Weekly wrap: Retirement is fun — who knew? And a plea to seniors to “unretire”

Cheerful old man having a great timeSheryl Smolkin’s Retirement Redux site passes on recent financial institution surveys that show The Majority of Retirees Enjoy Their Lifestyle. Well I should hope so, after spending decades slaving and saving for this pivotal life event!

But in this weekend’s lead editorial, on behalf of the Canadian economy, the Globe & Mail begs the nation’s seniors  to “please don’t retire yet.”  It invokes Sun Life’s Unretirement index survey reprised in Friday’s blog here at the Hub. Well, actually, Mr. Economy, there’s a lot of age prejudice in the workplace and people don’t always choose to retire.

For those just starting on their journey to financial independence, take heart from Punch Debt’s declaration that saving up The first $100,000 is the hardest. I dare say your first million is no walk in the park either!

Via Sliced Investing, The Chicago Financial Planner (aka @rwohlner) provides this primer on hedge funds.

This may not be as recent but I found an entry at Investopedia.com to be eternally relevant: it’s entitled Two Roads: Debt or Financial Independence. I choose door number 2!

A guest blog at Boomer & Echo  by The Dividend Guy gives three false reasons NOT to buy a stock: it’s trading at a 52-week high; it shows a low dividend yield; and the stock has taken a beating.

On his blog aimed at U.S. financial planners, Michael Kitces takes a look at President Obama’s proposals to eliminate required minimum distributions for those with less than $100,000, plus what could be an end to “back-door” Roth contributions.

Over at his Wheredoesallmymoneygo blog, Preet Banerjee has posted an experimental “rent versus” buy calculator for which he’s seeking feedback. So far, it seems owning a home has the edge on renting. For what it’s worth, and I know Preet has heard this because he’s read my book, “The foundation of financial independence is a paid-for home.”

Of course, not everyone agrees. Over at the Retire by 40 blog comes this article entitled Am I Crazy for Not Wanting a House? If you really want an answer, Melanie, I’d say yes, but as a long-time owner of a paid-for home, perhaps I’m biased. I like not having to come up with the monthly rent and putting up with constant rent hikes from landlords. But that’s just me.

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