Help for downsized, outsourced and other "reluctant entrepreneurs"

Unless you’re a Wall Street titan pulling down seven-figure bonuses, you aren’t missing much at your old workplace.

USAToday reports more than half of U.S. companies are slashing bonuses. Nearly half are scaling back or eliminating raises.

Matching 401(k) contributions? Surely you jest. Those are being further reduced at 1/4 of all companies.

News like that might make you homesick for the good old, pre-meltdown days. But brother, those days are long gone. And probably gone forever.

USA Today

The word “retirement” may conjure up images of carefree days on the golf course or frolicking with the grandkids. But the reality is often tragic: boredom, depression, even early death. Let’s face it. It feels good to use your brain and muscles to perform work, especially if it feels meaningful.

A new study in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology confirms it. People who keep doing some work in their field after they retire enjoy better physical and mental health than those who stop working completely.

Rather than leaping into retirement with both feet, prospective retirees should consider so-called “bridge employment” as a transition to full retirement. It paid off for those who did. They had lower rates of major diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and arthritis than those who went into full retirement. They also reported fewer mental health problems, like depression.

Why does working work?

For one thing, it keeps us active, the way we were during our careers. It reduces the stress we might feel from a too-fast transition into full retirement. Bridge work also lets us keep some of the “role identity” we formed during our careers.

Source: Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, October 2009

Still out of work after all these months? Still no leads? Well, you’ve got plenty of company.

According to the latest government job report, the average job search now lasts over six months. That’s the longest average since 1948, when Uncle Sam started tracking unemployment in 1948 (Back around the time of of us were born.)

Here’s a great way to spend all that down time: start a little business of your own! It could be just a sideline, until a nice full-time job shows up. Or who knows,  it might take off and become your primary livelihood. Believe me, stranger things have happened.

What kind of job?

Find something you enjoy doing, then think about ways it could earn you some money. For example, could you teach it to others? You might find a lucrative sideline business, or even a full-time living, utilizing your existing knowledge, skills and experience.

Among the skills most in-demand, not surprisingly, are ones that help others get a better job, earn money, save money and save time.

Source: NPR’s Planet Money via Consumerist

Ever wonder why your boss always pushes so hard to get everybody to enroll in the company 401(k)?

It’s not just because there are very few old-fashioned “pensions” of yore. True, a 401(k) is better  than nothing at all. But if they’re honest, many experts will admit that a 401(k) has always been a pretty lousy way for employees to save for retirement.

Then why the push? Because it’s better for the boss, of course. If enough employees participate, employers are allowed to sock away a boatload of their own compensation, pre-tax.

They’re “a tax shelter for end-of-the-year bonuses for bankers,” says Nancy Hwa, spokeswoman for Retirement USA, a group working to improve retirement plans. “The 401(k) was never even intended to be a retirement plan.”

Balances are shrinking due to the stock market bust. Hardship withdrawals are increasing. And fewer companies offer any matching funds at all.

“I am an adamant believer that the 401(k) is going to be one of the biggest debacles in our history,” says Bill Schultheis, author of The New Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get on with Your Life.

More grim news here: Workers discover 401(k) plans are failing them in retirement

Humorous-but-savvy advice from Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club:

Get your author book jacket photos taken now, while you’re young.

If you’re old enough to be reading this, you probably already regret ripping up all those less-than-perfect photos taken when you were young, slim and gorgeous. (And my beautiful wife’s, even more.)

Oh yeah, the rest of Chuck’s 13 (fiction) writing tips aren’t bad, either. But this is the one that tickled me.

Source