The Pros and Cons of Retirement WHAT THE ‘UN-RETIREMENT’ TREND MEANS FOR YOU
If you’ve been out and about in your community, you may have noticed more gray-haired folks working as cashiers at the grocery store and pouring lattes at your local coffee shop. There’s a reason for this upward trend in older workers — and it goes back to 2020. That year, thousands of people near retirement decided they didn’t want to stress about pivoting to remote work or potentially catching COVID-19. So, they threw in the towel and retired early! Experts called this movement the “Great Retirement.” Now, the exact opposite is happening. This year we’ve seen what CNBC calls an “un-retirement” trend: Folks who were retired are returning to the workforce to fulfill the high demand for labor, and pre-retirees are pushing their retirement back in favor of new full- or part-time jobs. About 1.7 million people “un- retired” between April 2021 and April 2022. Should you join them? Pad your retirement fund. This hasn’t been a great year for stocks or bonds. If your retirement fund has dipped, working full or part time may give it the boost you need to feel secure in your old age. • THE BENEFITS OF ‘UN-RETIREMENT’ • Experiment with a new career path part time. Are you a long- time accountant who has always loved flowers? Taking an “un- retirement” or “bridge” job at a florist shop will give you a taste
of the career you’ve always secretly wanted without pressure to climb the ladder. Ward off age-related diseases. Engaging
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physically and mentally in learning a new job can reduce your risk of illness like dementia and depression.
THE COSTS OF ‘UN-RETIREMENT’ • Your travel options might be limited. If you have a long bucket list, “un-retiring” for a year or two may prevent you from getting to every place on it. • You’ll have less time to enjoy your hobbies/family. More hours at work mean fewer hours for your granddaughter’s track meet or working on your classic car. • There’s actually a higher risk of illness. Yes, your health is on both the benefit and cost lists! Work-related stress can take a mental health toll, which you can avoid by choosing retirement. To help you make the smart choice, visit Forbes.com and read “Is It Worth Delaying Retirement One Year?” It’s an older article but a good one!
Why Some Affluent People Don’t Become Wealthy From Riches to Rags
Countless Americans retire without sufficient wealth and assets to support themselves, even if they experienced affluence when younger. So, where did the money go, and why didn’t it translate into wealth? While unfortunate luck sometimes plays a role, bad decisions and habits are the more frequent culprits. Simply put, too many people fail to make their money work for them. Instead of investing excess income, they assume the money will always be there. They purchase depreciating assets like expensive clothing, unnecessary home upgrades, new cars when the old one was just fine, and countless technological gadgets. What was once a fun toy soon becomes outdated junk worth a fraction of its original value. The joy is fleeting, but the financial ramifications are long term. Some people have a similar yet different problem: They conclude early on they’ll never be wealthy. As a result, they don’t bother investing in their futures and making the most of their assets. Since they decided they’ll never need a financial planner or wealth management strategy, they become stuck and never maximize their potential.
on their attitude toward finances. Whatever their reasons, many people fail to prioritize their retirement and, as a result, wait until later in life to focus on saving. Others invest passively without a strategy or make risky investments instead of taking a more calculated approach. Unfortunately, some people are even misled by the same investment advisors who were supposed to help them build a more secure future. Though the mistakes are often easy to identify in retrospect, overcoming them is rarely so simple. In Krista McBeath’s book, “The Generational Wealth System” (available on Amazon), she provides guidance and principles for transforming assets into long-term wealth. Krista offers tips for all levels of investment knowledge, ranging from the basics of budgeting to managing your finances like a business and adjusting your mindset toward wealth. Remember, prosperity rarely happens overnight. And when it does — as in the case of many lottery winners or recipients of large estates — those affected often prove wildly unprepared. Accumulating and preserving wealth requires patience, dedication, and a growth mindset. How you think about your money today will help determine whether you improve or lose your financial position in the future.
Both cases reflect a failure to plan for the future. They also demonstrate that one’s ability to turn affluence into wealth hinges
2 McBeathFinancialGroup.com
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