Making the Best of a Recession

While economic recessions are gloomy times for most people, there are benefits to be derived from a downturn.

Apparently workers at the SPAM factory are working overtime because of the demand for the canned meat increasing dramatically because of the economic downturn. No doubt that there are many others benefiting from the recession.

Hopefully you have prepared yourself for this recession and are now looking for ways to profit from it instead of falling victim to it.

Here are two more Reasons to Love a Recession that come from my new website Love a Recession and my new E-book 101 Reasons to Love a Recession.

• With the recession expected to be severe and prolonged, the bigger the recession the more people will learn that not only is cash king - it's good karma!


• Gas prices have come down to levels not seen since 2003.

Early Retirement May Not Be a Matter of Choice

Do you think that you will be able to work in a retirement job because you have to now that your net worth has declined due to your losing money in your stock investments. Think again!

In my book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free which I released in 2004, I stated, "Reasons for why people retire at any particular age will reflect both voluntary and involuntary circumstances and can be influenced by individual, family, and corporate factors. Some people retire early by choice; others are forced into it."

"Rising income levels, changes in government pensions, early retirement packages, corporate downsizing, and a declining retirement age are all contributors to early retirement. A person’s own health or that of a partner can also play a part."

Fast forward to 2008. According to a new survey this year from McKinsey and Co. of 3,000 retirees and pre-retirees, more than half of recent retirees retired early. The majority did not do this out of choice, however. Most did so due to adverse circumstances, such as job loss, caring for an ailing spouse, or their own health problems.

On average, these people are retiring in their mid-50s. With life expectancy for a healthy 65-year-old in the U.S. around 85 for men and 88 for women, that means some will need to fund their living expenses for 30 years or more.

In short, don't count on being able to work until you are 75 or 80. You may have to take early retirement whether you like it or not.

Happiness in Retirement Depends on You

According to several studies it's difficult for retirees to adjust emotionally to their loss of the identity that their jobs provide. While some studies have found that psychological well-being increases after retirement, others have found that it drops.

For example, a study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan found that for a fair percentage of retirees, the retirement years weren't all that rosy.

Four years after retirement, 34 percent said they were less satisfied after retirement, while 25 percent thought that their lives had improved. The remaining 41 percent said that their satisfaction and happiness levels were about the same.

But if you are a well-balanced individual, retirement is an opportunity to sort out your priorities and live your life according to them. You must remember that your duty is always to yourself.

Forget what the studies say — looking out for number one is important. What will make the difference in your retirement life is the authentic you, not the you who you were in your career. So if you are of retirement age and not having fun at work anymore, now is the time to retire. Opportunities for happiness in retirement are time-sensitive, with an expiry date. It is a mistake to retire too late in life because you don't get another chance to do it right.

Retirement is the perfect time to become the person you would like to be and do the things you have always wanted to do. No doubt doing everything you have always wanted to do sounds great. It won’t happen by itself, however. This is true even if you have excellent health and a big pile of money in the bank when you retire.

Planning is important. You must take steps to ensure that when the bell rings to announce your retirement, you’re ready for what’s in front of you. The time available for marital, personal, social, creative, and family activities expands considerably when the hours previously taken up with full-time employment cease. How you manage time is just as important as when you are in the workforce.

Latest News about Retirement Planning

Believe all that you read and your retirement plan looks bleak at best due to a lack of retirement money.

Here are some of the latest news reports about retirement:

1. Crisis crushes Americans’ retirement dreams
NDTV.com - New Delhi,India
A recent Bank of America Retirement Savings Survey showed that about 43 per cent of people in the US are planning to work for more years than they expected ...

2. Financial planning gets tougher
Times Herald-Record - Middletown,NY,USA
"People may know, intellectually, that it is vital to have stock-market exposure for at least some portion of their retirement portfolio in order to keep ...
See all stories on this topic

3, Hopeful in hard times
Myrtle Beach Sun News - Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
The 60-year-old, who would have been planning his retirement about now, doesn't even think about it these days. He'll have to keep at it as a rental ...

4. How You Can Rebuild Your Wealth (for retirement)
Wall Street Journal - USA
It won't be an easy recovery for most of us, but financial planners say that a little flexibility about your saving, spending and retirement plans will go a ...

If you want to participate in these news stories, fine.

On the other hand, if you refuse to participate, then How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is the book for you.

Also Check out The Money Cafe Where Money Talks with a Conscience: How to Make Money, How to Save Money, and and How to Spend Money Wisely

Creating a Sales Letter for How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

The above image is that of a sales letter webpage that I spent the last two days creating for my book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free .

You can see the complete webpage with the sales letter at How to Retire Happy .

I did not realize the amount of work that goes into a "one-page" sales letter. My sales letter for How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is long for a reason. Contrary to popular belief, the most effective sales letter is one that has long sales copy — where it goes on for the equivalent of 7 to 10 pages — even 20 pages. Most marketing professors at universities — regardless of many Phd.s they have after their names — don't know this. (Academics are normally not as bright as they think they are.) But internet marketing millionaires know this. That's why they earn the big bucks.

Will everyone read my long sales letter? Definitely not! As prospects hit a sales webpage — many are only going to skim what is there unless they are fully engaged. The intent is to have someone to be able to simply skim through the headline, subheads, boldings, yellow highlighter, embellishments, etc and be able to make a buying decision.

As an aside, I have found out why Google was penalizing my Retirement Quotes Cafe Website. With this knowledge I was able to get it back into the top-3 on Google's listings when you type in "retirement quotes" into Google.

In fact, not so long ago, when I typed "retirement quotes" into Google, 4 of my websites or blogs came in on the first page. To have 4 of the top 10 listings on Google is not too bad for an amateur, wouldn't you say. This is not something that you would learn how to do from a person with a Ph.d. in marketing. You learn how to be successful at these things by listening to internet marketing gurus such as Derek Gehl and Tom Antion, to name a few.

Retirement Comfort Does Not Translate into Retirement Happiness

Here are bits and pieces relating to retirement that I was going to use in How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free but never got around to.

• It goes without saying that people who rely on boring jobs for fulfillment are probably boring individuals who will get even more bored in retirement.


• If there was ever a time in your life to be wild in the purest sense of the word, retirement is it.


• The universe assures you that you will have a much easier go around in life when you stop following the herd. Your chances for a full, relaxed, satisfying, and happy life will tend to increase in direct proportion to how much you are out of step with the rest of society. Indeed, the more unconventional and eccentric you are, the better.


• The pursuit of happiness in retirement can be quite elusive. Comfort does not translate into happiness. Living in physical comfort doesn't mean personal fulfillment nor does it mean personal joy nor does it mean a feeling of success.


• Joseph Conrad stated, "It's extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it's just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome."