We’re not financial advisors so you will need to make your own decision on what we’re sharing here but our personal experience says to us that retiring the old way is a thing of the past

Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad Poor Dad fame thinks the same and has this to say :-

“There are two ways to think about retirement…   

The traditional way and the Rich Dad way.   Traditionally, most financial planners, experts, spokespeople, and journalists plan on two things happening upon your retirement:

1.   You will have a fixed amount of money to live off of that earns you a small amount of interest, and;  

2.   You will have a lower standard of living during retirement than when you were working. This is due to the loss of a salary or paycheck and rising medical expenses as you age.

The Rich Dad philosophy does not make those assumptions.   

Instead, we assume…

1.   You have passive income coming in every month that equals or exceeds your living expenses – forever!    In other words, you never have to worry about running out of money once you retire or stop working, and;  

2.   Your standard of living remains the same or, in many cases, increases.    I can’t imagine a more horrible money problem than being 60, 70, 80, or 90 years old and knowing you are just about out of money.

Reaching your own financial heaven  

Following the traditional thinking on retirement is a kind of financial hell.   

No one wants to get to retirement and have to worry about whether they will have enough money to live the life they want to.   

It is financial hell to work hard all your life…   

Only to have to cut back your standard of living as inflation, taxes, and healthcare costs eat away at your hard-earned retirement money.  

Instead, based on our definition of wealth, we advocate for planning and reaching your financial heaven.  

You do this by understanding your infinite wealth goal  

What do you need financially to live the life you want without having to worry about money?   

And what do you need financially to make enough cash flow through assets to cover your living expenses as you want them to be, not as they need to be?  

Reaching your financial heaven requires determining your infinite wealth goal and aspiring towards your dream  

And then acquiring and applying the knowledge to achieve it”

Now we would agree entirely with what Robert says in many respects but when we talk with our clients we ask them three very important questions because we’re not financial advisors and we like to look at it in a very different way based on our own experience

After all our retirement should be some of the best years of your life (not the worst) so retirement planning in our book should be done like this

What would I like to do?

Where would I like to do it?

How can I make it happen?

We actually cover this in our book which you can download for free here

Hope this article Can You Retire The Traditional Way has given you food for thought and if you want to chat it through with us you can find all our contact details right here

We will however reiterate that we are not financial advisors and we highly recommend you speak to one before making any investment for your retirement so that it’s based on an acceptable risk for you

Chris and Susan

CEO’s : Lifestyle Business Solutions LLC

Retirement Lifestyle Podcasters & CoachesAuthors : The Mindset Shift, Ultimate Retirement Lifestyle, Goal Setting Success Secrets 

Co-Authors : Retire Inspire

As far back as the fourth century BC, Aristotle was pondering life’s purpose. In today’s fast-paced, technology-filled world where we are being pulled in many directions at once, finding your purpose seems more important than ever and especially as we approach retirement.

We’ve had our careers and now the time has come to do those things we’ve always dreamed of doing but we often find ourselves pondering “what next?” whether that be to pursue a new hobby, support a cause or even an encore career as we’ve done.

Research shows that finding your purpose is linked to living longer and it’s also essential for happiness and fulfillment. We can’t disagree with that. We have certainly found happiness doing what we love in our retirement years and can’t honestly imagine stopping what we’re doing!

Personally we liked this short video from Bob Proctor (you may know him from ‘The Secret’) – he has a great way of putting it all into perspective and we hope you get value from it and it gives you inspiration towards how to find your purpose in retirement

Tony Robbins also has a great article 12 Ways To Reveal The Truth About What Gives Your Life Meaning if you want to go deeper into how to find your purpose in life.

Certainly in conversations we’ve had with clients it’s getting them to really identify with their purpose that allows them to make a plan for their future especially in generating an income for their retirement

If you have found yourself lost with finding your purpose and combining it with earning an income from it – either full time or part time why not book a call with us. It’s absolutely free and you’ll leave knowing more about what you want for your future jus as we have

Enjoy the video and give it some thought

Chris and Susan

We’re now revisiting a newsletter they wrote back in May 2020 when the news of the coronovirus was at it’s height and the headline of their newsletter was pretty hard hitting with the words “The Coronavirus Is Emptying Retirement Accounts”.

