The United States faces a serious retirement challenge. Many of today's workers will lack the resources to retire at traditional ages and maintain their pre-retirement standard of living. It can be difficult for workers to make informed decisions about their retirements now based on the abundance of confusing and sometimes misleading information put forth by the media and other individuals. For this reason, Charles D. Ellis, Alicia H. Munnell, and Andrew D. Eschtruth have written this highly-accessible guide for individuals wondering what to expect when they reach retirement age and what they can be doing now to best prepare for their future. Falling Short is grounded in academic research yet written in an accessible style for anyone concerned about their future retirement. The authors provide both a vivid picture of the retirement risks facing all Americans and a short list of practical solutions that build on our existing retirement system. The book offers the necessary context for understanding the nature and size of the retirement income shortfall, which is caused by both increasing income needs--due to longer lifespans and rising health costs--and decreasing support from Social Security and employer-sponsored pension plans. The authors give specific advice for what Americans must do now to avoid crisis in retirement; namely, people must work longer and save more. Individuals should plan to stay in the labor force until age 70 and keep their skills up-to-date, and the government should emphasize that retiring at 70 provides the largest monthly Social Security check. Social Security's long-term finances must be shored up so that it remains the foundation of the retirement system. All employers with a 401(k) plan should be required to automatically enroll their workers, increase worker contribution rates over time, and use low-cost index funds as a default investment option. A separate solution is needed for the half of the workforce that lacks even 401(k) coverage; all uncovered workers need an easy and automatic retirement saving option. Finally, individuals should not ignore what is often their largest asset--their house--as a potential source of support for retirement; home equity can be tapped through downsizing or a reverse mortgage. Acting on these solutions now will greatly improve the prospects of a secure retirement for today's workers.

***BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2021 SHORTLISTED TITLE*** It's never too early to start thinking about how you're going to exit your business. The Beginning of the End guides you step by step through thinking about your options and preparing both mentally and financially, to setting up your business to sell as simply and profitably as possible. As you discover more about your business's potential, you may decide to take an alternative route to retirement - fretirement, retiring from your business without selling it. This book helps you to consider all your options. Dr Terri Bourne, entrepreneurship expert and business owner for over 20 years, shares her experience and insights to assist business owners in successful retirement and exit planning.

To supplement replacement income provided by Social Security and employer sponsored pension plans, individuals need to rely on their own saving and investment choices during accumulation. Once retired, they must also decide at which rate to spend their savings, with the usual dilemma between present and future consumption in mind. This Element explains how financial engineering and risk management techniques can help them in these complex decisions. First, it introduces 'retirement bonds', or retirement bond replicating portfolios, that provide stable and predictable replacement income during the decumulation period. Second, it describes investment strategies that combine the retirement bond with an efficient performance seeking portfolio so as to reduce uncertainty over the future amount of income while offering upside potential. Finally, strategies using risk insurance techniques are proposed to secure minimum levels of replacement income while giving the possibility of reaching higher levels of income.

AWARDS: Silver Living Now Book Award, Mature Living/Aging 2014 (Silver) If you re one of the 25 million single women over the age of 45 living in the United States today, AARP s The Single Woman s Guide to Retirement is your new best friend. Walking you through the challenges of retired or pre-retired life, from managing your finances to staying healthy in body, mind, and spirit, dealing with divorce, and even looking for love or work, the book covers the issues that really matter to you. Whether you re looking for a retirement home or planning a cruise, this book is packed with specific details to help take the guesswork out of retirement. Author and retirement expert Jan Cullinane has gathered real-life stories from women just like you to illustrate your options and give you fresh new ideas about how to make the most of your retirement years.

Your Guide to Exploration and Adventure in the Years Ahead

As we grow older and face new demands on our bodies illnesses, limited mobility, loss of vision or hearing it is easy to focus on only the changes to our physical bodies and forget about the transformations our spiritual selves are going through.

" Keeping Spiritual Balance As We Grow Older" will guide you through readings and practical exercises to reintroduce you to your spiritual side. Molly and Bernie Srode discuss how the power of spirit can help you overcome the obstacles of aging, add meaning to your everyday life, and attain both your material and spiritual goals regardless of your religious orientation.

With creative, practical advice, this book is brimming with ideas to add purpose and spirit in the building of your meaningful retirement.

