Retirement Dollars and Sense

Edge Class Links

Books & Magazines

To find books, use the Library's COOLcat / Library Catalog; there you will find helpful subject headings such as the following: Retirement, Early Retirement, Retirement Income, Voluntarism, Volunteers, Estate Planning, Retirees, Pensions, 401(k) Plans, Medicare, Social Security, Aged Consumers, Budgets Personal, Probate Law, Physical Fitness for the Aged, Gardening for the Aged, Architecture and the Aged, Age and Employment, Volunteer Workers, Tax Planning, Long Term Care, Individual Retirement Accounts, Consumer Complaints, Consumer Education, Retirement Communities, Health Maintenance Organizations, Wills United States. Articles in back issues of magazines can be found by using paper or electronic indexing. Terms such as those found above can be searched as subjects or keywords in such indexing.

Agencies / Organizations

The Directory. Search by topics or keywords such as "older," "senior," "retire," etc, to find local organizations. A county or region can be specified.

Budgeting & Financial Planning

1----Ric Edelman. Pertinent, plainly-worded information is this site's strong point. You may want to read more about pension maximization, however.
2----CBS Marketwatch. Check this link often since the content is updated frequently.
3----CNN/Money. Wide-ranging information that is consistently current--and consistently practical. For instance, their well-constructed ultimate retirement guide. They do annual updates on their best places to retire.
4----Consumer Information Catalog. Ten important questions to ask if you're interviewing financial planners to find the one that's right for you.
5----Retirement Calculators. Makes it easy to look at various pre- and post-retirement budgeting scenarios.
6----Retirement Confidence Survey. If you're looking for simplified information, check the press release for any year. Each year's Findings has detailed information. [What is your retirement-saving personality type and why should you care? See the Fact Sheets in the 2002 link to find out.]
7----Social Insecurity. Age 65 isn't a defining Social Security event for many. Understanding your life expectancy can help you make informed decisions about retirement in general and social security in particular.
8----MRDs. Current law requires that once you reach age 70-and-a-half you must begin making taxable withdrawals from many retirement plans or suffer substantial penalties! Use this calculator to determine your required minimum distribution (MRD). Read more about MRDs.
9----Payout Plan. Your company pension payout options can be highly confusing, so also take the time to look at Understanding Your Pension Options and What's Right for You and One Lump or Many for even more clarification.
10----Staying Solvent. Make your retirement money last a lifetime.

Consumer Complaints

11----Federal Consumer Protection Agencies. Easy access to categorized information.
12----Where to Complain. The appropriate agency to contact for many consumer problems.
13----AG's Consumer Protection. The Consumer Protection Division of the Missouri Attorney General's Office aggressively works to protect the rights of the elderly. Hotline toll-free number and complaint form.

Early Retirement

14----Six Retirement Keys. Start thinking ahead about how you'll take your pension, how you'll structure your Social Security--and how you'll spend your time.
15----Full Retirement Age. Many of us plan for an unrealistically short retirement, forgetting how long we might live. If we retire early, the consequences of such shortsightedness are magnified even further!
16----When to Begin. This article take a hardheaded look at the Social Security implications of early retirement. And run the numbers in this thoughtful analysis.
17----Self Assessment. A retirement transition questionnaire that goes beyond financial planning.
18----Retirement Readiness Rating. This quiz may help you flag some action items that have been neglected or overlooked!
19----Readiness Calculator. Do you think IRA refers to your cousin Ira? If you score less than 16 points on this entertaining quiz, early retirement (or any kind of retirement) might not be in your immediate future.

Education

20----Continuing Education for Seniors. Learning should be a lifelong endeavor. Drury University's Institute for Mature Learning provides a lowcost variety of opportunities, while About.com Lifelong Learning has some interesting possibilities.
21----College Retirement Community. Living in a community of life-long learners.
22----Senior Citizen Fee Waiver Program. Participants will be admitted to Missouri State University as non degree-seeking students. AARP has an interesting article on how and why older adults learn about new things.

