As baby boomers are rapidly approach what used to be defined as “retirement age”, a big concern often comes up about whether there will be enough retirement savings in place to be able to live a comfortable life later in life.  There have been plenty of rumbles from Washington that the Social Security system will not be able to bear up under the huge demand the boomer generation will put on it.  So few baby boomers are looking to depend on that money being there, even though we are all paying into it every month.

On top of that worry, the method our parents used of working for the same company for 50 years and retiring with a hefty financial package and a gold watch has gone the way of the dinosaurs.  Long ago corporate America began to eliminate retirement packages as a straight forward benefit.  So many baby boomers find themselves approaching retirement age with insufficient retirement monies to support them.  What is needed is a solid plan to attack this problem while boomers still have a good 10 to 15 years of working potential in them.  Some principles of that plan might be…

Simplify Your Life.

When the kids finish college and get out on their own, you may find your life could be simplified considerably.  You might not need as big a house and many of the extras that were important when you raising a family in that house.  Do a thorough review of your assets and your expenses.  You will find you can cut costs significantly and even begin to cash in on some of the extras you have had all these years and put all of those savings into the bank as a hedge for the day when you are ready to retire.

Pack the Bank Account Now.

The empty nest syndrome isn’t all bad.  There are some real benefits to returning to a lifestyle of just you and your spouse discovering life together.  You have conquered many challenges raising a family in this tough world and you deserve to be proud of your life of accomplishment.  But now you and your spouse can take on a big challenge that is just for you which is to get out there and generate income for retirement.

Mom can go back to work and both members of the union can take on as much work as can be found.  Often in the mid to late fifties, the primary bread winner may be able to retire from that job they have held down for several decades.  But instead of beginning to live off of retirement funds, get another career going that can generate another ten to fifteen years of income.  With good budget management, it’s very likely you will be able to bank at least one entire income if not more and put all of that money back into retirement. 

Working with your investment counselors you can find ways to shelter that extra income so it stays out of the tax system until you are ready to use it.  The good news is that this push for productivity and revenue generation late in life can lead to a healthy retirement budget that can benefit you well as you finally sit back to enjoy your leisure years in the rocking chair taking care of the grandkids.

Identify a Money Generator that Can Stay With You

There are second careers that you can find that will become a good source of supplemental revenue even after you retire.  Start now looking for a potential “retirement career” which will be a line of work you can do even after you retire to generate additional income for you.  Writing or internet work is a good way to set up a home based business that you can continue to work at as long as you can type, see reasonably well and your thinking capacity is sound.

Other examples of retirement careers are part time jobs as apartment managers or care givers, sales jobs in using the expertise from your primary career or jobs that are somewhat non-taxing such as greeting customers at a Wal-Mart or working in a book store.  And these retirement jobs have the double benefit of adding to your revenue resources and keeping you active and enjoying life in your retirement years.  And that is what all of us want.

If you ask a representative sample of baby boomers that are approaching their retirement years what they are looking forward to the most about retirement, the most common answer that comes back is, “travel”.  There is something about the romance and fun of travel that appeals to us as we think about stepping out of the work world and doing things we have been hoping to do for all our lives.  And travel has that sense of adventure that calls to us when we look forward to a time when our responsibilities are few but we have the resources to realize our dreams.

If travel is a major objective of your retirement planning, the earlier in life you get started planning your travel adventures, the more fun your trips will be.  They say that anticipation is half the fun of a trip.  So why not start now planning for your various destinations and the adventures you want to have when you get there?

If the baby boomer got a chance to travel during those child rearing years, you no doubt already have some solid travel disciplines in place to use for routine trips.  Most of us have learned to travel smart from business travel or traveling to see family over the years.  But it’s a good idea to review your preparation check lists when you start thinking of longer trips, perhaps to more exotic and unknown locations such as Europe, The Middle East or South America.

