More Americans Taking Early Retirement Instead of Delaying Retirement

In a poll sponsored in December by CareerBuilder, 60 percent of American workers over 60 stated that they plan to delay retirement.

A larger than expected number of American workers are retiring early, however, many of them believed to be laid-off workers, according to report in the Los Angeles Times.

Early retirement claims are up 25 percent from last year with more people choosing to retire at age 62 instead of 66, said Stephen C. Goss, chief actuary for the U.S. Social Security Administration.

The surge in younger American retirees dispels expectations that older people who suffered financial losses in the recession would delay early retirement and work longer to rebuild their assets.

Here are three retirement resources to help you retire early.

• Prosper During a Recession
  
• The Friendship Café
  
• The Money Café
  

"101 Reasons to Love a Recession" - Free E-book

I have completed my new E-book called 101 Reasons to Love a Recession:

The e-book is available as a free download at the following websites:

• Creative Free E-books:
• The Retirement Café
• Love-a-Recession.com
  

Here are two benefits of a recession that are not in the E-book:

• If you have always wanted to be part of the laptop and cappucino crowd, the semi-employed who still make a great living working four hours a day or week, a recession is the time. You’ll find out if Starbucks and all those other coffee shops really are hotbeds of entrepreneurial activity.
• This is a great time to have your house renovated. Contractors are bending over backward — even for small jobs like bathroom renovations and cabinetry — as the housing slump infects the remodeling industry. That gives homeowners the upper hand in price negotiations.
  

You may also want to check out: 20 Reasons Why I Love a Recession

Retirement in the Recession Delayed

So much for stupid government stimulus packages - 82 percent of Americans say they will use upcoming tax relief for savings or to pay down debt.

In fact, even after the recession ends, Americans said their spending will return to just 86 percent of pre-recession levels, according to a survey released today.

The drop in spending drop translates into more than $1 trillion annually, in GDP.

On the retirement front, survey participants estimated that their retirement savings have dropped an average of 25 percent, whereas 22 pecent said they now plan to retire later than previously expected.

The anticipated retirement age jumped 3.6 years to older than age 65. When asked why they now expected to retire later, 30 percent claimed it was the loss of savings.

Happily Retired - Avoiding the Top-10 Dumbest Retirement Moves

Here is the latest E-mail that I received about How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

----- Original Message -----
From: Ted L Wilson
To: vip-books ( at ) telus.net
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 7:26 AM
Subject: How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

Dear Ernie,

Just finished your book and I couldn't agree more with you! I took early retirement at 55 with a minimum pension and depended on the savings I had from my 401K as the primary source of income. I also now work 125 days a week for one of my former retailer customers and I work in sales. I get to pick my 125 days a year that I work and take most of the winter off and travel to Florida and long four day weekends all of the summer where, we spend our time at our small lake cottage. The primary reason I continue to work half time is for the benefit of health insurance. I am privileged that my employer agreed to provide health insurance if I would work 125 days a year.

I have to tell you that I really enjoyed the section in your book about taking risks. When I first retired I made it my goal to bicycle accross the USA from coast to coast. I divided the USA into three chunks and took three-three week periods in the summer to bicycle from coast to coast (Astoria Oregon to Camden Maine.)

I met so many great people in this country, it helped to restore my faith in humanity. The final motivation to push me forward on my goal of crossing the USA via bicycle was an 84-year-old friend of mine who said to me that he retired early at 50 and has not regretted a day of his early retirement. He challenged me to not be a member of the "Wish I would-a club" but be a member of the "I did it club".

I used this to encourage me to take early retirement and to take the bicycle trip. Since I have retired I have had the privilege of taking fly in fishing trips in Canada, South Dakota and Iowa pheasant hunting trips , spending three winter months in Florida since my retirement. Watching the sunsets over several of the Great Lakes, Cruises in the Caribbean, week long bicycle trips across five different states with my wife. Took two classes in a local University-fiction and nonfiction writing, and have written 7 articles and have 5 published. I would like to write more but just have to take the time to do so.

The thing I have to say I enjoy the most is that I take every Friday and spend it with my grandchildren.

Thanks for your book and I can't wait to read Career Success Without a Real Job.

Happily Retired,

Ted Wilson

Here are some new website posts to help you retire happy, wild, and free during a recession:

Why Hard Work Can Kill You:

Fashion Will Liberate Your Money

Top-10 Dumbest Retirement Moves

How Retirees Can Survive a Recession and Even Profit from One

FALL DOWN SEVEN TIMES - GET UP EIGHT !

I received this e-mail the other day: (I have deleted the last name due to the personal nature of the e-mail).

----- Original Message -----
From: anne
To: Ernie Z.
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 9:12 AM

Dear Mr. Zelinski :

Every time I go down, I read one of your books. They have helped me so many times, you have no idea.

This time though I am having a hard time getting back on my feet. I am so tired.

How do you get back on your feet after many failures? And how do you cope with all that is going on in the world like sickness, children missing, starvation . . . sometimes it seems there is no hope at all.

You are an intelligent writer and I can't wish you anything but the best.

Anne L.

This was my response:

Hello Anne:

In reply to your questions about how I get back on my feet after many failures, I agree it is easier for some people in this world than for others.

And the world is full of misfortune.

But even individuals who appear to have it good have their own problems that they have to deal with.

For example, there are many things in my life that I have had to do without that others have and have got me down at times.

But we must look at our own situations and see what we can be thankful for.

Here are three inspirational quotes that I have on one of my websites:


Our disasters have been some of the best things that ever happened to us. And what we swore were blessings have been some of the worst.
— Richard Bach

Fall down seven times. Get up eight.
— Japanese proverb

There is no particular reason why you lost out on something. The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune. You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless.
— Unknown wise person


Just for the record lately I have been affected by the recession in several ways:


1. I have lost about $65,000 in the stock market.
2. My half-duplex has gone down in value by over $40,000 since I bought at the height of the market (because I had no good place to live at the time).
3. My income is down dramatically because my retirement book sales have gone down dramatically due to house prices dropping in the U.S. and many baby boomers now not retiring.

But I am looking for opportunity in the recession.

I am about to reinvent myself as an Internet marketer.

My motto is "Do It Badly - But At Least Do It!"

Here are links to my latest projects on the Internet: (These are not the prettiest websites on the Interment - but this is no problem because the interment marketing gurus have found out that ugly websites make much more money than those professional-looking ones that cost a fortune to set up.)


1. Learn to Love a Recession
2. Fun Things to Do at Work Cafe
3. The Money Cafe
4. The Friendship Cafe

Thanks for your interest in my books.

Ernie Z.

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.