Now admittedly their audience is generally people who live in the USA but quite honestly the coronavirus has affected everyone of every age but especially those in or approaching retirement.

According to a survey by personal finance company Magnify Money, many Americans (and they are not alone as we see it here in the UK too) have either stopped contributing to their retirement accounts or have decreased their contributions because of the coronavirus crisis. Even worse some are pulling money out of their retirement accounts to pay for essentials like groceries and household bills!

That really hits home doesn’t it!

The Baby Boomer Generation (those aged 56 to 74 as of time of writing) have been impacted the most financially and it’s troubling because they are the ones who really need to keep their contributions steady.

No one wants to get to get to the finishing line short of several thousand dollars

It’s opened up a floodgate for folks searching for ways to come up with more cash and whilst there are many legitimate ways to do this (because we’ve done it and still do it) there is a need for caution as there are many scams and less than nice people out there ready to take advantage of the situation… even the coronavirus crisis!

To conclude this article, we wanted to touch on the importance of not forgetting your retirement goals and being able to retire when you want and to live comfortably in your retirement whatever that means to you.

The fact of the matter is that you can’t rely on your government to take care of you when you reach your golden years. If you haven’t saved enough money it will be had to life the retirement lifestyle you are hoping for. The later you start saving for your retirement the more you need to be able to save. It’s a crazy situation and we understand it well having been there ourselves and working with many people like the readers of our blog to find other ways to top up their savings.

Coronavirus is dominating the news and will continue to do so for many more months to come. At the time of writing here in the UK we’ve just seen strict measures being introduced to prevent the spread of coronavirus as it’s reaching exponential growth proportions once again.

We don’t give financial advice as we’re not qualified to do that so we would urge you to contact your financial advisor and get some good solid advice and if we can help with giving you some ideas to create an additional income then you can reach out to us here

That was the headline of an article written in July 2017 for Forbes by Robert Laura and a follow up to one of Forbes most downloaded articles back in 2014 “Would You Join A Multi-Level Marketing Company For Retirement Income” also written by the guest on today’s Living The Retirement Lifestyle podcast.

As we discussed during the interview, as far as the retirement savings crisis is concerned, more and more people are coming to terms with the fact that they probably aren’t going to be able to save enough money to see them through to a ripe old age and there’s a obvious need to find alternative ways to save more or generate a supplementary income either in or approaching retirement.

We’re not here to advocate network marketing as the only solution because there are many but it remains a good choice given other benefits aside “safety” on the Maslows Heirarchy of Needs such as self-actualization, love and belonging and esteem

During our interview we asked Robert to expand on his statement in his 2017 Forbes article about the trends he’s studied regards the network marketing business model which suggests that “network marketing can play a crucial role in how well baby boomers and others transition into retirement…that once you strip out the financial aspects you get a very different picture… retirement is not all about money.”

A successful transition from work-life to home-life is more than about money and there are plenty of people with substantial amounts of money saved for retirement that are completely miserable. with many wanting to learn new things and be a part of a community.

From the clients and people he speaks with Roberts has found that they are always reading, posting and sharing something inspirational… have goals and use the products they are selling to improve the way they look and feel. Add that to the fact that network marketing companies have local meetings and annual events members get out of the house, build knowledge, develop new skills and have the opportunity to meet new people.

From our experience in building an online business education business ourselves and travelling around the world speaking and training we see these two distinct groups of people – those who are there to learn how to generate income in their retirement and those who just want to socialise with like minded people.

Read Robert’s Articles

Would You Join A Multi Level Marketing Company for Retirement Income?

Can Network Marketing Save Your Retirement?

Robert is the author of many books on retirement including Naked Retirement, How To Find Your Passion In Retirement, The Truth About Part-Time Work & Volunteering In Retirement and his latest Crossroads Of Retirement

You can also download some free e-Book resources including How To Start A Business For Retirement from our website here

Thanks for joining us for today’s podcast on Living The Retirement Lifestyle with guest Robert Laura

Retirement News Week Commencing 21st October 2019

Let’s get started with what we’ve found for you this week from casting our net on the topic of “retirement”

Can $180,000 really last 65-year-old, soon-to-be retiree until 100?