Sandwiched between adult kids and ageing parents, and seeking financial freedom? Take control of your finances today and secure a stress-free future tomorrow. Managing money can be a major source of stress, especially for members of the 'Sandwich Generation' -- those in the last decade or two of their working lives and feeling stretched by supporting adult kids on one side, ageing parents on the other and with their own retirement on the horizon. The Money Sandwich provides practical, easy-to-understand knowledge, tips and action lists on all aspects of financial management for your pre- and post-retirement years. You'll learn how to: manage debt and take control of your money build a diverse but secure investment portfolio understand superannuation (finally!) and how to optimise it navigate insurance, aged care and estate planning set up your children for a worry-free financial future. Everyone deserves to retire comfortably and on their own terms. Make this the year you take action! Marc Bineham, now part of the sandwich generation himself, has had a long career of over 30 years in the financial advice profession. As a Money Coach, Marc continues to help families to get on top of their money worries, manage their money better and live a more fulfilled and balanced life.

Achieve your dream of retiring abroad while on a budget

"The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget" provides a detailed guide to one of the least-known but most effective retirement strategies in today's chaotic economic environment: retiring abroad. The premise is simple: Enjoy a happier, healthier, more fulfilling retirement than you could possibly afford in the U.S. or Canada by finding the right overseas retirement haven. The book reveals those affordable havens and the strategies for successfully making the move that could save your retirement. Aimed at retirees and near-retirees in the U.S. and Canada, this book's strategies apply just as well to younger people and people with families who are looking for ways to improve their quality of life while at the same time lowering their cost of living. It includes solutions for the challenges of continuing to work and earn money abroad, too.

As long-time contributors to the acknowledged leader in the field, "International Living," authors Suzan Haskins and Dan Prescher have at their disposal more than thirty years of International Living experience and expertise in the topic. They've been writing about living overseas for more than 12 years and have created their own broad and deep body of work, including regular blogs on the topic for Huffington Post and AARP. The authors include information and strategies that can be successfully applied by anyone regardless of their political or economic opinions. For anyone who wants a happier, healthier, more affordable life, "The International Living Guide to Retiring Overseas on a Budget" shows you how to enjoy the romance and excitement of living abroad on an affordable budget.

"My friend, Ben Stein, has written a short book that tells you everything you need to know about investing (and in words you can understand). Follow Ben’s advice and you will do far better than almost all investors." — Warren Buffett In his entertaining and informative style that has captivated generations, beloved New York Times bestselling author, actor, and financial expert Ben Stein sets the record straight about capitalism in the United States—it is not the "rigged system" young people are led to believe. As he reveals in The Capitalist Code, "Life can be faced by moaning and complaining or it can be faced by study, work, optimism, and faith in the free capitalist system. Guess which side gets the happier life?" Most Americans have not inherited wealth or a successful business that could set them up for life. That means most Americans are destined for financial worry and concern for the rest of their lives. Right? Wrong! Ben Stein explains how the wonderful system of stock market capitalism can allow any American to build financial security. In this succinct guide, you will learn:  Why it really is better to have money—and how to get there How to save first, and then spend automatically Why investing in great companies is easier than you think That's what this book is all about: how to harness the incredible power of the U.S. economy for enjoyment and security by being owners of profitable businesses-by consistent, conservative investment starting as young as possible in a diversified portfolio of stocks. Anyone can be a capitalist—and should be. All it takes is a little bit of knowledge and an even smaller amount of action. All it takes is The Capitalist Code.

The issue of pension financing is evolving everywhere, becoming more of a corporate or individual matter rather than a state one. Demographic changes are making sharing mechanisms hard to control, and social deficits often lead governments to pull back from their obligations. This raises many questions for the individual:Despite the burden for securing one's retirement increasingly placed on individuals, many are often badly prepared to tackle this very long savings process, which is often complicated by the specific characteristics of a pension plan.This publication, intended for investment professionals, customer advisors, and individuals interested in personal finance and asset management, looks at some of the fundamental elements of investment strategies and techniques for retirement.

