Second Half Life (Retirement & Death) 03 (Mar 14 - Dec 26)

[winston]

"When a man dies, if he can pass enthusiasm along to his children, he has left them an estate of incalculable value."
-- Thomas Edison

[winston]

7 Ways To Prepare For A Satisfying Retirement By Dave Bernard

http://www.thetradingreport.com/2014/10 ... etirement/

[winston]

How much do Singaporeans really need for retirement?

Half a million dollars might not be enough.

Retirement savings--and the lack thereof--is a major cause for concern for many Singaporeans. The prospect of working past retirement age is looms over many employees, especially for those who have no idea how to manage their retirement funds.

According to a survey by DBS, respondents claimed that a war chest worth $523,306 should be enough to support them in retirement. However, DBS cautions that there seems to be a disjoint between how much one needs for retirement versus how much one needs to have set aside at their retirement age.

The survey showed that a fifty-year-old man who expects to receive $3,500 a month in today’s dollars until he is 81 years old will need $1,050,000 at the retirement age of 65, significantly above the perceived average.

“Despite healthy levels of savings in Singapore, one may still struggle to estimate sufficient funds for their retirement due to the unwillingness to take risks, uncertainty about inflation and life expectancy assumptions,” noted DBS.

Source: Singapore Business Review

[winston]

The 5 Retirement Myths

Myth 1: Malaysians believe their EPF savings will be enough to take care of them through their retirement years. The common assumption made is that their EPF contributions will be adequate for them to replace their earned income when they retire.

However, their EPF contributions may or may not be sufficient to replace their earned income. The 2011 EPF 2011 statistics showed that 72% of EPF members who are at the pre-retirement age of 54 have savings of just RM50,000 and below.

Coupled with that, 50% of retirees spend their entire EPF savings within five years.

Myth 2: Many people assume their children can take care of them during their old age. But due to escalating cost of living, some children find it difficult to even provide for their own family what more for their own old folks.

Myth 3: Some people reckon it is too early for them to start saving for retirement, while others think they can’t do much because it is already too late for them to start. No matter when you start saving, time and the wonder of compounding are your best friends when it comes to retirement saving.

Myth 4: Working after retirement. Choosing to work after retirement is one thing, but being compelled to work just to survive is another.

Myth 5: People believe they can reduce their expenses when they retire. But in reality, if he or she is used to a certain lifestyle, it is not easy to adjust. In addition, we live in a rising inflation environment and medical cost is continuously increasing, it is imperative to plan your finances adequately for our retirement.

To have a financially secured retirement, the people’s mindset must change.

Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Inve ... ?style=biz

[winston]

Take the Path of Experience By Ryan Murdock

During my time in Central America — on the trip that would become my book Vagabond Dreams — I pondered one important question: how to turn living into something more than just existing.

Time is our worst enemy. Youth seldom considers time; it seems so endless. But youth is characterized by hopes and dreams, and old age is too often the realm of unrealized hopes and dreams.

What's in between? Is that where I found myself at that moment? Or is there in fact no in between at all, just the sudden shock of realization that it's all ending and you haven't even begun?

With knowledge of the name and nature of one's adversary, comes the power to take direct action.

is the fork in the road. You can throw up your hands in despair — it's all for nothing so why bother — or you can grab Time by the throat and squeeze as much as you can out of it by way of experience. Both choices are equally valid. In the end it's all for nothing. Time is the predestined winner. The game is fixed. But I think the path of Experience is the more heroic of the two.

To pursue the path of Experience is to squeeze the most out of Time. The time-obsessed have no patience for triviality. I'm constantly amazed at how we nickel and dime our lives away on useless details and inane things: obligations, manipulations, pointless babbling phone calls, make-work projects done just for the sake of form.

We bleed ourselves to death with a thousand tiny paper cuts. Refusing to drag around those anchors is a significant step towards finding personal freedom. Cut away the sandbags and your balloon will soar.

Busywork obscures the important things in life. The meaningful gets lost among the trash. Like a sculptor, we must cut away the unnecessary to reveal the minimalist core within. This includes cutting away unnecessary people, those relationships that drain you, those people who pull you down.

In doing this, some will call you selfish. They want something from you. Their method is manipulation through guilt. You assume obligation; it isn't automatic.

Western society has lost touch with the vibrant core. We live our lives at second hand, through movies and TV. We've become middle class people made cowards by our own possessions. Our lives are geared towards comfort, swaddled in narcoleptic routine. We've become afraid to live deeply, and so we live vicariously through fictional characters instead, and through the exploits of others. But that isn't living.

Leave the papers in the pile unshuffled, unstapled. Someone else will do it. And if no one does and they slowly turn to ash, their true importance will be revealed because not a thing will change. The world won't end. But when Time is judged the victor of your lifelong duel your world will end.

It's your choice what to make of it. Do you leave a legacy of paper in tidy piles, or a rich store of experience that vanishes when you do? Only you can decide. You have only yourself to answer to. In the end the clock will win.

Life can't be lived by other people's rules, not society's and not religion's. The great philosophical discovery is that there aren't any answers. We put too much importance on the questions anyway. We die and the dream dissolves with a hiss.

