Creative Money Making and New Topics on The Money Café

Creativity and Money / Making Money

More people of retirment age today than a year ago are interested in making money due to their portfolios being hit by the recent financial collapse. It will take some creativity during these times to make money. Creativity requires breaking the rules.

Bill Gates, the billion-dollar guerrilla who co-founded Microsoft and is a pretty successful rule-breaker himself, says of starting your own company,"The things you know and love and see opportunities in - you ought to pick your business based on that." Sure, you can make a pile of money doing something for the short term, but the problem is the long term. You're not living life for the short term. If you were, you'd get burned out and stressed out doing work that you have to do rather than work that you love to do.

"If you follow the crowd, you will likely get no further than the crowd. If you walk alone, you're likely to end up in places no one has ever been before. Being an achiever is not without its difficulties, for peculiarity breeds contempt. The unfortunate thing about being ahead of your timeis that when people finally realize you were right, they'll simply say it was obvious to everyone all along. You have two choices in life. You can dissolve into the main stream, or you can choose to become an achiever and be distinct. To be distinct, you must be different. To be different, you must strive to be what no else but you can be."
— Author Unknown

Here are some new topics on The Money Cafe:

27 Websites That Will Make You Smarter and Richer!
33 Elements of Happiness That Money Can’t Buy
"Cool People" Are Not So Cool - They Are Broke Most of the Time!
Why Should Spend More on Your Education and Personal Development Than Your Next Hairstyle
How to Make Money While You Sleep
Fashion Is a Form of Ugliness That Is Designed to Make You Broke
How to Instantly Become a Millionaire
What's Truly Free in Life
What a Man's Car Says about His Personality
How You Can Make Money Even When You Are Dead
Why You Should Seldom — If Ever — Lend Money to Friends

And One from The Fun at Work Cafe:

Fun Speech Ideas

And One from The Friendship Cafe:

A Best Friend Costs Much Less Money than Therapy — and Is Ten Times As Helpful!

Top-10 Money and Wealth Goals People Have

Top-10 goals related to money and wealth tagged on 43Things.com:

• save money


• Get out of debt


• Become financially independent


• Win the lottery


• Pay off my student loans


• Make money


• Become a millionaire


• stick to a budget


• Retire early


• Invest money

Articles and Subjects on The Friendship Café

101 Ways to Have Great Friends

Before Lending Money to a Friend, Decide Which You Need More

It's Better to Have One Friend of Great Value than Many Friends of Little Value

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.

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.

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

7 Spiritual Laws of Money

Retirement living became a little more difficult with the financial crisis that is happening in global markets.

If you really want to get rich, the first thing you need to learn is how to spend money — or NOT spend it — as the case may be.

To help you keep your retirement planning, here are 7 Spiritual Laws of Money:

1. If money becomes your primary focus in life, then money is all that you will get.

2. The person with no money may be poor; however, not as poor as the person who has nothing but money.

3. Abundance isn't a matter of acquiring how much money you desire; it's a matter of being happy with how much you presently have.

4. It's better to be out of money than out of new creative ideas on how to make money.

5. Money-making ideas are gifts from the Universe; you must act fast on them, however, if you want to be prosperous and wealthy.

6. Spending a lot of money — particularly money that you have not yet earned — will get you trapped into thinking you are having a good time when all you are doing is spending a lot of money that you will have a difficult time earning.

7. Above all, the value of money lies in the creative and spiritual uses to which it can be put and not in how many possessions it can buy.

Stinginess May Help You Retire Early

"When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life," joked Oscar Wilde. "Now that I am old I know that it is." Although money can’t buy happiness in your retirement, sooner or later you will likely want a measure of financial freedom that adds to your feeling of overall freedom and the feeling of prosperity that comes with it.

To some people, mastery of money and stinginess go hand in hand. Indeed, stinginess may help you acquire much more money and help you retire early,

NOTE: My book of quotations called The 777 Best Things Ever Said about Money will be released as a Free E-book on my websites in a month or two if I don't sell the rights to an American publisher who is seriously looking at it at this time.