From the day we receive our first piggybank to the day we can financially make it on our own, our parents play a fundamental role in our financial lives. One of the most poignant stages in life comes when you must assume the role of the parent to your parents. It can be a frenetic stage, in which you struggle to understand the finances specific to aging parents-often in the face of an emergency. "Protecting Your Parents' Money" is the essential guide to helping you navigate this confusing and difficult transition, and provide a game plan for tackling complex like estate planning, Medicare planning, and nursing homes. Most importantly, it will help bridge the communication barrier between parents and adult children that can make the process so much more difficult than it needs to be. Among the topics covered include Personal Finance 101: The Senior Years: The essential definitions and workings of the myriad investment options and financial requirements your parents will deal with in retirement. The Talk: The one, all-encompassing discussion every child needs to have with every parent at some point. The Move: The hunt for a quality home. How do you research nursing homes? What should you be looking for? And how do you compare costs and how are your parents assets factored into the mix? Understanding Medicare. Elder Fraud: How to look for tell-tale signs that your parents have been victimized. At a time when the nation prepares for the pending retirement of the massive Baby Boomer generation, this book will provide the comprehensive map you will need to navigate the breadth of financial issues, while treating seniors with dignity and compassion they deserve.

There's More to Financial Planning than Financial Planning doesn't simply cover the obvious topics in personal finance. Brian Zeek and Dee Dee Brooks present a comprehensive picture of financial planning that includes everything from car insurance to the ins and outs of a home mortgage to health insurance and the lesser-known benefits of life insurance-and shows how so many people leave tens of thousands of dollars on the table by not tending to these crucial issues. With an intuitive, one-topic-at-a-time layout, There's More to Financial Planning than Financial Planning makes a resounding case for a smarter, and genuinely comprehensive approach, to building a watertight financial plan.

You've served your country, now let the country serve you Veterans Benefits Guide For Dummies is your clear and concise guide to the benefits available to you from the VA and other government organizations. You have access to physical and mental healthcare, financial services, long-term planning, education, and much more. This book explains how to make sense of and take advantage of the extensive benefits program offered to veterans in the United States. You'll learn what you're eligible for, how to file applications and claims, and how to appeal decisions. This book covers the most recent benefits available, including vocational rehabilitation, life insurance, home loans, pensions, burial benefits, and survivors' benefits. With Dummies, you can navigate the paperwork to make sure you're getting everything that's available to you. Figure out the VA benefits system and learn what paperwork you need Discover the pros and cons of veterans' services versus civilian services Develop a smart financial plan with a good understanding of military pensions Find and secure benefits you may not have known about - for yourself and your family Newly separated and seasoned veterans alike will love Veterans Benefits Guide For Dummies. We make it easy to get what's coming to you.

Investors, shell-shocked by the "Great Recession" of 2008-2009, are looking for answers, for something fresher than the old 'buy-and-hold' mantra. They hunger for stability, yet yearn for growth to rejuvenate their battered portfolios.

Ray Lucia's "The Buckets of Money Retirement Solution: The Ultimate Guide to Income for Life" provides just that--a reassuring and scientifically proven strategy that gives investors both growth and income.

Lucia, a Certified Financial Planner who's helped thousands of people invest more than $2 billion, explains how to spend down 'safe' buckets (containing, for example, Treasuries, CDs, bonds), while leaving a riskier bucket (real estate, stocks and alternative investments) to grow long-term. This strategy shields investors from the short-term ups and downs of the market. And it gives them the courage and discipline to stay invested no matter what the future holds.

Written in a breezy, accessible style and loaded with tons of examples and clear, specific calculations, the book explains how to set your financial goals, divvy up your money accordingly, and then invest intelligently. With this book as your guide, readers will learn how to achieve both income and growth while at the same time reducing risk. "All in all," Lucia writes, "this plan is akin to a sports car that seats six, approximating the best of both worlds. In this case by being a conservative strategy that's also growth-oriented."

Almost every kind of investment--stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate--plunged in the past year or two, turning off millions of investors who'd been planning for and counting on a reasonably comfortable retirement. These retirees or near-retirees need solutions ... something fresher than the old 'buy-and-hold' mantra. Yet here's what they hear from the financial-services industry: Set up an asset-allocation model, then take a systematic withdrawal to support your retirement ... remembering, of course, to rebalance the accounts to remain in sync with the model. Wrong That maximizes the advisors' fees but doesn't protect the investors' assets during the tough times.

The second, completely revised edition of our best-selling guide to retiring in France. Whether you're planning to retire to France permanently or just for part of the year, Retiring in France contains essential information about the best places to live; local services and amenities; the weather; buying or renting a home; the cost of living; health services; getting to France and getting around; learning French; and much, much more. Now printed in full color.