This was the question asked of Pete Dunn of USA Today by reader Donna

“I’m now 65 and on the verge of retiring. I am reluctant to retire but am feeling it is time to leave my position for various reasons. I hope to continue working part time if I find a job where I do not feel chained to an office each day for a committed amount of time”

The answer might not be what you expect given how so many people are saying you need at least one million in your retirement savings at the time of retirement to see you through to the end of your days

You can read the full article here

Using Virtual Reality to Plan Your Actual Retirement

According to this article V.R. and online visual aids are giving workers a better idea of how much they need to save for their retirement

Picture this: You are in the country, on a trip through a pleasantly green, rolling landscape dotted with trees. It has a slightly dreamlike quality.

But this is no dream. It’s a visualization of your financial life, in which you work to save for a retirement you hope will come one day. And there are decisions to be made

Suddenly, you’re stopped …

This is where the new virtual reality aid can help you make the decision. Time to read on to see how this can help you plan your next step

Up until now we have used a more traditional retirement income calculator such as the one in our book “Living The Retirement Lifestyle” but this would look to open up a whole new world for us all

Would be interested to know what you think. Good idea or not?

Your Uber Driver Is ‘Retired’? You Shouldn’t Be Surprised

Older Americans are taking non traditional jobs in greater numbers it seems…

We especially liked this article as we travel a lot and were introduced to “Uber” when we visited The United States (at the time it wasn’t well known in the UK other than central London). Our very first experience was being driven by a retired doctor who told us he did it part time to supplement his retirement income and so he could play golf more without dipping into his savings. His wife liked golf too so she was also a “Uber” driver…

Dave Zarrow, featured in the article, who lives in Reston, Va., figures he spends about 20 hours a week in his 2017 Camry driving for Uber . Although he and his wife are retired and do have sufficient funds to live on Dave goes on to say that his part time “job” has allowed them to continue the same lifestyle they had before they took retirement and doesn’t erode their savings.

Here’s the story and a discussion about whether Dave should be the kind of person we should be worrying about…

Like Gary 64, who has spent three years driving for rival Lyft. Once a self-employed business coach and ski instructor, Gary worked in corporate sales for several years, then got laid off in his 50’s.

He has struggled to find steadier work ever since. “Nobody’s interested in someone my age,” he said.

And we get it because that was us too albeit our story was as a result of the 2008 recession all but destroying our retirement nest egg

Where Will Your Income Come From in Retirement?

Here’s what you need to know about the most common sources of retirement funds according to Motley Fool.

Most of us depend on a paycheck to provide the funds we need to cover costs of living. But when you retire, your paycheck ends even though you still need a source of support. 

While different retirees may have their own unique income streams, such as money from alimony or from real estate investments many don’t and will rely on social security, retirement savings and pension income traditionally

The article goes on to say…

“As you near retirement, you should also make sure you know where your money will come from and confirm you have enough of it before you leave work. If you fear you’ll fall short, consider working a few extra years, or relocating in retirement to a lower cost-of-living area so your money stretches further “

Definitely worth a read to get your head round the things you should have done and can be doing depending on what position you are in as you read this

Read Here

Whilst the article addresses the more traditional sources of retirement income we know that there are many more ways to add to your income in retirement some of which we discuss in our book and in future articles we will be adding here

Thanks for joining us in this the first of our Retirement News and hope you will become a loyal reader

Tell us what you like/don’t like and what you would like to see more of and just remember an important take away…

None of what we share constitutes financial advice in any way, shape or form! That’s between you and your financial advisor

Happy reading until next time…

And if you haven’t yet picked up a copy of our book “Ultimate Retirement Lifestyle” you can grab your copy here

Thanks for reading Retirement News Edition One – we do hope you will take time to leave us a comment or share with your friends and help us help more people looking towards living the retirement lifestyle

According to a recent study, less than a quarter of Americans feel confident that they’ll have enough money to retire comfortably, with many of them expecting to have to put off retiring until at least age 65.

Frankly no one should have to worry about ‘scraping by‘ in their retirement. If you don’t want to wait until you have enough to retire on which may mean working another 10 or more years what are the alternatives?