Remember that when you are retired and planning longer trips, that is going to present some unique challenges in terms of packing.  Its one thing to pack for three days in Orlando but its something else entirely to pack for two weeks in Germany or Greece.  It takes an experienced and prepared traveler to only take the essentials and to keep your packing light and efficient.  Some core principles that will help you include…

. Take things that don’t need pressing or a lot of maintenance.  If you can use the same garment over several days, that cuts down on your bulk considerably.  You can even rinse out wash and wear garments in your hotel room and hang them up in the bathroom while you sleep and they will good as new in the morning.

. Don’t pack it.  Buy it.  It might pay to pick up some of your disposable items when you get to your destination.  You can buy your toiletries and even a garment or two if something gets left behind once you arrive.  And by not taking a lot of disposable items, you cut down on the chances you will have trouble with security.

. Check your bags.  You see people who try to drag everything on board with them to avoid baggage claim.  These are your rookie travelers.  Better to trust the airline with the bag and be prepared if your bag gets lost than to have all that struggle trying to get everything into bags you can take on board.

. Be prepared to lose your bags.  Just pack a small carry on with what you must have that first night in the hotel.  Include small items for changing clothes, sleepwear and hard to replace toiletries so if you do find your bags didn’t make the trip, you can stay comfortable until they catch up to you.

Be smart and think ahead about where you are going and what you will need there.  Read as much as you can about your destination and book your accommodations well in advance so you know you are expected even in a part of the world that is new to you.  These kinds of preparations will make your retirement travel fun and exciting and keep you on the road regularly for many years to come.

Meditation became part of the vernacular of lifestyle choices and a source of a lot of conversation as far back as the 60s for baby boomers when there was a big interest in eastern religions and things that were exotic and new.  But while many of the flash in the pan interests in exotic religions during that time frame faded away in the life style of baby boomers, meditation has endured and become a common practice and resource that has benefited this generation in every decade of their lives.

There is a good reason meditation has endured and even grown in popularity far beyond any religious context.  Meditation has tremendous benefits for virtually every aspect of life and those who integrate it into their daily lifestyles can experience those benefits virtually as soon as they start.  You don’t have to be a guru at meditation to realize benefits from the very first time to give it a try.  Some of those benefits include…

. Meditation is calming.  Because the act of meditation calls for you to bring your thoughts into captivity and to still your mind and focus it, that sense of your soul being in turmoil eases and you are able to address the cause of your anxiety and see a solution more clearly because your emotions are not clouding the issue.

. Meditation helps you focus and concentrate.  The great thing about meditation is that the effects of meditation continue past those few moments when you are meditating.  Those few moments of calm create an atmosphere of focus and clarity of thought that goes on throughout your day helping you focus your mind and more easily concentrate when you need to.

. Meditation reduces stress and mental anxiety.  So often the stress that comes out of problems and difficulties is dominated by emotional reactions even more than by the problem itself.  Meditation clears away the effects of the stress making it easier for you to solve the problem itself.

. Meditation helps reduce physical anxiety.  The process of meditation involves extended periods of quiet deep breathing.  This simple action floods the brain with oxygen and energizes blood flow throughout the body which refreshes tired muscles and causes your entire physical system to relax and release pent up anxiety.

. Meditation helps you sleep and digest your food.  The refreshed blood flow, rich in oxygen that comes from the session of meditation, takes action immediately on the digestive system often reducing or eliminating digestive problems and even easing the symptoms of ulcers.  Because the mind is relaxed and well supplied with vital oxygen and blood flow, sleep comes more easily and is more recuperative.

Some successful role models in all walks of life that come out of the baby boomer generation credit meditation to why they are able to accomplish such great things.  In addition to all of these benefits, meditation is easy to integrate into your lifestyle and you can go at your own pace learning to become better at meditation and grow in your ability to use it.

Meditation is profoundly easy to do.  The image of a meditation practitioner in painful “lotus position” going into a virtual trance is the extreme of the discipline.  Because meditation has been adapted so that any of us can benefit from the health benefits it brings, you can begin meditating immediately and see the benefits from the very first session.

Small wonder many baby boomers have continued down through the decades to be enthusiastic proponents of meditation.  And there is no reason baby boomers cannot continue to enjoy the tremendous benefits as they move into their late middle age and retirement years as well.