The Baby Boomer Renaissance: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Baby Boomers U. S. (The Blog)

Baby Boomers Blog Carnival One Hundred sixty-fourth Edition

Posted: 31 Oct 2012 03:37 AM PDT

Welcome to the October 31, 2012 edition of the Baby Boomers Blog Carnival. There are some really well thought out and insightful Boomer articles for you to peruse this week.

So, grab a cup of coffee (or tea), sit back in your most comfortable chair, put up your feet and Enjoy.

This one’s for you!

Retirement

Big Cajun Man presents Buck the Fucket List posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “Why do I need a bucket list? Do I have that many buckets?”

Michael presents A Brief History of (My) Online Banking posted at Financial Ramblings, saying, “This post contains a brief history of online banking as seen through the lens of my personal experiences over the years. Unfortunately, though there are tons of options out there, you’ll be hard pressed to find anything resembling a high interest rate”.

Bob presents Why You Should Compare Medicare Part D Plans During Open Enrollment posted at ChristianPF, saying, “If you or someone you care about is enrolled in a Medicare Part D plan, it's important to know about the Open Enrollment Period (Oct 15th through Dec 7th) and why you should do a comparison every year”.

Jason Price presents 3 Traps that Will Rob You of Your Financial Peace posted at One Money Design, saying, “Avoid these three financial traps and you’ll help maintain your financial peace”.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of baby boomers blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Remember, when you submit an article, please fill in the Category and Remark Fields to add your own description of your post. Please Submit only ONE Article per Carnival, multiple articles Will Not Be Accepted.
Since this is a community endeavour, please feel free to advise me through comments or my contact form if there is something you think I can do to improve the Carnival.

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Monday, October 29, 2012

Rhea Becker's Short Attention Span

Hurricane Prep with a Side of Bill McKibben

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 08:23 AM PDT

A large, unearthly storm is heading up the East Coast. As I sit in Boston waiting for its arrival I ponder the fact that I am going to hear environmentalist Bill McKibben speak this afternoon in my neighborhood. I hope he reminds his audience that the warming oceans (warmed by human activity) are to blame [...]

Baby Boomers U. S. (The Blog)

Monday Musings for Baby Boomers – When I Was Your Age

Posted: 29 Oct 2012 03:59 AM PDT

Smile!

Monday has always been a little bit of a let down, what with it being the beginning of the work week and all.

So to start things out on a bright note for the week, I bring you the…

Baby Boomers Monday Musings.

When I Was Your Age

A young man who was also an avid golfer found himself with a few hours to spare one afternoon. He figured if he hurried and played very fast, he could get in 9 holes before he had to head home.

Just as he was about to tee off an old gentleman shuffled onto the tee and asked if he could accompany the young man as he was golfing alone.

Not being able to say no, he allowed the old gent to join him.

To his surprise the old man played fairly quickly. He didn’t hit the ball far but plodded along consistently and didn’t waste much time.

They reached the ninth fairway, and the young man found himself with a tough shot. There was a large pine tree right in front of his ball, directly between his ball and the green.

After several minutes of debating how to hit the shot the old man finally said, “You know, when I was your age I’d hit the ball right over that tree.”

With that challenge placed before him, the youngster swung hard and hit the ball right smack into the top of the tree trunk, where it thudded back on the ground not a foot from where it had originally been.

The old man offered one more comment, “Of course, when I was your age that pine tree was only 3 feet tall.”

Hope that put a little smile on your face and Keep On Smilin’

Saving Up For Retirement vs. Paying Off Debt

Posted: 28 Oct 2012 04:29 AM PDT

This is a Guest Post by Cecillia Barr. If you would like to Guest Post for Baby Boomers US, check out our Guest Post for Us page.

For the Baby Boomer generation, now on the cusp of their retirement years, deciding how to prioritize retirement saving and debt management can be difficult. There simply isn’t a one-size-fits-all sort of answer. How you prioritize your financial planning will depend a lot on your individual circumstances and the degree to which you are willing to adjust your money habits.

Assess the Situation

It is a tricky time line, with retirement so close. The standard financial advice of numerous experts is to get out of debt before entering retirement. In a recent report, U.S. News and World Report listed carrying a large debt burden into retirement as one of the major financial mistakes people make. The first step to shaping your financial priorities is making an accurate assessment of your financial situation. Your fiscal focus will be determined by what type of debt you are carrying, the number of working years you have remaining, and the current status of your retirement planning.

Customize Your Plan

The type of debt you are carrying will influence how you use your financial resources. High-interest credit card debt should be a priority issue for you. The top financial advisers say that if your credit card debt interest rate is higher than current or potential investment earnings, then you should focus on paying that debt down. However, once that debt is paid off, the same amount of money you were spending on it should then be funneled into retirement savings and investments.

If your debts are of a more manageable sort, and you have a great retirement savings plan through your job — one that your boss makes matching contributions to — a different approach may serve you better. You may want to maximize your retirement plans to gain that matching money from your boss, while whittling away at your debts with your remaining available money.

Disciplined Focus Is Essential

For this financial advice to work, you will have to make some lifestyle changes. You’ll need to reduce spending to free up cash to work with. You may need to increase income with a part-time job or home business. You may, after running the numbers, decide that it would be best to work a couple years longer than you had planned. Investing that extra effort is a smart step toward ensuring you’ll better be able to enjoy those years to come.

About the Author: Cecillia Barr researches and writes about debt-related issues for Debt.org, America's Debt Help Organization.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Baby Boomers U. S. (The Blog)

This Weeks Good Reads-Week One Hundred sixty-three

Posted: 26 Oct 2012 03:46 AM PDT

Every week I come across an article or two that I find very helpful to me as a Baby Boomer and think may be of some interest to you, the community, as well.

They may be from an online news source, another Blog or Website or something I found surfing around the Internet. They could even be something that was sent in by a reader of the Blog or a member of the Baby Boomer’s Forum.

Enjoy!

Millennial generation could kill the NFL by Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais… Oh no, say it isn’t so. No NFL? What kind of world have we fostered? Millennial’s parents (our kids) are turning them into a bunch of wimps. When I was young, we played tackle football (mostly without helmets) in the snow. Now they are trying to kill football as we know it. A Full Contact Sport should have some good equipment, but please don’t kill my Sunday’s by keeping the youngsters from playing the game.

I hope you found this weeks choice(s) helpful and enjoyable. What did you think? Do you have any suggestions for next week?