HOW TO RETIRE GRACEFULLY

Happy day to all my readers and visitors,


Trust you find this article well and beneficial to you.




It is everyone's dream to retire gracefully. The question is should we do so as to achieve it. Why so many people fail to achieve it? Is it very difficult to achieve it?

In this article, I am going to give you some insight as how to work towards it. Which are the core areas you should address before you decide to retire. Here, I am going to discuss these issues in detail so as you can begin to prepare them in advance before your golden age.

1. Your children must be financially independent.

Unless you are financially sound, you can not retire gracefully should your children be still dependent on you. Alternatively, you must be able to generate sufficient and adequate passive income to be able to support your lifestyle and your dependents.

2. You have zero debts

Debts can kill unless you can manage them well. If you are a financial wizard and are able to use the debts to generate income which exceeds the cost of borrowing and at the same time be able to generate cash inflow more than sufficient to settle its due installment. Otherwise, the penalty and the late interest payment will add to your outstanding debts. Should you be unable to pay the installment and interest, the loan may be recalled. Thus, you have to settle the whole sum. To avoid putting yourself in this predicament, be sure to settle all your debts before you retire.

3. You have enough savings to support your lifestyle for the rest of your life

In most cases, you may not have much income after you retire, unless you have passive income. As such, you must have adequate amount of savings that can support your lifestyle for the rest of your life. Here, you must also ensure that your savings take into account of rate of inflation. You are encouraged to have a few safety plans to cater for other contingencies.

4.  Know exactly what you can do during your retirement.

Some people are not able to cope well with the sudden change in their life patterns.  Retirement is not as simple as you think. Some may think that they will have the time to travel and see the world. However, most of them can do it initially, but later they may run out of ideas.

For those who enjoy sport, they might think that it is a golden opportunity for them to play their favorite game. However, most of them may no longer be fit enough or they may have difficulty to find their buddies to play with.

Buddies are also needed for other games such as mahjong, badminton, trekking and karaoke.Most of them have difficulty finding those they can click to and share their favorite games. Playing/singing alone is not fun. Thus you must form your own sports/games groups BEFORE you retire. You need to identify your buddies, play with them and discover whether they can click with you.

For the less sporty, reading may sound like a great idea, but you must truly enjoy it.. Otherwise, you may find it boring after a few pages and end up napping most of the time! Even if you have the hobby right now, you may not find it enjoyable later on.

You still need to stay active during your retirement period. Bear in mind the fact that most of our routine work activities are either planned or dictated by others. It will be entirely a different ball game. When you retire, you need to establish your own routine activities.

A good routine that can keep your body, mind and spirit sharpen are as follows:

a) Physical sport - you need to stay healthy to enjoy your retirement. If you are the non-sporty type, you should at least try to clean your home yourself without mechanical aids. Dancing and baby sitting are other good alternatives.

b) Mind stimulating activity - you need to stimulate your mind to stay active. However, mind stimulating activities are hard to identify. To acquire them successfully, you will not only need the will of doing something useful with the rest of your life, but also a mindset change and the discipline to carry it through.

c) Social activity - try you best to choose activities involving lots of friends/neighbours. Unless you prefer to be alone, you need friends more than ever as you get older. They may give you moral and spiritual support, if you are in need.

d) Community services activities - it is noble for you to give back to the society to show your appreciation of  what you have been benefiting from throughout your life, so as to leave some kind of legacy.

After retiring, you still need to maintain a balance between amusing yourself and your family members. Do capitalize your spare time with opportunities that will come your way like responding to an unexpected request to do a job or to take advantage of cheap fares to visit an exhibitions/places..

You may turn to your one-off activities list when you are bored at times, despite having a busy routine.  These include anniversaries, trips, visits friends and relatives abroad, re-doing your home, attending conferences (related to your hobbies), acquiring a new set of expertise.

