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Strategies & Market Trends : Retirement - Now what? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nazbuster who wrote (1)	10/19/2004 10:40:36 PM
From: SI Dave	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 288

>>A couple of years after I retired I took this gig so I could tell people not to spam their new thread on other threads. ;-) Oh, and sometimes the way to make money is to not lose money... a.k.a., cash is king!

To: Nazbuster who wrote (1)	10/19/2004 11:03:21 PM
From: d:oug	Respond to of 288

time-fillers [hobbies] rather than something I'm driven to do I agree, and always resisted advice from Mom & Dad when I was a kid staring out the window wondering what a boy could do when his mind traveled beyond baseball, but not yet onto girls. I was always told: "Get a hobby." But this was circa early 1950s where information about "whats available" was near impossible to have, plus I didn't have an E. Charters type Dad that would have asked me to wonder about things rather than accept and use just like everyone else does. If only howstuffworks.com existed then. Today @ HowStuffWorks So Long, DVD! How Blu-ray Discs Work Say goodbye to DVD as the top-of-the-line digital storage format: It pales in comparison to Blu-ray. New blue-laser discs feature an unbelievable capacity of 27 to 50 GB – that’s about five times [a] DVD. How Flexplay DVDs Work It's a movie rental that automatically erases itself. No late fees and return trips to the video store. Check out the science at work. How Hangovers Work The "cures" are varied, specific and mostly false. The good news? The scientifically proven ones actually work. How RAM Works RAM [determines] how quickly and efficiently your pc performs. Find out [how] much you need and which type is best. How Lock Picking Works In movies, burglars can open a lock using a paper clip. Is it really so easy? Explore the technology of locks and keys. List of 10 things you should never buy new... The Top Ten - The few, the proud: Our ten most popular articles. Scientific American magazine names HowStuffWorks one of the 50 best sci/tech Web sites in the world! China crashes a 2-meter space capsule through the roof of IH's Churok house! (w/photo) The Coca-Cola logo actually wires itself into our brain! See, How Your Brain Works. See, How Halloween Works. The newest Segway has four wheels. Fact of the Day: Porcupines are good swimmers because their quills are ###### and help them float. How Turn Signals Work ... there’s actually some cool technology at work. Find out how this under-used device operates. How Freeze-Drying Works Remember "astronaut ice cream"? That was freeze-dried... Behind the Fish - Inside 'Shark Tale' Have you ever noticed... how much Will Smith and Renee Zellweger resemble fish? Neither did we, until Dreamworks "fishified" the actors into Oscar and Angie for the animated movie “Shark Tale.” The Buck Pauses Here - How Pawnshops Work Need a fast loan? Want to buy a TV for next to nothing? ... what goes on in the storefront is only half the story. Mind and Body - How Karate Works Karate is an incredible art form, built on the concept of merging body and mind into a defensive weapon. See how karatekas use this merger to break wood and cinder blocks with their hands and feet. Coming Soon: How Self-inflating Tires Work How SI worked, then didn't, then did, and now will ### # ##. :o)

To: Nazbuster who wrote (1)	10/20/2004 12:18:00 AM
From: Sig	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 288

<<<Even though I have no debt, live in a wonderful remodeled home in a great neighborhood, have a fantastic wife in a 24 year marriage, I've found myself feeling lost as to what the future should be. I have hobbies, but they seem like time-fillers rather than something I'm driven to do. Are any of you other recent retirees having difficulty finding a sense of purpose in "retirement"? I'm also still concerned about establishing an adequate level of income from investments. What have some of you done to secure income with safety? >>> You are doing the right thing, which is asking questions. I am 80 and guess I retired about 1968. Never enough income, but had some property in Seattle which I finally sold off in 1972 which put me in the position you are in today excepting I did not then have a house.(haha) Bought CD's for years which paid from 9% to 18%, so there was some interest in keeping track of those.But not a future to engage ones energy. Traded stocks a bit, bet horses at Longacres, made a few bucks but nothing comparable to the CD's. Beginning in 1996 I hit it rich in Dell stock, but could never find anyone to help decide what to do with the money. So I finally gave most of it back. But I was trying to get some advice. Friend A retired was into high dividend stocks . Had an extra $1mm home which he left to his wife. Relative B was into funds, but had plenty of retirement income. Postmaster was into Government bonds Dentist was asking me for advice. I asked various people at a Riverboat Casino, they seemed to have no savings or market knowledge. Uncle had 28 apartments in San Diago, no use asking him. Doctors were playing with stocks same as myself. Attorney was buying apartment in San Juan, and some risky Mexican stocks. Non of these people were in a position equivalent to my own and I doubt very much I will find one. You just have to pick your own game and do your best. My own (old) hobbies have suffered severely from my sitting at a computer playing the market, and recently to no avail. So I am making some changes. My best advice would be to find a successful respected person who thinks you can do things , or knows you can do things, whether you believe it or not. And follow that man. Since you have been trading you will have your own ideas on market prospects. At this moment, with the amount of churning, I consider stock trading to be extremely risky. Income with safety today=CD's or bonds. I prefer property, like a building lot, but thats not monthly income Good Luck Sig

