Baby Boomer Retirement Plans and Retirement

Medicare and You 2009: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
A must read info for 2009 retirees by Michael Okerlund Leavitt, American Secretary of Health and Human Services. It tells everything like it is from inside out. An official look you can rarely get.

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The old, traditional idea is that senior citizens do not have to work; they can sit back and enjoy the fruits of years of labor while the young take care of them. The generation of baby boomers created a long of change in the world. Now they are drawing closer to the age of retirement and soon will be retiring in large numbers. Is it possible to imaging them spending a leisurely life at home, doing nothing?
The generation of baby boomers is know for their uniqueness. They have redefined and reshaped several aspects of social culture. They made their presence felt in the past, and they will surely do so again in the future. Right from the beginning, baby boomers have thought differently and made different types of choices and decisions. Getting old has not changed them in any way.
Close to retirement, they are faced with making a big personal choice again. They have to either retire in the traditional way or continue in the workforce. Being a baby boomer, he or she will probably prefer to remain in the workforce as long as possible. In fact, about 76 percent of working baby boomers intend to extend their stay in the workforce although they have reached the age of retirement.

Most senior citizens consider retirement as the end . However, baby boomers consider it to be the most important phase of their lives. This does not mean that baby boomers want to continue working at a nine-to-five job till the end of their lives. Some of them would prefer to work part time, and others want to pursue their dreams of starting an enterprise of their own. Some baby boomers want to take a break and enjoy a life of leisure after working for so many years; others would love to travel because, after all, they have made enough money to spend on traveling.
Several external factors have shaped these decisions made by baby boomers. For one, baby boomers comprise the largest section of the population. America's labor force will be greatly depleted if they retire in large numbers, and the state will find it extremely difficult to pay out so many retirement benefits.

Medical costs are soaring. Companies expect a ten percent annual increase of boomers seeking medical products or services where they can save or pay on medical costs or services.
These factors greatly influence a baby boomer's decision. They can't depend on their children because their children might have their own families to take care of. Baby boomer retirement, therefore, is a cause for concern not only for baby boomers, but also for the sate.
Baby boomers impact the country's economy in a large way. They were responsible for the rapid rise of American economy when they were working and spending powerfully back in the nineties. When they quit the workforce in large numbers, the country's economy is bound to suffer. The United States and other countries are now faced with this powerful challenge. And companies and organization have already come up with some solutions.
Baby boomers are more interested in self-welfare than in anything else. A boomer does not really take the other into consideration while he or she makes a decision. If baby boomers decide to extend their stay in the workforce or quit and start businesses of their own, no force on earth can convince them to change their mind.

Baby boomers have led such active and eventful lives that they feel retirement is quite absurd. Yet retirement has become a reality, more so now that the baby boomers are in their fifties and sixties. Now it is time to seriously think about retirement and its significance for us.
Traditionally, people consider retirement with relief and joy. Most people look forward to living the rest of their lives comfortably and peacefully. The vision of sleeping late, participating in sports such as golf or fishing, taking up hobbies that they had put off for a long time, and living a leisurely life is alluring indeed.
Retirement can also bring a lot of fear and anxiety. If a baby boomer is drawing close to the age of retirement and has not yet done anything to prepare himself or herself financially for retirement or has still not reached his or her career goals, retiring is not a pleasant idea.

Baby boomers like to be prepared for everything; they hate being caught unawares. They did not have the privilege of working under employers who were loyal to them and wanted to keep them employed for long years. Naturally, they cannot expect a hefty retirement packet from their employers. But, thanks to their nature of preparing themselves for everything, they have prepared well for their retirement.
Many of them are members of the AARP, which offers a number of opportunities and resources to enable baby boomers to create a more financially secure future for themselves. The fact that they received absolutely no benefits from previous employers, therefore, does not make much of a difference. For baby boomers, however, becoming financially secure is not the be-all and end-all of life.
A popular myth that surrounds retirement is that it marks the end of a person's productive life.
The idea of living leisurely, allowing younger people to provide for us, is neither appealing nor healthy. People are happiest when they are creative, productive, useful, and when they are trying to achieve a goal. It has been observed that if a senior citizen retires and ceases to participate in life, his or her will to live declines. Their life, therefore, ends sooner than it is intended to end.
Many baby boomers are still financial set back, which might require them to work well beyond their retirement age. This could actually be a blessing in disguise. It will give baby boomers an extension on life and enable them to live a longer, healthier, and more productive life. Baby boomers who actually retire have dreams of a second career more suited to their taste and age.
Besides, a second career would also bring in a steady stream of revenue.
If you are a retired baby boomer, you could revive your interest in a cause that you have felt strongly about. Throughout their lives, baby boomers have fought for one cause or the other.
The best way for most of them to spend their retirement years is to become activists and work toward creating a better world. After all, they had done the same in their youth, when they were pursuing their college degrees.
Baby boomers will make the world a wonderful place to live in only if they remain active and productive all their lives.