This was the problem we faced back in 2008 after we lost our retirement ‘nest egg’ in the unexpected worldwide recession and for the next two years thought long and hard about an alternative retirement to the one we were facing (continuing to work 7-7 in our management consultancy business)

There were a lot of factors in play at this point because we had got our retirement all planned out and now it was if it was impossible

Our dream was to officially retire to the mountains of the French Alps spending our winters there and then spent time travelling to other parts of the world the rest of the year. The question was how would be do that?

How could we earn an income to support this lifestyle?

In truth we’re not alone.

As a demographic referred to as “baby boomers” we’re living longer, healthier lives and our retirement funds need to stretch further. We’ve potentially got decades of productive life left and 65-70 is still young and we’re not ready to be put out to pasture quite yet. The old fashioned image of life in retirement consigned to golf, gardening and the “rocking chair” is long gone.

That was our challenge just as it may be yours reading this article

The alternative retirement is one of adventure and discovery BUT…

And it’s a BIG BUT

Because in hand with this new retirement regime is the fact that many people suddenly find the resources (savings and assets) they’ve put together for the ‘old style retirement‘ just isn’t going to last and many people are going to find themselves in a financial pickle with money running out before life!

And that lead us to looking at what this alternative retirement could look like and how we could achieve it.

Could we find a way to combine experience seeking, adventure and travel with some kind of business that was not location dependent?

Luckily for us and thousands of other like us there is

We have age on our side, we have experience and knowledge and skills that we can leverage if we choose or we can learn some new skills

We chose a combination for our retirement. We took our business experience as management consultants and accountants and started an online business. It was one that would tick the boxes are far as not being location dependent – the internet is available 24/7 365 and the doors of your business can always be open serving your customers… while you are sleeping, having adventures or spending time with family (especially those grand-kids)!

There are many different types of online business as we will show you in our book “Ultimate Retirement Lifestyle” so you can choose what fits you best. If you haven’t downloaded our book yet do make sure you do that.

The model that we love is the affiliate model because we want a more “laid back” kind of retirement and don’t want to have to create products, fulfil product delivery, support etc. It gives us our income to support our retirement living and freedom. These days if you learn marketing skills you can promote anything in any niche from dog training to business education as affiliates. This is a perfect alternative retirement.

An Alternative Retirement Enjoying “The Laptop Lifestyle”

The strange thing is that people just don’t seem to know about this alternative retirement method… but now you do!

Think about where you might like to live if you don’t want to be roving retirees like us. There are so many wonderful places where the cost of living is way lower than it might be for you now (especially if you live in the USA or UK like we do) Now you can relocate abroad. Your retirement savings will likely go a lot further and you can find “work” online or utilising your skills from your career or acquired knowledge like we have…

In fact from what we’ve read and experienced, retirees are actually living more productive, more engaging, healthier lives than they ever did during their “working” years. so why wouldn’t you want to do that too? It’s not just for those who are already financially well off.

It will take some planning and research and if you look in the right place for the information to help you you will find ways to do pretty much anything you want anywhere.

Why not make it happen for yourself?

Why choose the ordinary when you can have the extraordinary?

We’ll leave you with that thought.

If you enjoyed this post “An Alternative Retirement” do leave us a comment and share with your friends

The UK government introduced it’s first “state pension” to help people cope with old age…it was paid to men only when they reached the age of 70 and back then the average life expectancy in 1908 was 47 years old!

In the United States a few years before, New York City established the first public pension plan for it’s police officers and fire fighters but only if you were injured in the line of duty. In 1878 it was amended to provide police officers with a lifetime pension once they reached 55 years of age with 21 years of service and the average life expectancy was less than 40 years old!

This was probably not intentional at the time but as time has gone on the situation has gone from bad to worse and governments around the world have realised that their social security pension schemes are bust. In the UK funds will run out by 2032 and the US by 2034 – that’s about 15 years time! (Sources: GAD & OASDITF)

Add to this that saving has become more difficult if not impossible, investment returns are very low and provision for your retirement has been dumped fairly and squarely in YOUR lap…

We guess that’s maybe why you’re here reading this!

You’ve realised that “Retirement” has changed…

You’ve realised the world has changed

Our grandparents were probably the last generation to benefit from the “old money advice” – the one that says work hard for 40 years, save for your retirement, stop work at 60 or 65 and live comfortably on the fruits of your labour for the last few years of your life.