For the record, I sold this E-book of quotations for a $8,000 advance to a Japanese publisher within 3 hours of my accidentally sending it to Japanese literary agent to whom I had no intention of sending it. Perhaps this good fortune was a result of my prosperity consciousness. What do you think?

I am presently helping my Friend Forrest Bard set up his Inspirational Quotes Webpage on Squidoo.

Mortgages Okay in Retirement Say New Wave of Retirees

The baby-boomer generation about to retire is in no rush to pay off their mortgages according to the third annual Affluent Boomers at 60 survey from Bell Investment Advisors.

The prior generation of retirees had a major goal prior to retirement: "Burn the mortgage!"

Not so with the baby-boomer generation. More than 55 percent of boomers surveyed who currently hold mortgages do not plan to pay their mortgages off until at least their 70s, and likely never.

Of the 500 boomers surveyed approximately two-thirds currently have mortgages on their residences. The remaining third either rent or do not have a mortgage.

For Retirement Quotes about Mortgages and Money

Download the Free E-book The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement by Ernie Zelinski at:

Creative Free E-books at the Real Success Resource Center

Also see Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings about:

• Investing Your Money Wisely in Retirement
• Importance of Money in Retirement
  
  
  
  
  

Retirement Planning - Why Many Canadians Are Fools with Their Money

1. According to a recently released Statistics Canada study, almost half of Canadian households spend more than their pretax income in a given year. That's up from 39 per cent in the early 1980s. From 1982 to 2001, the study found, per capita debt doubled, because of sharp increases in both mortgages and consumer debt.

2. 67 percent of Canadians say money is their most frequent worry.

3. Only 40 percent of Canadians know how many millions are in a billion.

4. Still worse, only 25 percent of Canadians know the difference between the National debt and National deficit.

5. According to Desjardins Financial security's latest retirement study, many Canadians are not prepared for the challenges retirement can bring. They are failing to consider a variety of factors and risks that can have an impact on the yield and longevity of their savings, such as inflation, rising life expectancies and healthcare costs. Nearly 60% of those surveyed are not concerned about having a large enough nest egg to sustain their standard of living in retirement. More than 80% have not eliminated their consumer debt in retirement and even more are not concerned about paying off their mortgages (88%). And more than half are not worried that inflation will erode their savings.

Note: See the resources below for some great quotations about retirement:

• Retirement Dinner Speeches on The Retirement Speeches Café

Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings about How Important Money Is for Your Retirement

According to a new retirement lifestyle survey, the ongoing volatility within financial markets has prompted a massive increased awareness toward retirement savings by Australian baby boomers.

More than three out of four Aussie baby boomers are beefing up their savings strategy as a result of the turmoil, according to a Commonwealth Bank survey.

The majority of changes included making bigger or additional contributions to their retirement savings plan, while about a third said they were investing more in other investments outside retirement plans such as shares or property.

Interestingly, the Retirement Lifestyle survey found almost 40 per cent of those surveyed considered retirement an opportunity to pursue a new career or learn new skills.



"This trend suggests that many people see retirement as a series of transitions where some form of work or community service can continue into the retirement years,'' Commonwealth Financial Planning general manager Tim Gunnin said.



Importance of Money in Retirement (Quotes and Sayings)

Retirement Planning - How Much Money Do You Need for Retirement?

Contrary to the advice of those financial advisers who recommended you need 70-80 per cent of your pre-retirement income to retire comfortably, most retired people get by on a lot less.

Surprisingly, research by Statistics Canada found that people whose pre-retirement income was $70,000 or greater tended to retire on about 45 per cent of that – or around $31,500. Those who earned around the average national wage – between $40,000 and $50,000 – retired on 59 per cent of their pre-retirement income.

Most interestingly, only one in six people with a pre-retirement income of $40,000 or more had a replacement ratio of 75 per cent or more.