We have an interval and that's all. All our moments, both significant and insignificant, will be lost in the mists of time. The Judgement Day question has nothing to do with morality. It is, in fact, "Was your life meaningful?"

This life is so tragically short, but we let so much pass by. We obsess over trivialities. We take on guilt and unhappiness through self-imposed judgements and labels. None of those things are real. Judgments and labels are so much smoke in the air. In the end nothing really matters much. You'll regret the things you didn't do more than the things you did.

The heroic path is to live! No regrets. No apologies. Roar at the top of your lungs and punch a hole in the sky! Cry hot salty tears and pull out your hair at the sheer cruelty of time! Laugh and love like a thousand Zorbas! When your light goes out let it end with a flash, not a fizzle.

'Live' is an active verb, not a passive one. Don't plod through life in the Third Person. Claim this brief life as your own and live it.

Sometimes opportunity really will knock only once.

Source: ETR

[winston]

If You Think You Are Too Old By Seth Godin

Here's one: "I'm too old to make a difference, take a leap, change the game..." (Sometimes, I hear this from people who are 27 years old).

This is a seductive story, because it lets us off the hook. Obviously, the thinking goes, the deck (whichever deck you want to pick) is stacked against me, so no need to even imagine the failure that effort will bring.

Better to just move along and lower my expectations. Hannes Schwandt has published some interesting research on this.

Regret seems to peak at 50, and then, as people start rationalizing that they're not expected to make much of a difference going forward, life satisfaction starts to increase.

Of course, this is doubly backwards... we can (and must) contribute as we get older, and freedom is nothing to fear.

Source: ETR

[winston]

Second passport lessons from Steve Wozniak and Albert Einstein

By Simon Black

In January 1933 Albert Einstein was visiting the US under a research grant from Princeton University.

Meanwhile back home in Germany Adolf Hitler had just become elected chancellor and started creating an atmosphere hostile for Jews, intellectuals and pacifists, of which Einstein was three times guilty.

Recognizing the danger of continuing to hold a German passport, Einstein traveled to Belgium where he renounced his German citizenship.

By that time the Nazis had raided his cottage, confiscated his property and seized his bank accounts.

Einstein was heartbroken to see his homeland overrun by fascists, but he didn’t waste any time looking back.

As a renowned scientist he was highly sought out for university postings and speaking engagements all over the world.

After spending time in a few countries in Europe he eventually got permanent residency in the US in 1935 and became a citizen in 1940.

Having been a Swiss citizen as well since 1901, Einstein didn’t really need to get another passport from the US, but judged that the country would be a better place for him to work and grow, so he wanted to become part of his new society as much as possible.

Albert Einstein Citizen Second passport lessons from Steve Wozniak and Albert Einstein

If this same scenario played out today, it’s likely Einstein would have looked for a different country to call home.



We don’t have to speculate on this matter, we can just ask Steve Wozniak what he’s doing.

The co-founder of Apple obtained permanent residency in Australia where he intends to relocate full-time and eventually become a citizen.

Woz’s whole family is planning to spend most of their time in Australia, with his son already settled there.

If a quick-fix was his aim, someone of Woz’ wealth could have easily gotten a second passport through one of the economic citizenship programs in a places like St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica or Antigua and Barbuda.

Instead Woz has chosen to do things the old fashioned and safer way—by first becoming a resident, relocating to the country and integrating into society.

In his words: “I want to be a distinguished part of this country and some day I may say I lived and died an Australian, and that would be a really nice thing to be able to say.”

Doing it this way will take at least 4 years, and Woz will be close to 70 before he’s eligible to become an Australian citizen.

It would have been easy for him to stay at home and enjoy his retirement in a familiar place.

Instead he chose to seek out a new country that is more in line with his values.

There’s always going to be a tradeoff when moving abroad, but you get to choose a place that has more of what you want and less of what you don’t.

Looking for a cheap place to retire while collecting Social Security benefits? Try Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, or Panama.

Want to finally learn a second language? There are numerous residency options across Europe and Latin America.

Do you want to be a part of a fast growing entrepreneurial environment in a country that’s easy to relocate to? Consider here in Chile, or Colombia.

As Woz says, “No country is perfect, but I like a lot of things about this place.”

Source: Sovereign Man

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The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying By Susie Steiner

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Source: Business Insider

http://www.mindpowernews.com/TopRegrets.htm

[winston]

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

- C.S. Lewis

[winston]

Three big retirement income issues By: DATUK STEVE ONG

Adequacy to replace earned income

Firstly, we certainly need to ask how much is considered adequate as monthly income for retirement.

Accordingly to the World Bank, the simple rule of thumb is to ensure that you have a two-third replacement income ratio of your last drawn salary in order to continue enjoying your current standard of living at retirement.

Sufficiency to last the entire retirement period

Secondly, people need to ensure that their income is sufficient to last the whole duration of their retirement years. The key issue here is outliving your retirement funds, which would leave people very vulnerable and run out of income to support when they aged older.

Sustainability – to protect against inflation

Finally, people need to plan to have their retirement income inflation adjusted. Inflation has a subtle and quiet way of increasing cost of living and eroding purchasing power.

http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Inve ... ?style=biz