Archives for June 19, 2018

What you need to realize is that there are people out there who don’t hate their jobs. Actually, some people like their jobs. Can you imagine getting paid to work on something that you enjoy working on? With people that you like? At a salary that supports you? That could be you! But the first step is recognizing that you need a change.

Here are six clear signs it’s time to leave your job.

1. You’ve started bad-mouthing your boss or coworkers

While everyone occasionally complains to their friends or family about work, if you’ve started to bad-mouth your boss on a regular basis, or can’t stand any of your coworkers and talk about them behind their backs, it’s probably time to move on. This kind of behavior indicates a deep resentment for your work environment, and it’s only going to get worse from there. Stop bad-mouthing them right away, and instead put that energy toward your job search.

2. You’ve started bad-mouthing your company

Similarly, if you find yourself only saying negative things about your company to other people, it’s time to leave. Not only does this make your company sound like the worst place in the world (which it probably isn’t, all problems aside), it also makes you look bad. Be respectful when you discuss your unhappiness at work — you are still working there after all, so what does that say about you? Instead, show people outside of work you are serious about leaving by starting your job search now.

3. You’re at the same level you were five years ago (and it’s not by design)

You may have started out at your company at entry level, and you assumed you would be in a higher position, making more money, five years down the line, a milestone that you’ve now hit. You have put in a gracious amount of time at this company, but you haven’t been getting what you deserve. And you can feel it! You do great work, you put in an ample amount of hours each week, and yet no one has recognized you for it beyond an occasional “Good job!” or stellar review from your manager. It’s time to go. Use the experience you have to find a mid-level, higher-paying job elsewhere.

4. You’re not feeling inspired anymore

Maybe when you first started your job, you were always motivated to do your best and be creative. If those feelings have faded away, likely all you’re left with is resentment and feeling overworked, with no personal payoff other than a steady salary. If you no longer feel challenged and engaged in your work, it’s time to move on to bigger and better places. Start looking for a job that truly interests you and that you can get behind in both mind and spirit.

5. You can no longer support your company’s ethics or mission

Now that you’ve seen the behind-the-scenes intricacies of your organization, maybe you’ve realized that the way they do business does not align with your morals. You like the paycheck, but feel a little gross accepting money from an employer that is not ethical. If this is how you feel, get out now. Find a place that you can get behind, 100%. Your work will be more meaningful to you, and you won’t have to feel guilty about associating your name with a shady business.

6. Everyone has moved on but you

Depending on your industry, there may be high turnover rates, especially with entry-level positions. But sometimes high turnover indicates that work environment, pay, ethics, or workload may be detrimental to a company’s employees. If you started out with a solid group of work friends, and all of these people have since left the company, take a long look at why you’re still there while everyone else has left. This could be a major sign that you need to address something that’s not right.

We spend so much of our lives at work. Why not make sure you’re getting the best experience possible out of your job? If you relate to any of the above six statements, start beefing up that resume, start getting matched with companies that do have what you’re looking for, and get out there!

Millions of seniors rely on Medicare to provide health coverage in retirement. But more than half of Gen Xers today aren’t confident that Medicare will do the trick once they become eligible, according to new data from Ameriprise Financial. Consequently, many workers who are midway through their careers at present are worried about managing the cost of healthcare once retirement becomes their reality.

Medicare won’t cover everything

Seniors can count on Medicare to cover a wide range of health services, from hospital visits to diagnostic tests. There are even a number of free services Medicare provides, such as yearly well visits and diabetes and depression screenings.

On the other hand, there’s a host of health services Medicare won’t cover. Take dental exams, for example. The need to care for our teeth doesn’t go away as we age. Quite the contrary — we’re more likely to have dental issues when we’re older, so the fact that Medicare won’t pay for them is a huge problem.

Similarly, Medicare does not cover hearing aids or vision services, both of which tend to be heavily used by seniors in particular. Furthermore, Medicare won’t cover nursing homes on a long-term basis; it will only cover short-term care to address a specific medical issue. And it won’t cover assisted living facilities, either.

Because of these limitations, Gen Xers are correct to be wary of relying on Medicare in the future. Thankfully, there are steps they can take ahead of time to help ensure that they’re adequately covered once their careers come to a close.

Easing the burden of healthcare in retirement

Healthcare is one of the most significant costs seniors face, so if you’re not comfortable sitting back and depending on Medicare, what with its limitations, you’ll need to take matters into your own hands. You can start by researching Medicare Advantage plans ahead of retirement to see if one makes sense for you.