The Spoilers - Countries Against Early Retirement

• Britain plans to gradually raise its age of retirement at which full state pensions will kick in. By the year 2044, the U.K,'s retirement age will be 68.
• The U.S. and Germany also plan to raise their retirement age to 67.
• Italy and Belgium have already raised their age of retirement to 60
  

Interesting Retirement Fact

Two-thirds of Canadians retire before the full Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan benefit age of 65, oftentimes involuntarily. What does this mean?

What Would You Do If You Could Replan Retirement? — Top Five Replies from Retirees

• Save more or save less money — 39 percent
• Take better care of their health — 29 percent
• Live closer to their children — 24 percent
• Retire earlier — 23 percent
• Get involved in more hobbies — 21 percent

Retirement Plan Assets Based on Demographics

An EBRI study describes the influence of some demographic factors on the distribution of individual account retirement plan assets in 2004:

By race:

90.5 percent of assets were held by white non-Hispanics.
9.5 percent of assets were held by nonwhites

By education:

14.2 percent of assets were held by individuals with a high school diploma or less.
10.7 percent of assets were held by individuals with some college education.
75.1 percent of assets were held by individuals with at least a college degree.

By annual family income:

11.3 percent of assets were held by individuals with incomes of less than $50,000.
25.6 percent of assets were held by individuals with incomes of $50,000 to $99,999.
63.2 percent of assets were held by individuals with incomes of $100,000 or more.

Retirement Sayings and Retirement Quotes — Definitions of Retirement

Retirement to me does not mean nothing to do but the realization of the decisions I made in the past. That I made in my life.
— Jack Bowman

Retirement: The time in your life when time is no longer money.
— Unknown wise person

Two Retirement Quotes Relating to Money

Abundance isn't a matter of acquiring how much money you desire; it's a matter of being happy with how much you presently have.
— Unknown wise person

It's better to be out of money than out of new creative ideas on how to make money.
— Unknown wise person

NOTE: For a great selection of retirement quotes and retirement sayings, go to the Retirement Quotes Webpage at The Joy of Not Working Website:

Retirement Quotes at The Joy of Not Working


Check out Ernie Zelinski's Blog on Morgan James Publishing

Do You Have Retirement Planning Worries? - Some Money Quotes to Put Things In Proper Perspective

The Employee Benefit Research Institute's annual survey, released on April 9, indicates the weakest worker confidence in seven years regarding retirment.

Only 61 percent of individuals said that they were "very confident" or "somewhat confident" of having enough money for retirement. That was down from 70 percent in 2007. What's more, this was the poorest showing since 63 percent in 2001, when the economy was in recession.

The percentage of workers who put themselves in the "very confident" category dropped to 18 percent this year from 27 percent last year. The 9 point drop was the biggest in the survey's 18 years history, EBRI said.

Confidence among already retired workers also fell, with just 29 percent saying this year they were "very confident" they had enough for a comfortable retirement, down from 41 percent in 2007, according to EBRI, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C.

Temple University business professor Jack VanDerhei, who was co-author of the study, said that workers and retirees were reacting to the many things currently hurting personal finances, from rising gas prices to the decline in home values and the drop in portfolio balances.

"The economy and health costs are major concerns," said EBRI President Dallas Salisbury. "If there is a silver lining, it's that Americans finally may be waking up to the realities of being able to afford retirement."

The good news, it appears, is that most Americans are trying to save money for their later years.

Some 72 percent of workers said they have saved some money toward retirement, while 64 percent are putting away money. Unfortunately, 22 percent of workers say they have no savings of any kind, the study found.

Retirement savings are not all that great, however.

Nearly 50 percent of workers have set aside less than $25,000 for their retirement, while 24 percent have $25,000 to $99,999, 15 percent have $100,000 to $249,999, and 12 percent have $250,000 or more. The figures do not include the values of primary residences or pensions.

