.  ‘It doesn’t take long, and mental health is important to your physical well-being.’  You also can manage stress with exercise, relaxation techniques, or meditation.” [3]

[1] Quoted from EverydayHealth.com “6 Ways to Boost Women’s Health” by Beth W. Orenstein, May 20, 2009
[2] Quoted from EverydayHealth.com “6 Ways to Boost Women’s Health” by Beth W. Orenstein, May 20, 2009
[3] Quoted from EverydayHealth.com “6 Ways to Boost Women’s Health” by Beth W. Orenstein, May 20, 2009

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And that’s why I wrote a Special Report devoted to advise especially Baby Boomer women, and I’m publishing it here in 5 parts, beginning with this blog post you’re reading today.

It’s become very clear to me that virtually no one out there knows what to advise you to do in today’s troubled financial world. I watch the financial shows, and read everything I can get my hands on. There are lots of people promoting financial solutions, but once you get behind the headline, there’s really no beef there. Almost no one’s giving you the kind of specific, meaningful, hands-on advice you need, to get yourself back on solid footing and protect yourself and your future against further woes in this turbulent economy.

Americans have recently lost over $2 trillion in their retirement portfolios, and at least $2 trillion in the value of their homes, and Baby Boomer women who are over 50 are especially affected by this economic meltdown. Since tens of millions of us boomers are rapidly approaching retirement age, we have less time to restore our dwindled bank accounts and achieve lasting financial security-and most of us sure don’t want to take big risks at this stage of the game! Understandably, many women boomers worry about making a financial mistake.

Yet there are dozens of safe, smart, prudent, and wealth-building steps you can take today to improve your financial status without increasing your risk. My staff and I at the Baby Boomers Retirement Network (BBRN) spend most of our time interviewing handpicked experts to uncover, research, and fact check these smart moves. We make sure that if you follow our advice, you will end up ahead of the game. When you become a member of the Network, every month you’ll receive insights, tips and strategies that can change the path of your life forever.

So when you read these “5 Things Every Woman Over 50 Needs to Know NOW About Creating Financial Security For Retirement” please know these are just the tip of the iceberg of the steps we will recommend to you. But they’re a great beginning, and I recommend you start on them immediately.

Here are five smart things you can start doing right now to rebuild your investments, improve your enjoyment of life, and weather these economic storms:

1. Revisit and investigate all the investment options offered in your 401(k) plan.

Did you know that women invest differently than men?

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the difference between women and men as investors, pointing out how different things might be if the financial world were female. [1]

According to WSJ.com, “Finance professors Brad Barber and Terrance Odean have found that women’s risk-adjusted returns beat those of men by an average of about one percentage point annually. In short, women trade less frequently, hold less volatile portfolios and expect lower returns than men do.

For the male investor world, says WSJ, “The long term is somebody else’s problem, and asking for advice is an admission of inferiority. Worrying about risk is for sissies. Leverage is good, since it raises returns-while the market goes up. Is it any wonder the male-dominated world of Wall Street has boomed and busted every few years for more than two centuries?

“Women, by contrast, put safety first. Even after controlling for age, income and marital status, women are more inclined than men to wear seat belts, avoid cigarette smoking, floss and brush their teeth and get their blood pressure checked. They even have been shown to be 40% less prone than men to run yellow traffic lights.

“Women are less afflicted than men by overconfidence, or the delusion that they know more than they really do. And they’re more likely than men to attribute success to factors outside themselves, like luck or fate.

“In 2001, a survey of financial analysts and investment advisers found that women felt it was much more important than men did to avoid incurring large losses, falling below a target rate of return and acting on incomplete information. In short, women are more risk-averse than men. And they shy away from uncertainty: Asked whether having ambiguous information would reduce their confidence and raise their perception of risk, 92% of the women said yes, versus just 69% of the men.

“‘There’s a general emotional difference between men and women as they perceive and take risks,’ said Jennifer Lerner, a psychologist at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

“Negative events like natural disasters, terrorist attacks or a financial crisis usually make men more angry than fearful. Women, on the other hand, tend to feel more fearful than angry.

“Those differing emotions lead to divergent viewpoints. Seen through what Prof. Lerner calls ‘a lens of anger,’ the world seems more certain, more amenable to our control and less risky. Viewed through a lens of fear, however, the world appears full of uncertainty, beyond our control and rife with risk.