Retirement is a serious business. Never take it lightly. If you can afford to retire and want to, prepare to live life to the fullest. You need to be fit to enjoy it - therefore get into shape now. You do not want to get up daily and wonder what to do, therefore identify your set of routine activities now and try them out to confirm that they are the activities that you will be looking forward to doing. Your one-off activities list of "rewards" or "projects" or "challenges" is needed to help you break away from the routine, thereby make life worth living.

Start listing what you fancy and refine it as you chug along in your retirement. You will have so much fun; that you wish you have retired since you turned 21!

Wishing you health and happiness,

James Oh

Distinguish USED and LOVED clearly

Happy day to all of you,

I am so excited to share this short story with all of you. Trust it will give a great significant benefits to you.

USED vs LOVED

While a man was polishing his new car, his four year old son picked up a stone and scratched lines on the side of the car.

In anger, the man took the child's hand and hit it many times not realizing he was using a wrench.

At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures.

When the child saw his father..... with painful eyes he asked, 'Dad when will my fingers grow back?'
The man was so hurt and speechless; he went back to his car and kicked it a lot of times.

Devastated by his own actions...... sitting in front of that car he looked at the scratches; the child had written 'LOVE YOU DAD'.

The next day that man committed suicide. . .

Anger and Love have no limits;
choose the latter to have a beautiful, lovely life & remember this:
Things are to be used and people are to be loved.
The problem in today's world is that people are used while things are loved.

Let's try always to keep this thought in mind:
Things are to be used,
People are to be loved.

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character;
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Please feel free to pass off this blog to your friends who are pursuing health and happiness.

Thanks for your time and kindly forward your feedback either via comment or email. Thank you in advance.

Stay tuned and seeing you again.

Wishing you health and happiness,

James Oh

Count Your Blessings

Dear my loving readers and visitors,

Trust you will find this article well. See what Typhoon Morakot can done for us. So, how blessed are you not been affected by it.

After forming as a tropical depression over the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 km east of the Philippines on August 2nd, Typhoon Morakot built in power and moved quickly west. Over the past several days, the storm has passed over the Philippines, Taiwan and Mainland China, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage due to high winds, flooding and mudslides. Southeast China evacuated nearly 1 million people ahead of the storm, after Morakot broke many records in Taiwan, dumping a total of 2.5 meters (100 inches) of rain on the island. At least 40 people are known to have died so far, but hundreds remain missing - many from one village in Taiwan, reportedly engulfed by a mudslide during the storm.

A woman watches waves triggered by Typhoon Morakot batter the shore in Wenling, Zhejiang Province August 7, 2009.

Two villagers walk in a flooded village in Cangnan county, eastern China Sunday Aug. 9, 2009.

Flood waters brought by Typhoon Morakot submerge a house in Chiatung, Pingtung county, in southern Taiwan, on August 9, 2009.

Residents gather to remove a fallen tree blocking a road in Changle, in southeast China's Fujian province on August 8, 2009 as Typhoon
Morakot hits mainland China.

An elderly man is carried from a helicopter to a high school in Chishan, in Taiwan's Kaohsiung county on August 10, 2009 after being airlifted from the

southern village of Shiao Lin.

Water flows past a severely eroded embankment near a damaged bridge that previously linked Pingtung and Kaohsiung, in southern Taiwan on August 9, 2009.

 

A man stands on a roof as he awaits rescue in heavy flooding in Taimali, south-eastern Taiwan's Taitung county on August 8, 2009 during Typhoon Morakot.

A hotel building leans before falling in a heavily flooded river after Typhoon Morakot hit Taitung county, Taiwan, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009. The six-story hotel collapsed

and plunged into the river Sunday morning after floodwaters eroded its base - all 300 people in the hotel had been evacuated and uninjured, officials said.

 

Paramilitary policemen stand on a pile of sandbags at a section of Yangjia Stream of Xiapu county in Ningde, Fujian province August 10, 2009.

A flooded area of Cangnan county of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China after Typhoon Morakot passed by, on August 10, 2009.

