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Patty Duke
Speaks for Social Security
Social Security has a new
celebrity spokesperson to spread its word. Award-winning actress Patty Duke has
volunteered her services to let people know they can retire online. Duke has
brought back the much beloved identical cousins Patty and Cathy Lane from the
hit 1960s sitcom "The Patty Duke Show" for a series of public service
announcements that tell Americans it's now easier than ever to apply online. to
watch the new public service announcements, go to
www.socialsecurity.gov/pattyduke.
ElderHostel
The Memphis Commercial Appeal
recently published an article on ElderHostel. That organization offers
retirees the chance to “travel with other seniors, learn interesting stuff, eat
decent food and stay in comfortable lodging, at a price that won't turn your
retirement budget to mush.”
The advantages of ElderHostel
include:
- Package price. Elderhostel pitches a single price
without hidden costs. Pay once and the essential costs for your trip are
covered.
- Learning. Lectures by experts allow you to learn more
and become more immersed in a local culture than would the average tourist.
- The fun and comfort of traveling with other seniors
who generally share an interest in travel and learning.
Elderhostel is a
not-for-profit organization founded in 1975. By 1980, participation had grown to
20,000 people in 50 states and Canada, and in 1981 Elderhostel offered its first
international programs. Today, it attracts more than 160,000 participants
annually to nearly 8,000 tour packages in more than 90 countries.
The average cost of programs
in the United States and Canada is a little over $100 per day while
international programs, not including airfare, average slightly more than $200
per day.
Research by Elderhostel points
to changes in retirement travel for the generation born between 1946 and 1964.
Its 2005 study "What Will Baby Boomers Want from Educational Travel?" found that
this general will want educational travel in retirement but will also have more
financial concerns than their parents did.
The study concluded that
travel programs should be shorter in order to fit busy schedules and keep prices
affordable. It found that baby boomers will want to travel in small groups, with
a mix of free time, hands-on learning, and behind-the-scenes activities rather
than ordinary tourist fare.
Nigel Brown, a Canadian
life-planning coach, finds the search for meaning the biggest unknown about
retirement. In an article in the Vancouver Province, Brown points out
that a lot of would-be retirees struggle with a sense of lost when they retire
because so much of their identities are linked to their careers. "Although being
lost is not a comfortable position to be in ... it can be a time of exponential
learning," Brown says.
Brown regards retirement as
second only to adolescence in terms of the impact of the transition. That is why
retirement requires introspection and some big choices related to finding that
sense of purpose and meaning in post-career. This transition goes beyond the
"magic number" of how much money is enough to retire.
Options for
meaning include volunteering, traveling, and launching a new career or a
business venture. "It's an opportunity," Brown contends to step “outside of your
comfort zone to see what's out there." |
Overspending in
Retirement
A key mistake many people make
as they enter retirement is overspending in the first few years. A study by Sun
Life of Canada confirms that spending can be high in the early years. It found
that 79% of retirees expect to travel in their first year of retirement and 39%
plan a home renovation while 29% are still paying for their children's
education.
Retirement
as Work
An Investors Group Inc. poll
has found that two-thirds of Canadians plan to do some kind of work in
retirement.
General Motors (GM) and
Chrysler are offering blue-collar employees another round of buyout and early
retirement offers as the automakers try to cut their work forces and reduce
expenses.
The offers result from
conditions the Federal government has imposed on the two companies in exchange
for their Federal loans. They will also appeal to workers who are on indefinite
layoff due to the U.S. auto sales slump. The companies can leave the jobs vacant
for now, then later fill the jobs as needed with new workers who can be paid
about half what current employees make.
Chrysler's roughly 26,800
production workers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union make about
$29 per hour, while GM's 62,000 UAW-represented workers make around $28. Under a
contract reached last year, the company can pay some replacement workers around
$14 per hour and give them less-costly health care and retirement benefits.
Cummins
Announces Early Retirement Package in Indiana
Cummins Inc. has announced a
voluntary retirement package to hourly employees who meet certain eligibility
criteria in its in southern Indiana plants.
While 700 employees are
eligible for the program, the company will accept up to 350 voluntary retirement
applications. All hourly workers in southern Indiana with 30 years of service,
or who are at least 55 years old with a minimum of 10 years of service are
eligible to apply. Cummins currently employs approximately 2,800 hourly workers
in southern Indiana. It has already reduced its workforce in Indiana overall by
200 through a combination of retirements and involuntary job cuts.
Rushing to close a growing
deficit that keeps getting worse, Gov. M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut has called
for a retirement incentive plan for state employees.
About nine-thousand state
employees who have reached age fifty-five would be eligible for the program. The
State Budget Office projects that an estimated three thousand would take the
offer.
The program is being offered
in order to avoid layoffs of state employees.
Later
Retirement in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
lawmakers are again considering raising the retirement age for newly hired
police officers, firefighters, and others in law enforcement. A House bill would
raise the retirement age from forty-five to fifty years. The bill also would
require the employees to work twenty-five years -- five more than they do now,
before qualifying for retirement benefits. |
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