C-Span's Week On Retirement Issues

[ThomWV]

C-Span will be focusing on retirement issues this week. Daytime shows are repeated in the evening. People should pay attention; this may very well be the straw that will break America's economic back.

In short here is what you Will hear. The Baby-boomers should be starting to retire about now. The first born of that generation are 60 years old this year. Many pension funds have been looted and most of those that haven't been looted are underfunded anyway. There is very little personal savings going on, even by those who are approaching normal retirement age. The savings rate for the first quarter of this year was actually negative. We spent more than we made. Social Security, even if it is to survive, simply does not pay enough for a person to live on. Of the skimpy savings and investments that are made in preparation for retirement much is tied up in real estate. In many parts of the country not only are home sales down but prices are being reduced in hope of finding a buyers. Despite a flat or declining real estate market the price of non-durable goods continues to rise. This is inflation at the consumer level and it means that whatever retirement income there might be available will buy less and less of life's necessities.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. And Cooper vs. IBM was just overturned by the 7th. District Court of

Appeals....giving companies the green light to change to Cash Balance plans and cutting 'promised' defined benefits in half for older employees.
Loved this sentence from the opinion, "That the change disappointed expectations is not material."


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IBM_PENSIONS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=customwire.htm

[larrysh]

2. This is why retiring to Mexico, Costa Rica, or Belize must be

seriously looked at as an alternative to retiring here in the USA.
Also, there are talks underway right now to extend Medicare to American
retirees living south of the border, in order to make retirement there
more attractive. Right now, an ex-pat qualifies for the Mexican
National Health Care System ($240.00 US per year), with deductibles
applying to most everything for the first two years, then no deductibles after that. However, serious pre-existing conditions like
cancer or heart diesease can disqualify a person altogether, which is why the Mexican government is trying to get Medicare $$$ for American
retirees.....Also, yes, you can own a home there, the rule on no foriegners is only for property up to 50 miles inland from the coasts.
My wife and I just got back from our first exploratory trip to Ajijic,
on the shores of Lake Chapala. About 8,000 Americans and Canadians live
there full-time, while another 40,000 own "winter homes" there, that they use Oct-Apr. each year.