Longevity & Aging

No doubt about it: at some point we’re neither semi-retired, findependent or fully retired. We’re out there in a retirement community or retirement home, and maybe for a few years near the end of this incarnation, some time to reflect on it all in a nursing home. Our Longevity & Aging category features our own unique blog posts, as well as blog feeds from Mark Venning’s ChangeRangers.com and other experts.

Debt-free in 30 podcast on Victory Lap Retirement

Posted By |
jonmikecropped
Doug Hoyes (in red), Mike Drak (C), Jon Chevreau (R)

As of Saturday morning, you can find a half-hour podcast conducted by Debt-free in 30’s Doug Hoyes about the new book, Victory Lap Retirement.

My co-author, Mike Drak, and I were in Waterloo last week to tape the session and sign a few books.

Click on the highlighted text here to listen to Victory Lap Retirement. EXCLUSIVE First Podcast Interview.

Or you can scroll down below for a lightly edited transcript of the proceedings.

But first, here’s an overview written by Doug Hoyes, co-founder of insolvency trustees Hoyes Michalos:

DougHoyesCanadaTrustee
Doug Hoyes

Doug Hoyes:

Today’s podcast is the first ever podcast interview with Jonathan Chevreau and Mike Drak together, talking about their new book Victory Lap Retirement.  This is so exclusive an interview that the book won’t even be officially released until October 10, 2016 but it is available for pre-order at amazon.ca, and the Kindle version is available now.

Jonathan was a guest back on Show #5 where we discussed his previous book, Findependence Day.

Mike Drak created the concept of a Victory Lap as an alternative to retirement, and teamed up with Jonathan to write their new book.

So what is a Victory Lap?

You will have to read the book for a full description, but as Jonathan and Mike and I discussed the concept of retirement has changed significantly.  Our grandparents and parents had a good chance of working at the same company until aged 65, and then retiring with a full pension before dying at age 70.

Today almost no-one works at the same company for their entire working life, and most employers no longer offer full pensions, so the old fashioned view of retirement at age 65 with a full pension is no longer reality for most workers.

Instead, we are working longer, and living longer.

The essence of Victory Lap Retirement is to leave corporate employment, which usually entails working for someone else, and enter a new and different phase of your life.

Mike and Jonathan wrote Victory Lap Retirement to show readers how to transition from a high stress work environment to a low stress sustainable lifestyle to enjoy a happier, healthier life.  For many, that may involve turning a hobby or passion into income during your “retirement” years, or working part time to “stay involved.”

Debt and Retirement

Debt is a prominent subject in Victory Lap Retirement, including this quote:

…make breaking free from the chains of debt your first priority.  Not only will debt limit your financial freedom severely, it will suck the life right out of you.

As we discussed, debt and retirement don’t mix.  When you retire your income decreases, so it’s likely you won’t be able to afford payments on a mortgage or other debt in retirement.  Get out of debt long before retirement.

Unfortunately that’s not always possible, which is why seniors are the fastest growing age group of people filing bankruptcy and consumer proposals. Older debtors, aged 50 and older, now account for 30% of all insolvency filings, up from 27% two years ago, and that number keeps growing.

Senior debtors, people aged 60 and over, have the highest amount of unsecured debt of any age group when they go bankrupt, almost $70,000.  A growing percentage of them even resort to payday loans to stay afloat.

If you’ve got debt, retirement is very difficult.  If you have trouble making your debt payments while you are working, it may be impossible to keep up when you retire and your income drops, which is why we all agree that eliminating debt is essential long before retirement.

In addition to eliminating debt, Mike and Jonathan suggest you ask yourself “what do I like to do?” and start planning your Victory Lap now. 

For more, listen to the podcast or read the transcript.

Transcript: 

Continue Reading…

8 reasons you may get turned down for Life Insurance

Posted By |

Depositphotos_111789972_s-2015By Chantal Marr, LSM Insurance

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

For some people, getting the life insurance coverage they need is not easy. Factors such as health conditions and lifestyle choices play an important role in determining whether or not a company sees you as a qualified candidate. Lying on your application to hide potentially damaging facts won’t help. It might get you a great policy at prime rates, but when it comes down to filing a claim, the insurance company will discover the truth, and your claim will be denied.

We reached out to Gisèle Babineau, Chief Underwriter with Assumption Life, for the most common reasons a person may be denied life insurance coverage. The reasons for being declined vary from one company to another, and there is also a significant gap between a re-insurer and insurer because many insurers do not shop their declines with their re-insurers. However, in general, these are the most common reasons why an application may not be approved.

