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If you have aging parents who stay independently in their homes; you know the feeling of wanting to ensure their safety. You’d probably want to have a way of being alerted in case he or she falls down in their home and is unable to get up. Basically, a simple way that allows them to live their lives as independently as they’d like; yet a means for you to be alerted when they need your help, would make our lives more enjoyable. Such tools would be very empowering, if used correctly. Imagine the stress and the cost that could be saved  by avoiding or altogether delaying trips to skilled nursing home facilities, by taking advantage of such tools.

Well there are many such tools already available on the market and at an affordable cost when you compare to the cost of skilled nursing home care. Check out this link to find articles and tools pertaining to this topic. Although, some of the products discussed may be in their early stages, there are other products that are available and useful immediately depending on your situation.

Today’s quote highlights the fact that there is no free meal in this world. And that applies even to having a successful career or retirement. If you want to have a successful career, you have to pay the price to seek out good teachers, to be disciplined enough to give up instant gratification over long term learning, to practise what you learn.

If you want to have a successful retirement, then you must start saving as soon as possible, you must learn about investment types and manage your investments or hire someone to do it. But manage you must.

“There are no victories at bargain prices”  -Dwight Eisenhower

Have a happy retirement

Here is an informative article explaining the various 401(k) fees that might be paid out by your employer’s plan. When you look at the fee percentages, it might not sound like much, a 0.25% here, a 1% there, what difference does it make? But nothing could be further from the truth. A difference of just 1% in your net returns (i.e., earning 7% /year versus 8% / year) over a period of 30 years, through compounding could mean an additional $500,000 in your account at retirement. Couldn’t you use that additional $500k to enjoy your retirement better?

Read this article to learn more about the various fees that could be slapped on your 401(k) and what to do if you aren’t succeeding in convincing your employer to change it.

There is a vast array of information around health conditions and diseases related to aging and the proper care for such conditions. The Council on Aging Silicon Valley  (or COA) has put together a very nice compendium of informative articles and fact sheets in their Network of Care Library. Be sure to check these out and send this to others who might benefit from this information.

Also, if you are in the Bay Area or know someone living in the area that might need some help, check out the COA website for a full list of services they offer to elders. You can also search on Boomer411 using the keywords “Council on Aging” or “COA” to find the information.

During our working years, we dream about the retirement years and how we can travel around and see many places that we always wanted to see. As we approach retirement age and start looking at the finances and we may realize what it costs to afford our “wannabe” retirement lifestyle and we might start looking to cut back on some of the planned expenses. One of the areas that might get impacted could be travel.

 Well, not everybody would be in this boat. Some of us fortunately, have enough guaranteed retirement income and probably don’t have to worry about the cost. Some of us “think” that we have enough retirement income coming our way, because we might not have faced our numbers and some others know we don’t have enough saved and are looking for ways to cut back. Well, regardless of which category we may fall in, it never hurts to spend prudently and find ways to stretch our dollars.

Here is an interesting article from Yahoo on 5 Tips for Frugal Travel. You may find some of the advise appealing and beneficial.