“The results of a nationwide survey of hundreds of investors conducted in March [2009], just days after the Dow bottomed at 6547, show how anger and fear in the minds of men and women can affect their financial decisions. Men were far more likely than women to say they were ‘more angry than fearful’ about the financial crisis. And one in eight men, but only one in every 40 women, had ‘made riskier investments looking for long-term growth’ in the previous week. Female investors were twice as likely to expect the return on stocks over the coming year to be zero or negative and to think stocks will return 5% or less per year over the next 10 years.

“‘The women were more concerned but took fewer actions,’ said psychologist Ellen Peters of the University of Oregon, who co-directed the survey. ‘They were also more pessimistic-or realistic?-about what to expect from the market.’

Stocks are up 35% since March [2009], so the women’s fears haven’t yet come to pass. But their inaction already looks wise. And their realism can’t hurt, either. ‘The essential traits and qualities of the male,’ H.L. Mencken once wrote, ‘are at the same time the hall-marks of the numskull. … Women, in fact, are the supreme realists of the race.’

“Memo to men: Your household’s investment portfolio will be less risky and more diversified if your wife helps manage it. She will share in what comes out of that portfolio down the road; shouldn’t she share in what goes into it? Chances are, her ideas and emotions will complement yours, and you will both end up wealthier.”
Source: WSJ.com May 9, 2009

What You Should Do NOW

You should re-balance your investment allocations and expand into investments that will preserve asset value in 2009. Make sure no one industry, business sector, geography, company size, or type of investment amounts to more than 20% of your portfolio. (For example, you can divide up your money between a money market fund, bond fund, global large cap fund, commodities fund, and an emerging markets fund). Compare fund management fees carefully, and choose exchange-traded funds (ETF’s) or mutual funds with low fees where available-some charge only one-third what others do for the same service. Remember, these fees come off your annual return (or make losses in the market hurt even more!). If your 401(k) offers only limited options, see if you can arrange to make this concern known to the senior Human Resources executive at your employer, or even the CEO, and request a broader selection of investment options.

Also, think three times about staying invested in your company’s own stock if it is offered in their 401(k) plan-and remember, in no case keep more than 20% tied up in any one company’s stock. Finally, make sure you put in enough money in 2009 to get 100% of the matching funds offered by your employer (if any). If you are over 50, you should be eligible to make additional catch-up payments-take advantage.

Tomorrow come back for my next post where I will discuss action step # 2.

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Recently, Virginia Cornue, who writes a blog for boomers at www.vaboomer.com , captured not only the essence of that commercial, but particularly how it related to what Boomers today are experiencing and how they are making new use of the internet, particularly Facebook and Twitter, to re-establish social and life connection with everyone, everywhere.  Here is what she wrote (I am quoting from her here–and kudos to you, Virginia):

There Is Only Here Now
The internet has erased time and space–and there is no more there there, there is only here now–we are all one in the internet cloud. The ramifications for us Boomers is profound. Kids grow up and scatter. Friends move away–as I did to far flung parts of the world–all over the US, then to China for several years. And while I needed to shake the dust off my small town feet, my roots got parched because I could never really stay in touch with friends and family in an easy way. Facebook has changed all that. And when I found my drama department pals from UNC-Ch, I was so happy. I began to feel grounded again.

There Is Only Here Now Baby Boomer Depression and Lonliness
Many Boomers are suffering from depression and loneliness precisely due to severed human connections–they are no longer at their jobs, their elders are dying, their kids are going, their ages are bringing new issues to the fore. But the new social networking platforms are a tonic to depression and loneliness. Anthro 101 and Psych 101 are very specific that human beings are social animals. We travel in packs. We like to congregate.

But some of the conditions of contemporary society obviate our most basic needs and the means of keeping us connected and happy.

The new social networking platforms are a great anti-depressant.”

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Last weekend I had the good fortune to hear a masterful musical duo, called Aztec Two-Step, perform at the Fairfield Theatre Company (“FTC”), on whose board I am privileged to serve.  Imagine an intimate arena theatre with perfect acoustics, that holds only 200 people, and where there are no bad seats. 

But there was one song in particular that stood out for me: “Old Friends.”  I woke up this morning with that song on my mind.  The past few weeks have been very special for how much I’ve been in touch with so many “Old Friends,” dating back 20 to 40+ years.  I have both high school and a college reunions coming up this year.  If you have dear old friends like I do, it’s a good time to cherish them, connect with them, and reflect on how you’ve been especially blessed.  As one of the 50-ish concertgoers remarked when I talked about the music brings back memories about “our youth,” she said, “What do you mean our youth, you talk about it like it’s in the past–it’s not gone yet.”  Amen to that.

Simon & Garfunkel song book by Aztec two step   Old Friends

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