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So which is it? Is it a Silver Tsunami of retirement of Baby Boomers OR is it just a wave? Well, The recent report on BusinessWeekOnline attempts to address this question and tries to bust the myth supposedly common among many.

Did you know that even after the youngest Boomer reaches retirement age, the total number of Boomers retiring would not be 78 million, but more like a 46 million when adjusted for people that never worked and other factors? 

Read the article (watch the video interview) on BusinessWeek Online.

There have been numerous mentions, analyses of this interview in the blogosphere. I will only reference just a couple here.

The ‘50 + Digital’ posted the following in their blog. In this blog, Mark correctly points out that the real issue is not who is retired or not (although this is the real issue for those businesses spending big time banking on the upcoming wave of retirees), but it is the impending aging and the resulting health and other issues that eventually crop up.

Also, part of the reason many aren’t retiring is because of the lack of savings in their retirement accounts. One can not afford to retire on a $50,000 or $70,000 balance in their retirement accounts, unless they can count on a nice pension check or some other source of income. Believe it or not, this will affect the Gen X generation even more so than the Baby Boomers. But many years from now. This is so because, by the time Gen X’ers retire, pensions would have more or less disappeared and they can’t really count on Social Security benefits. So they have to basically pay for their retirement from their own savings. And as we all know, as Americans our saving habits are not very impressive. So one choice to afford the extended years of living is to not retire.

My dear friend and Boomer411 co-founder, Raj Setty has this great blog post on this subject. Regardless of how close or far you are from retiring, answering these questions that Raj asks in his blog can work as a checkpoint for your retirement preparedness…

1. When do you plan to retire?

2. How much money should you have to make this dream a reality?

3. How much money should you earn this year to reach the goal outlined in #2?

It takes some financial discipline to reasonably answer question #2 above. It helps to know how much you are spending on a monthly basis and which of these expenses you expect will continue into your retirement. Also, it is important to note that upon retirement one has more time to spare and might want to travel around or get involved in some other activities. Each of these cost a lot of money and these expenses need to be planned as well. Not to mention that the cost of healthcare increases drastically with one’s age. So take a deep breath and face up the facts. May be you are well prepared or may be you are not. But this is your life. So wouldn’t you rather make a well-educated move than a hasty one?

For more on this subject, read our interview with Catherine Kitcho, author of the book, ‘Happy About Being a Baby Boomer: Facing Our Newfound Longevity’. You might want to buy her book for more help on figuring out how much money do you really need to retire and live well.

Did you say where is my lense?

Na aah.. not the lense you wear on your eyes! But the lenses that help you see information on the web.

Say What?

Well, I am talking about the Squidoo Lenses. (For those hearing it for the first time, Squidoo is a website that allows users to create lenses or web pages on a particular topic. Thus it is a lense on that topic and hence the name). So where are the squidoo lenses for Baby Boomers? and how do I find them?

Say no more. Your wish is answered by Susan via the SquidBoomers lense. She has compiled a very interesting collection of lenses on topics of interest to Baby Boomers. Also, to top it all off, Susan also runs a blog on the same subject that gives you more information on these lenses and other related topics. So check it out. You’ll probably find something that takes you back to those good ole’ days.

So did you say where is my lense? Find it all right here.

Our common understanding of education is going through school when we are young and finishing our grade school and then college. Once we get a job, we finally declare with relief that we are done with our education and we have learned it all. In essence implying that we can do anything, that’s ANYTHING.

Today’s quote attempts to throw this belief system out the window. Let’s see how…

“The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change” - Carl Rogers

Let’s think about this for a moment. Our current education system doesn’t prepare us to handle changes well. Also, times change. Life is full of changes and no matter how competent we are in doing something, until we learn to unlearn our old practices and relearn new practices in times of change, our education is not complete. Completing our traditional “education” let’s us become minimally competent at best in surviving in the marketplace. But is not the end game. We must continuously educate ourselves and force ourselves to change and adopt to changing situations.

Note:

Speaking about learning and changing, we would like to let our readers know about an upcoming event, a webinar. The topic is “Boomer Longevity and Careers”. If you are interested in learning more about how to take advantage and prepare yourself for the increased lifespan and what to do during these additional years of your life, this webinar may be worth checking out. Especially because you can attend it in the comfort of your home or office or wherever you are. It is being conducted by two great individuals. Catherine Kitcho (author of Happy About Being a Baby Boomer: Facing our newfound longevity) and Jacky Hood (author of Happy About Working to Stay Young: Expanded Careers for Boomers and Seniors). We recently published a fabulous interview with Catherine Kitcho on this blog. We will be publishing another fabulous interview with Jacky Hood very shortly. You can find more details about this webinar and learn about the bonus gifts you can get for signing up. Find out all about this webinar using this link.