Briefs:
- Reverse Mortgage considerations from Squared Away Blog
- Americans Top 3 Retirement Planning Regrets
- Christie Brinkley on Ageism in Modeling
Home Equity Offers Big Boost to Retirees
From the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College’s Squared Away Blog. “Financial Behavior: Work, Save, Retire”
Retirees’ primary sources of income are the usual suspects: Social Security and employer retirement plans. They rarely use a third option: the equity locked up in their homes.
The Urban Institute recently quantified how much this untapped equity could be worth to seniors in the United States and 10 European countries if it were converted to income – and the amounts are significant.
Top 3 Retirement Planning Regrets
a survey by Global Atlantic Financial Group. Here are Americans’ top three retirement-planning regrets.
- Not Saving Enough – Of course this is the obvious answer. An estimated 36% of retirees believe they didn’t save adequately for their golden years. There are some positive opportunities if you are still working and can actively work on your 401K.
- Relying Too Heavily on Social Security – Let’s face it, if you do the math most people wouldn’t be able to make it on Social Security alone. If your savings aren’t plentiful enough it’s good to know that Social Security will replace only about 40% of your pre-retirement income as an average earner.
- Not Paying Down Debt Before Retirement – Get rid of that credit card debt first. Chances are they will have a higher interest rate than a home mortgage.
Christie Brinkley, 64, Cautions Against Ageism in Modeling: ‘My Age Group Matters’
From People Magazine, model Christie Brinkley spoke out on ageism in her profession. She was quoted while promoting injectable procedures meant to remove frown lines and skin “lifters.”
“I have to constantly be reminding people that my age group matters, that we are relevant, and that we want to be represented,”
“As an older woman in modeling, I think there is a little bit of a ‘maybe we can get her at less of a price because she’s an older model,’” she said. “But I’d like to remind everybody that we are 100 percent as relevant as anyone else.”
Heidi Klum also had plenty to say during a recent appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
“Sometimes people say, ‘You know you’re 44, you’re turning 45, why are you not giving the baton to someone else?’ But I always think there’s a lot of women my age 50, 60, 70. What, do we have an expiration date? Can we not also still feel sexy? I feel sexy,”
Home button by Ivan on Flickr
Colorful homes photo by Joseph Voves on Flickr