A resident pulls a box of groceries across a flooded street after Typhoon Morakot hit parts of Zhejiang province in China on August 10, 2009.

A resident pulls a makeshift raft to transport two girls across a flooded street after Typhoon Morakot struck Cangnan county, in China's Zhejiang province,

August 10, 2009.

A woman, taking shelter from Typhoon Morakot, rests in a temporary evacuation centre in Chiatung, in southern Taiwan's Pingtung county on August 9, 2009.

Rescuers are seen before a Taoist temple inundated in floodwaters brought by Typhoon Morakot in Chiatung, southern Taiwan, on August 9, 2009.

A girl is carried out from mudslide caused by Typhoon Morakot in Chiashien, Kaohsiung county, in southern Taiwan, on August 10, 2009.

A massive landslide is seen across a mountain road in Pingtung county, southern Taiwan, Monday, Aug. 10, 2009.

A storm-damaged bridge in Chiashien, southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung county, seen on August 10, 2009.

Rescuers try to reach a man who is stranded by floods as Typhoon Morakot approaches in Shanghai, China on August 9, 2009.

A Philippine Coastguard rescuer helps a colleague while crossing a flooded area with strong current in Botolan town in northern Philippines August 7, 2009.

The town of Botolan was submerged in floodwaters on Friday after a dike collapsed at the height of Typhoon Morakot.

Evacuees sit on top of a military vehicle as rescuers search the flooded area for people after rains brought by Typhoon Morakot inundated the area in

Chiatung, Pingtung county, in southern Taiwan, on August 9, 2009.

 

Residents make their way across a flooded street on a makeshift raft after Typhoon Morakot hit Cangnan county of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China on

August 10, 2009.

An aerial view of flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot in Chiatung, Taiwan.

A distraught woman waits for word of her missing father from Shiao Lin village, which was covered in a landslide from Typhoon Morakot in Kaohsiung

county, southern Taiwan, at a rescue landing zone on Monday, Aug. 10, 2009.

People row a dragon boat to commute through a flooded area in Cangnan county, in east China's Zhejiang province, Monday Aug. 10, 2009.

A railroad bridge damaged by Typhoon Morakot is seen in Taitung, eastern Taiwan August 8, 2009.

Rescuers try to pull a stranded car out of floodwater in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China on August 9, 2009.

Driftwood and debris fills Fugang Harbor after Typhoon Morakot hit Taitung county, eastern Taiwan, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009.

A man carries a baby as a family is rescued from flooding brought by Typhoon Morakot in Chiatung, Pingtung county, in southern Taiwan, on August 9, 2009.

Paramilitary policemen pilot a motorboat through a flooded village in Cangnan county, eastern China Sunday Aug. 9, 2009.

A man trapped by floods gestures at rescuers delivering food and drinking water after Typhoon Morakot hit Pingtung county, southern Taiwan August 9, 2009.

A collapsed apartment block lies on a river bed in Taimali, in southeast Taiwan's Taitung county on August 10, 2009.

A worker sits behind a pile of sandbags as pumps empty floodwater from a workshop after Typhoon Morakot hit Fuzhou, Fujian province August 9, 2009.

Local residents try to catch fish at a flooded fish pond as Typhoon Morakot approaches in Xiapu county of Ningde, Fujian province, China on August 9, 2009.

A man walks on sandbags used to patch a damaged dike holding back a rising river in a flooded village in Cangnan county, eastern China Sunday

Aug. 9, 2009.

So, count our blessings and stay focus on Him. Do not let the surrounding events to sidetrack your walk, but move on with our lives.  

James Oh

Quick Glance at What your body need

Very happy day all my loving readers and visitors,

Trust you will find this article well and I'm so excited to share with you a simple yet powerful diagram to serve as a quick guide for your good health.


To enlarge the diagram, please click at the diagram below.

Please feel free to pass off this blog to your friends who are pursuing health and happiness.

Wishing you health and happiness

James Oh