Let’s introduce you to “Retiring The New Way”

We’ll introduce you to a simple and unconventional method of creating a solid retirement income whatever age you are…

You’ll discover a new and very different method of creating income for your retirement – one that you control and one that fits with your lifestyle…you will no longer be dependent on others for your financial future

So why haven’t I heard about this method before you ask?… it’s probably because, like us, you never knew it existed

The world has changed and the world of retirement has too…the internet arrived and has created a whole new world of opportunity and way of doing things.

What you’re about to discover is not theory. We’ve had a successful online business for the last 9 years generating us a six-figure “pension”. We started at age 57 and it’s what we’ve taught to hundreds and hundreds of people, most of whom are just like us in their 50’s or 60’s,  building and growing exciting online businesses all around the world or using their existing skills and knowledge to create a retirement income.

If you’ve never heard of online entrepreneurship then you’re in for a very pleasant surprise

Today, retirement is not about reaching a certain age and then stopping.

60’s the new 40 and there’s still so much to do and great experiences to have, we want to remain active, involved in new challenges and ideas and do things we’ve never done before because we’ve not had the time. Retirement is a continuation of life not a destination point marked by a stop sign.

Today you have to open your mind, broaden your horizons, stop looking to the past for solutions and realise there are different, more exciting ways to generate your retirement income.

You need to believe and invest in yourself, your passions, your knowledge and your experience. And know we’re here to help you.

In our next series of articles we’ll talk about some of the options open to you that we have researched so you can see how much choice you really have.

To be honest we were first inspired by reading some of the stories from people like you and us in International Living

Roatán, Honduras

 Ambergris Caye, Belize

Penang, Malaysia

Koh Samui, Thailand

Bocos del Toro, Panama

Maybe those don’t appeal to you but maybe they do?

We’d love to know where your favourite destination would be

Ouch! 

That headline grabbed our attention right away but as we read on it made a lot of sense

“The biggest mistake retirees make is giving up their active income. You’re likely thinking about retirement or it’s something you’re working toward. I imagine that looks something like never having to work again and spending your days on the golf course, at the beach, or with Grand-Kids.

And while that’s fine for a while, take it from someone who’s tried to retire three times over the past 20 years (and even had the money to do so comfortably):

The biggest mistake retirees make is giving up their active income.

By active income, I mean money you make through your labour, through a business you own. Passive income, on the other hand, is what you get from Social Security, a pension, or a retirement account.

It’s a very common mistake. And a serious one.

I’m not saying you should give up on the idea of retirement. I’m saying you should think of retirement differently. Instead of spending 80% of your time working for money and 20% having fun, you can spend 20% of your time working (why not make it a new venture you’ve been daydreaming of or a second career?) and 80% having fun—and be free from financial worries….”

Now we didn’t write that – it was written by  Multi-Millionaire Mark Morgan Ford  in an article published in a magazine we subscribe to called International Living … incidentally, the magazine that fuelled our fire and desire for creating a retirement that was right for us  and as we later came to discover one that many many others were seeking too.

Now in our early 60’s we saw we needed to make some adjustments to our life to achieve our goals (travel, freedom, time)

We saw that an online business was the answer but it has only been in recent years that we’ve been able to fully realise that dream. 

These days there is a world of opportunity available to you with so many different choices of making money online part time or full time (whatever you need to do or want to do)

We’ve aligned ourselves with the best of the best in the field of online business programs and entrepreneurs providing both education and opportunity and will continue to grow that portfolio so we can offer the ‘best of the best‘ to those who see that life in or approaching retirement can be both lucrative and fun just as we do.

Ultimately it comes down to being willing to set ourselves new challenges and decide what we want from our retirement and the latest chapter in our life.

Speaking of chapters, we’ve written a book “The Ultimate Retirement Lifestyle” where you can delve into the secret to living your dream retirement and it’s yours to go through at your leisure. We hope you’ll be inspired with new ideas to fulfil your personal dreams and goals. Just pop your name and email in the box here and it will be winging it’s way to you

Thanks for reading and look forward to seeing you visiting our next article