Medical Reasons

A medical condition under investigation

If you have some symptoms of an illness or disease, but all of the results aren’t in yet, your medical condition is considered under or pending investigation. During this period, you are considered a high risk applicant and the insurance company may deny coverage or delay their decision. Once you are cleared of any possible long-term illness or disease, the company will probably approve your application or ask you to re-apply with the new doctor’s report.

High grade cancers

Cancer can develop in any part of the body. Where it occurs determines its type. For example, lung cancer develops in the lungs. All types begin as a tumor and how the affected tissue looks under a microscope indicates how quickly the tumor cells will grow and spread. Based on the appearance and other factors, doctors can assign a numerical “grade.”

The grade of the cancer is not the same as the stage. Stages refer to the size or extent of spread. Malignant tumors are very low grade and almost always can be completely removed. High grade cancers tend to grow quickly and spread rapidly, putting your life at a higher risk.

Nervous disorders Continue Reading…

The Mind-Body Connection: How Stress affects your Health

Posted By |

Beautiful positive girl clothing in white sit at the seaside on the rock and meditating in yoga poseBy Sandy Cardy

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Researchers have long known that there is a strong link between stress and overall health. In fact, the American Psychological Association suggests that we’re on the verge of a stress-induced public health crisis. The American Medical Association has also noted that 80 per cent of health issues are stress related! So how does stress affect your health?

It’s no secret that the mind plays a key role in health. Internalized stress equals dis-ease. But it actually goes beyond just stress. At the core of every symptom is an emotional pattern; the body speaks the mind. Trapped emotions in the nervous system are at the root of what ails us. Some sources believe that the liver is known to be connected to anger and the lungs produce emotions of grief. The emotions that we do not respect, honour and release are stored in anatomical sites and consequently can affect physiology, often leading to dis-ease and dis-comfort.

Did you know that the seven chakras are associated with specific body parts? Modern literature from both Western and Eastern cultures highlight the connection between each chakra and the endocrine and nervous system as well as organs. Additionally, each chakra is connected to mental and emotional issues as well as physical dysfunctions.

The first chakra, which is located at the base of the spine, is connected to the physical body by the spinal column, legs, bones, feet, rectum and immune system. This is emotionally and mentally connected to physical family and group safety and security, the ability to provide for life’s necessities, the ability to stand up for self, feeling at home and social and familial law and order. The physical dysfunctions associated with the first chakra are touted to include chronic lower back pain, sciatica, varicose veins, rectal tumours/cancer, depression, immune-related disorders. Continue Reading…

How the Age of Longevity will change your life and mine

Posted By |
100-plus-book
100 Plus by Sonia Arrison (SingularityHub.com)

One of dozens of books I read for a  talk I gave on how Longevity Changes Everything is entitled 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity will Change Everything, from Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith.

The author, Sonia Arrison, challenges the reader to at least open one’s mind to the possibility of human beings reaching the age of 150, which of course is a good 30 years longer than the age reached by modern centenarians, although still much less than the biblical Methusalah, Noah et al.

Certainly, as I was reading at the same time Moshe Milevsky’s new second edition of Pensionize Your Nest Egg, I was conscious of the financial implications of breakthroughs in human longevity. Milevsky’s preferred form of “Longevity Insurance” is life annuities and new hybrid variations of Variable Annuities that provide both stock market exposure and some guarantees and mortality credits provided by insurance companies.

Financial implications of Longevity

Continue Reading…

Will an expanded CPP speed your Findependence Day?

Posted By |

cpp_image2Lots of media coverage this week about the (relatively) modest expansion of the Canada Pension Plan. As I noted in the print edition of Wednesday’s Financial Post (and online), this isn’t going to help almost-retired baby boomers in any material fashion but it’s certainly a welcome development for the generations that follow, including the Boomers’ own kids.

I note that quite independently, the Globe & Mail’s Rob Carrick was equally in favour of the changes: We can’t afford NOT to make these changes.

(Added Thursday: My take on this for Motley Fool Canada can be found by clicking on this highlighted headline: CPP Expansion Too Late for Boomers but a Win for their Children.)

As I speculated in the headline of sister site FindependenceDay.com, you could argue that a slightly sweeter CPP package of benefits should at least marginally speed up the arrival of the Millennials’ collective Findependence Day. However, I also noted that — as in my own case — there is still an incentive to delay the receipt of CPP benefits. In a way, Boomers who don’t take “early” CPP at 60 and opt to wait until closer to 70 are choosing to almost double their ultimate benefits.

There’s still an incentive to delay receipt of benefits

Continue Reading…