Employment

23----Senior Community Service Employment Program or AARP SCSEP. These sites describe a part-time program for low-income persons age 55 or over. Program participants work at community and government agencies.
24----Retired Brains. Connect with employers seeking to hire retiring or retired persons.
25----Got Your Gold Watch?. For many, it makes sense to stay in the workforce.
26----Working After Retirement . Finding the right work situation.
27----Employment Options. Switching careers, teleworking, flex scheduling, layoff proofing, etc. Info provided by AARP.

Estate Planning / Probate Law

28----Estate Planning Links. Hundreds of well organized, time saving links. The Web provides a smorgasbord of EP choices and Forbes selects the best.
29----Estate Planning FAQs. Frequently Asked Questions covering a wide variety of estate planning topics. Click on any question to read its answer.

Housing Options

30----Administration on Aging. While 80% of adults 55 to 74 years of age own their homes, the percentage of older adults living in their home declines with age and health status. Links on this page explain the options.
31----Home Modifications Checklist. Use this checklist to spot safety problems that are particularly significant to older people.
32----Housing Choices. Under certain circumstances, for instance, homesharing may be an attractive option.
33----Housing for Seniors. Explore all the options carefully to make the right choice.

Long-Term Care

34----Long Term Care Link. "The most comprehensive source of long term care planning information ever published."
35----HealthChoice Quiz. A simple but informative multiple-choice quiz.
36----Overview. Long-term care insurance policies are not standardized, so the services covered by different companies vary greatly.

Medical Care & Gerontology

37----HealthandAge. The site's mission is to motivate and educate health-aware adults to incorporate healthy aging into their lifestyle.
38----Seniors' Health Topics. Designed to facilitate immediate and convenient access to various types of reliable health information.
39----Senior Health Information Center. Steers you away from questionable sources and toward reliable, up-to-date information.

Medicare

40----Kaiser Family Foundation overview
41----WorkWORLD overview
42----howstuffworks overview
43----Health Symphony overview. Medicare's complex structure gives it great potential for confusion and aggravation. The links above take you to sites that offer simplified overviews.
44----Medicare News. See the archive section on the right of their page for pertient Medicare stories in recent months.
45----Govt. Medicare Site. For more detailed information, here is the government's official site. Be patient--what you're looking for is probably here somewhere.

Post-Retirement Businesses

46----But Don't Bet the House. Capitalize on the qualities that a younger person wouldn't be able to bring to the table.
47----Senior Entrepreneurs. Be realistic when it comes to assessing the pros and cons.
48----Cash in Retirement. You will want to let many of the "business opportunities" touted on the Internet be somebody else's bad experience, so learn what really could meet your goals and fit your resources. Beware home-based business flop-portunities!
49----A Golden Opportunity?. Businesses that take chances start out with a strike against them.

Product / Service Evaluations

50----BizRate. Use this shopping roadmap to compare product features, look at reviews and test results, etc.
51----Comparison Shopping. Best of the Web.

Recreation & Hobbies

52----Hobby Heaven. Better, more fulfilling choices contribute to a better quality of life.
53----Retirement Hobbies. Something for everybody!
54----Enjoying Hobbies. Check out some things you've never had time to do, then follow up at the Mobile Public Library for web sites to help you live your retirement with zest.
55----Retirement with a Purpose. Tired of TV? Sow and grow some new pastimes!

Social Security

56----aarp overview
57----Free Advice overview
58----Nolo overview. Since Social Security is only somewhat less complex than Medicare, simplified explanations from the sites above are in order.
59----Govt. Social Security Site. For detailed information, to see or order publications, or to compute retirement benefits, here is the official government site.

Volunteerism / Community Service

60----AARP / Community Involvement. Explore types of organizations that need you, what community service opportunities make sense for you, etc.
61----America's Senior Volunteers. Seniors possess experience, expertise, and time that can greatly benefit a wide variety of volunteer opportunities.
62----Senior Volunteer Programs. Volunteering can provide a sense of meaning and purpose that is often greater than one experienced in a career!
63----Volunteer Opportunities. Ideas that can help you join other seniors who are making a difference in your community.

Broken links? Looking for something these links don't cover? Call Mike DePue @ Springfield-Greene County Library Center, 882-0714!

Retirement Dollars and Sense Info Resources @ The Library, May 2008