Medicare Advantage plans are administered by private insurers, but with certain requirements. At a minimum, they must offer the same coverage as traditional Medicare. However, most Advantage plans offer a wide range of coverage that encompasses many of the services traditional Medicare doesn’t, like dental, vision, and hearing.

The beauty of Medicare Advantage is that it caps your annual out-of-pocket spending — something traditional Medicare doesn’t do. And in some cases, you might get coverage overseas, which, if you’re planning to do a lot of travel in retirement, could be a huge benefit.

Now this isn’t to say that Medicare Advantage doesn’t have its drawbacks. You may be limited to a narrower list of providers with an Advantage plan, and you may end up paying a higher premium than you would under original Medicare (though your total out-of-pocket costs might be lower, depending on the services you use). Still, it’s an option worth looking into if the idea of potentially limitless healthcare spending in retirement rubs you the wrong way.

Another important step to take during your working years is to apply for long-term care insurance. Having a policy in place to defray the cost of services like nursing home care could be huge if your health declines when you’re older, but the best time to apply for a policy is during your 50s. At that age, you’re more likely to not only get approved but also snag a long-term, health-based discount on your premium costs. However, you can apply in your 60s as well, especially if your health is strong.

As a Gen Xer, you still have a good chunk of time before Medicare comes into the picture. Still, it pays to research your healthcare choices as retirement begins to draw near. If anything, it will give you the peace of mind that comes with having options — especially ones that save you money in the long run.

Many people dream of retiring early and leaving the workforce well ahead of their peers. But new data from TD Ameritrade indicates that younger workers may be a bit overzealous with regard to retirement. In a just-released survey, millennials reported that they expect to retire at an average age of 56. But seeing as how only 38% are saving for retirement at present, that’s a goal few are on track to achieve.

If you’re eager to retire early, whether it’s in your early 60s, mid-50s, or even your 40s, you should know that there are steps you can take to get there. For example, if you’re willing to start saving from a very early age and invest your money aggressively, you can accumulate a sizable nest egg over the first few decades of your career and then enjoy that income stream at a time when your counterparts remain chained to their desks.

Case in point: Setting aside $1,000 a month from age 22 until 52 will leave you with $1.13 million if your investments generate an average annual 7% return during that time. And if you go heavy on stocks, that sort of average is more than reasonable. But if you continue letting your nest egg fall by the wayside, your chances of retiring ahead of the game are only going to get slimmer with time.

The challenges of retiring early

One major problem with retiring early is not having access to affordable healthcare. Medicare eligibility doesn’t kick in until age 65, which means that if you retire prior to then, you’ll need to cover the cost of insurance on your own. And that can be prohibitively expensive. Another issue to consider is that you can’t file for Social Security until age 62 at the earliest, so if you retire in your 50s, you won’t have that income stream to rely on.

Now if you’ve saved well enough to afford a health plan and get by without Social Security, you’re all set. But make sure that’s really the case, because while a $1.13 million nest egg (as per the example above) might hold up in conjunction with Medicare and Social Security, it’s actually not all that much money on its own.

Remember, 4% has long been the standard withdrawal rate for ensuring that a nest egg lasts. But when we apply that rate to $1.13 million, we get about $45,000 of income per year. Now that’s not terrible, but when you’re paying, say, $7,000 a year for health insurance and are losing a portion of that income to taxes (which will be the case if your retirement savings aren’t housed in a Roth account), that’s not a ton of money to work with.

Furthermore, that 4% withdrawal rate is designed to make your savings last for 30 years, but if you retire in your mid-50s, there’s a good chance you’ll need more than three decades’ worth of savings. It’s estimated that one in four 65-year-olds today will live past the age of 90, while one in 10 will live past 95. Therefore, you might be looking at a much less aggressive withdrawal rate and a much smaller amount of income in turn.

Can you pull off early retirement?

Still, the above issues can be overcome if you make saving for retirement a priority from the moment you start working. The problem, however, is that most younger employees aren’t doing that. In the aforementioned survey, millennials said they plan to start saving for retirement at an average age of 36. But that means losing out on over a decade of growth for those who graduate college in their early 20s.