To: Nazbuster who wrote (1)	10/20/2004 6:43:19 AM
From: d:oug	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 288

...to secure income with safety? Depends on how the US dollar, and all other fiat currencies world wide, handle expected Doom & Gloom that may at worst crash all markets except precious metals. a.k.a. purchase gold coins like... US Eagle, Canadian Maple Leaf, SA Krugerrand, Australian Kangaroo, Austrian Philharmonic, Austrian Corona, Mexican 50 Peso... usagold.com The Gold Price Monitor thread has a few well respected posters that know this area very well: E. Charters, o49r, but da best SI member Bob Johnson has website goldsheetlinks.com

To: Nazbuster who wrote (1)	10/20/2004 7:58:23 PM
From: 99Dan	Respond to of 288

Thanks for starting this thread. I’m 66 years old and I’ve been married to the same woman for 46 years. I retired 6 years ago in good health. I’ll keep an eye on this thread for ideas that may benefit me. I would like to hear more about what people do to keep busy in retirement. I’ve tried a couple of volunteer jobs and I do a fair amount of handyman jobs around the house and for friends but so far nothing has really jumped out so I could say “That’s what I want to do”. Like you, I guess I am looking for a “sense of purpose”. I spend a fair amount of time on the computer reading and learning and some playing. I bowl in two daytime senior leagues which I enjoy but I really need more to do and I don’t really want to return to a regular job. Financially I manage okay but I’m not wealthy. I received a fair retirement amount which I rolled into an IRA along with my 401k money so I’m trying to leave that amount grow until I reach the mandatory age and have to start withdrawal. So meanwhile I try to live on other savings and the income from a couple of brokerage accounts that I have invested mostly in quality stocks. Mostly stocks paying dividends. Mostly long term. I do minimal trading. I get some money from a small annuity and I get SS now so that helps. My wife gets a small pension and she is working part time so that helps. My house and cars are paid. It may sound like I have it made but I worry about myself or my wife outliving our finances so I am looking for any ideas to help increase my investment income in a safe manner. best to all!

To: Nazbuster who wrote (1)	10/26/2004 1:48:23 PM
From: OldAIMGuy	Respond to of 288

Hi Mac, Great idea for a thread. I've been essentially "retired" since 1986. I was at a point where it appeared I could continue to make more money from investing than I was with my job. My job, however, took all my time. It was with significant energy and enthusiasm that I embraced not taking a pay check. It allowed me the time to do better research into those investments I did want. Also, as you mentioned, it gave me incentive to create a plan by which I could live reasonably well and be somewhat secure that my investment model. I started with what I call my "tight belt" income needs. I summed all the expenses I'd have annually and chose that, plus a cushion, as the base requirement. Did I have enough total principle to generate that amount of income and still have some left over for growth? For "growth" I'm mostly interested in beating inflation over very long periods of time, on average. The analysis showed that I did, in deed, have the required capital if properly deployed. While living the "tight belt" life style wasn't what I, or my family wanted, I figured that most years I'd do enough better than that so we wouldn't feel pinched. The part of the portfolio that I designated for "growth" could also generate some income if I chose investments well. I've had many hobbies over the years. Most have been pocket drainers. Only investing has been a pocket liner! So, it went from avocation to vocation about 18 years ago. So far, so good! You'll do fine. Just make sure that you're not in a giant hurry to "get rich" or some such. It's best to take two steps forward and only occasionally any steps back in retirement. Giant leaps forward sometimes lead to skinned knees in investing. Best regards, Tom

To: Nazbuster who wrote (1)	11/9/2004 12:16:12 PM
From: OldAIMGuy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 288

Hi McR, I've been a full time investor since '86 which I mentioned in another post. However, I've also managed my IRA as "self directed" since the very beginning of accumulation in 1982. For a long time I put interesting stocks in the account, but found that the "single stock risk" in a small account like my retirement fund was just too high when it manifested itself! So, I switched to a diversified mutual fund for most of the 1990s. Not a bad time to be in a growth fund. I also like to do some risk management of my holding, and found that using a traditional mutual fund was less than exciting for that purpose. In 2002 I changed the structure of my IRA to be similar to a "growth and income" fund, but comprised of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) following various business sectors and a couple of very high yield bond funds (one govt. and one corp.). The method allows me to use my risk management method in a more effective fashion and still gives me the broad diversity that I was seeking. So far, so good. I've not had a single loss since making the change. It's not the most exciting portfolio in the world, but seems to function well. With a traditional fund, they would own a variety of business sectors. If Energy was going UP and Tech was going DOWN, they would somewhat cancel each other in the Net Asset Value of the fund. There was no opportunity for me to benefit from either the tech being low priced or the energy being high priced. By dividing up the account into Sector ETFs I can now take profits in Energy when it's up and add to my Tech holding when it's down. I end up being proactive in both parts of my overall portfolio when before I could only watch. Here's the web page devoted to my IRA. It shows the various components and a summary of the entire grouping. 2004 has been a bit of a dullard, but '03 was acceptable. The main point is that the account is growing slowly while I make these minor adjustments internally. aim-users.com It might not be right for everyone, but it suits me well enough. Best regards, Tom