All Aboard!

Oceanic Retirement Communities of America (ORCA) has started taking reservations for a program that will allow seniors to own a condo on a private residential cruise ship that also provides both the Independent and Assisted Living accommodations typically found in land-based facilities.

The ORCA Lifestyle Cruising Program will provide the healthcare aspects of traditional retirement facilities on private resident-owned cruise ships to be home ported in various coastal Florida cities. Seniors would enter the program just as they would a typical Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) with a nominal entrance fee and subsequent monthly Residents' Care fees, but would live aboard the cruise ship until eventually health issues would necessitate their moving into a skilled nursing facility ashore. The big difference is this. Unlike a CCRC, on an ORCA ship, you actually OWN your residence like a condo. Upon passing, it actually reverts to your estate. The heirs can sell the stateroom or keep it for their own use by renting it out until they are 55 and ready to retire and move aboard themselves.

The first ship will enter service sometime late Summer or early Fall and will take frequent cruises to the Bahamas and Central America.

Enrollment pricing in the ORCA Lifestyle Cruising Program varies from $259-499,000 for 2 people. Monthly Residents' Care Fees are about the same or a little less than conventional retirement facilities.

This retirement community has a night club, martini bar, library, elegant dining room, spa, workout room, putting green, shuffleboard, 12 guest cabins, and 6,000 sq' of sun deck. The staterooms have large flat-screen TVs, WiFi, room phones, and are fully furnished.

Ain't Retirement Grand?

Ain't retirement grand? That's the exact musical question Gil Perlroth is asking in his 23rd and latest musical production, which finished a run earlier this month at the Venue Theatre in Pinellas Park, Florida. This production, as its title suggests, is aimed at the land of retirement. It is a musical revue featuring two males and two females of retirement age. They perform 23 songs "with a little connective material." Song titles include There They Go (about adult children reluctant to leave the nest) and Catch of the Day (about a widower who lives in a retirement community and is the envy and desire of all the widows in the place.) There are songs about Early Bird menus and about how everyone needs a pet. Toward the end, one of the couples makes a will and sings, "We spent it all on ourselves."

Fraud Squad

Retirement Living TV (RLTV) has announced the acquisition of an innovative, gripping series called "Fraud Squad TV." It is dedicated to the prevention and awareness of fraud towards 50+ adults. According to the Federal Trade Commission, nearly 25 million Americans are victims of consumer fraud each year and older adults are prime targets for con artists and criminals.

"Fraud Squad TV" empowers viewers to protect themselves from the perils of fraud while at the same time providing them with fast-paced and engrossing entertainment. The program airs weekly on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. (EDT) on RLTV.

Seven Do’s in Retirement 

Marshall Goldsmith, whose blog entry "Brett Favre and the Difficult Art of Retiring Successfully" appeared last August on the Harvard Business Review's Web site. Rather than sitting around doing nothing in retirement, Goldsmith said, would-be retirees should scope out what they want to do long beforehand. He then outlines seven measures that contribute to a good retirement:

1. Make a contribution to the world around you.

2. Do what you love to do, be it the same-old, same-old or something entirely different.

3. It takes work to find work in retirement.  You will have to work hard at finding the next thing to do.
4. Wait before you leap into retirement in light of the current economy.
5. Get real offers. It's one thing to say that you want to work in retirement. But it's a whole different thing to do so.
6. Promote yourself.
7. Working, out of want or need, you have to find meaning and happiness in your life.

The Average Length of Retirement

An Age Index

John Shoven, economist and director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research contends: "We can't continue the practice that we've had in the 20th century, where all of your extra life expectancy is retirement." In 1900 men enjoyed an average of two years of retirement, far different from today. Just as we index the value of a government pension payment for inflation, Shoven wants us to index age for improved health when calculating timetables for Social Security eligibility and retirement account withdrawals. He also wants to throw in tax breaks as sweeteners for those who work longer in life.

Losing Interest in Phased Retirement

About a year ago, almost half of the 140 midsize and large employers surveyed by consulting firm Hewitt Associates had some type of phased-retirement arrangement, and almost 40% of businesses were interested in establishing one. Since then, employer interest in offering phased retirement has declined.

Home as a Castle of Wealth or Debt?

As today’s economic environment puts pressure on older homeowners to find new sources of retirement income and stretch their savings, growing numbers are starting to tap their housing wealth, using home-equity loans or reverse mortgages. However, with little guidance, they are often unsure about how to include this asset as an integral part of their financial strategy, rather than as a last resort. “Tapping Home Equity in Retirement: The MetLife Study on the Changing Role of Home Equity and Reverse Mortgages,” issued by the MetLife Mature Market Institute (MMI) and the National Council on Aging (NCOA), calls for a more comprehensive approach to ensure that this asset is used appropriately and effectively to deal with the growing uncertainties of retirement.

The study finds that 35% of older Americans see their homes not just as secure places to live, but also as collateral for a loan. About 14% are taking cash out of their house through a home equity loan or reverse mortgage. This is a growing reality for affluent households who seek to enhance their lifestyle, as well as middle-income families for whom it may be their only choice.

The report emphasizes that consumer education must be part of any new efforts aimed at increasing the use of reverse mortgages. It reinforces the value of consumer counseling mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the popular Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) reverse mortgage program.

Un-developing Excess Income

The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) has adopted a new policy to clamp down on pension excesses, after state officials reprimanded the city agency for paying its employees salaries that violated legal limits on post-retirement income.

The policy will require the approximately 300 current employees of the BRA, as well as any job applicants at the agency, to disclose their previous government jobs and current retirement income. The new requirement is designed to ensure that the BRA does not violate a state law that imposes limits on the number of hours public retirees can work at government agencies, and the salaries they can collect.

The move follows articles in the Boston Globe documenting lucrative and apparently illegal salaries paid to two BRA employees who were already drawing pensions from previous public positions. In total, that duo has had to pay ack more than $400,000 in “excess earnings.”

Princeton’s Incentivized Retirement Program

Princeton University has announced a voluntary incentivized retirement program to offset current retirement disincentives in the economy.  The program comes at a time when the University looks to cut next year's budget by $88 million. Though hundreds of employees currently qualify for the program, most faculty members are not eligible. The University expects that only a "mere percentage of those eligible" will participate. Employees who wish to take advantage of the new program must be at least 55 years old, and their age, combined with their years of credited service, must add up to at least 80.

Retirement Home Vacancies in Montreal

Montreal-area seniors' residences are struggling with high vacancy rates. In its annual report yesterday on retirement homes in Canada, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the construction boom this decade has pushed vacancy rates up to eight per cent in the Montreal region.