Imagine you start funding your nest egg at 36 with the goal of retiring 20 years later. Even if you set aside $1,000 a month, you’ll end up with just $492,000 if we apply the same 7% return we used above. Again, the final number might seem impressive. But at a 4% annual withdrawal rate, that’s less than $20,000 a year of income. And until Social Security kicks in, that’s probably not enough to live on.

Now let’s imagine you can’t manage to part with $1,000 a month, because let’s face it — that’s a lot of money. If you save just $500 a month over a 20-year period instead, you’ll end up with $246,000 if your investments grow at 7% a year. And that’ll give you less than $10,000 in annual retirement income, which, again, won’t nearly cut it.

Though it’s nice to see that millennials are confident in their ability to retire, it’s clear that many need a reality check. Retiring early is possible, but the longer you wait to build your nest egg, the lower your chances of getting to do it. So if you really want to call it quits in your mid-50s, you’ll need to start saving as much as you can, as soon as you can, rather than ignore your nest egg until your mid-30s.

In your various social media feeds, you see your friends and acquaintances visiting family, traveling to exotic locals, eating tantalizing food, driving their new car, attending a coveted cultural event, enjoying their new retirement home. It is human to succumb to FOMO — the fear of missing out. Here are five ways you can keep FOMO and the financial repercussions at bay.

THE ORIGIN OF FOMO

You still have 24 hours in the day, but now you have to make new choices about what to do with it. When you see what everyone else is spending their money on it becomes increasingly difficult to manage the financial tensions of what you need and desire for today as opposed to down the road.

The financial services and pharmaceutical industries only expound the problem. Media portrays retirement happiness as mature couples walking on the beach or sitting on a flower covered hillside in matching bathtubs. It leaves you feeling like you are not enough and lacking in various facets of this new season of life.

FOMO is the updated terminology for “Keeping up with the Joneses.” It is alive and well at every age but needs to be recognized and intentionally battled as you live a life of no regrets in your vesper years.

It can wreak havoc on your financial resources and pull you away from what will truly bring meaning and purpose to your fall season of life.

Prioritize connections over acquisitions. The one with the most toys does not win. Invest your financial resources, time and energy in cultivating the skills and engagements that will support you in healthy relationships. This brings more fulfillment to our lives.

Your spending plan needs to include the costs associated in augmenting these rich relationships. Your friendships may change due to known or unforeseen circumstances. What do you want to do to maintain and nurture standing friendships and what needs to be done to cultivate and make new ones? Is your family close by, or are they in locales that will require travel?

Embrace the moment. We have heard it “take time to smell the roses.” Do it. Linger over a home cooked meal with family or friends. Amble through the woods. Dip your toes in the stream that before, you quickly walked by. Take time to watch a rainbow dissipate.

I have a hard time not “sharing” my inspiring moment, but I am catching myself more often. I leave the phone or turn it off in order to get the most out of an occasion. Participate in and relish pleasurable experiences rather than rushing through them or trying to “capture” them.

As you look at where you are spending your money, do it within safe boundaries and with joyful intention. Everyone has different financial boundaries. Some folks have more and others less. Your pleasurable moments are not defined by the amount of money spent on them. Many beautiful moments don’t cost a thing, we just need to open our eyes to them.

Be at peace with enough. Know the difference between a “soul need” and an “ego desire.” Soul needs are satiable. When we spend money on them, they feed us and fill us. When we know what we truly value and use our financial resources to live out those values, we are at peace.

Ego desires, on the other hand, leave us feeling empty and in need of more. There is a futility, emptiness, possibly credit card debt, or the inability to grow your net worth and self-worth when we indulge in our impulses for short-lived gratification.

Focus on gratitude daily. Our days bloom with meaning and purpose when we have an attitude of gratitude. We can look at a friend’s post or listen to a conversation and be truly happy for them. If FOMO is the fear of not having something that we perceive is necessary for our well-being, gratitude is the converse and allows us to truly feel the blessings in living every day. Financially, this keeps us from aimlessly spending money on ego desires to impress people we don’t even know.

Find dignity in the aging process. There is an end. No amount of peptides, crossword puzzles, stem cell therapy, sports cars or workout regimes will keep it from coming.

Yes, we want to age well — keeping our brains engaged, our bodies in peak performance and our outlook focused on the positive, but for each of us, we need to keep an eye on the tipping point. There is a point where your return on investment doesn’t enhance your return on life. It’s your money, and you need to decide how to use it. Know what you have and how to best utilize it for liquidity, lifestyle, longevity and legacy purposes.