Four Retirement Sayings and Retirement Quotes about Earning Money to Help Your Retirement Planning

Money will appear when you are doing the right thing in your life.
- Michael Phillips

Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million.
- Jean Jacques Rousseau

It's no trick to make a lot of money, if all you want is to make a lot of money.
- Everett Sloane in the movie Citizen Kane

To be clever enough to get a great deal of money, one must be stupid enough to want it.
- George Bernard Shaw

Check out Ernie Zelinski's Blog on Morgan James Publishing

and

Ernie Zelinski on Book Tour

Other Websites or Blogs for Information about Ernie:


Ernie Zelinski's Retirement Articles on American Chronicle

Ernie Zelinski's Blog on Amazon.com

The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement

The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked

The Joy of Not Working is all about learning to live every part of your life - employment, unemployment, retirement, and leisure time alike - to the fullest. You too can join the thousands of converts and learn to thrive at both work and play. Illustrated by eye-opening exercises, thought-provoking diagrams, and lively cartoons and quotations, The Joy of Not Working will guide you to enjoy life like never before.

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor

With a focus on the non-financial aspects of retirement, How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free explores the myriad choices and decisions we are all confronted with in living out our retirement lives. Easy to read and well laid out, the bestselling non-financial retirement book on Amazon.com emphasizes preparing for retirement long before you retire. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is a provocative, entertaining, down-to-earth, and tremendously inspiring book that will help you get more joy and satisfaction out of all your retirement activities.


The World's Best Retirement Book
Retirement Wisdom You Won't Get Anywhere Else








Purchase at Links Below

Amazon.com

BarnesandNoble.com

Handling Money in Retirement

Retirement Income for Canadian Retirees Maintained at 80 Percent of Pre-Retirement Income

Based on income levels, most Canadians are maintaining their lifestyles during retirement years, according to figures released by Statistics Canada in early March 2008.

Statistics Canada found that on average, a Canadian at the age of 75 received 80 per cent of the income they were earning at the working age of 55.

The study also found that retire income varied based on level of income during the individual's working years.

The lowest income individuals maintained nearly 100 per cent of their disposable income in their retirement years, mostly because of income from government programs.

"Lower income workers (those in the bottom 20 per cent of the income distribution) experienced little change in income as they moved from the age of 55 through the retirement years. This was largely because of the income maintenance impact of the public pension system," said the study.

"Better-off workers in the top 20 per cent of the income distribution experienced substantial declines in income by time they were 75."

The figures showed that on average, the more disposable income a person had at 55, the lower the portion of income that was replaced in retirement. For those in the top 20 per cent of income distribution at 55, on average, 70 per cent of their income was replaced during their 70s.

See Retirement Quotes about Money

and:

Retirement Planning on Squidoo

Six Money Quotes

Although money can’t buy happiness, sooner or later you will likely want a measure of financial freedom that adds to your feeling of overall freedom and the feeling of prosperity that comes with it. What will help you acquire a great measure of financial freedom is the golden touch with money. Mastery of money is not something with which we are born. Like creativity, it is something we can learn.

Six Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings on How to Spend Your Money Wisely in Retirement

Better a good dinner than a fine coat.
— French proverb

The money you enjoy spending frivolously to enhance your retirement is money well spent.
— from How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: The World's Best Retirement Book

Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut.
— Daniel S. Greenberg

Don't buy expensive socks if you can never find them.
— Unknown wise person

It's a wise man who lives with money in the bank; it's a fool who dies that way.
— French proverb

Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money.
— Jonathan Clements


Note: These Money and Retirement Quotes are Adapted from The Retirement Quotes Café Website and Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings at The Joy of Not Working by Ernie J. Zelinski

Retirement Planning Based on Leisure

Most people feel that there will be no shortage of things to keep them busy in retirement. Although many people have difficulty filling their days with activities, others, indeed, end up just as busy in retirement as they were in their career days. Surprisingly, a few people even succeed in being busier.

The time available for marital, personal, social, creative, and family activities expands considerably when the hours previously taken up with full-time employment cease. Even so, it's all too easy to end up with a less than satisfying mix of this extra free time. How you manage this time is just as important as when you are in the workforce.