I've made a few attempts at reviving it, as have several others, but it just doesn't seem to work. No body seems interested in posting on a regular basis.

I am not looking at retirement for another 8 years, but it surprises me that this forum is so little used. I would think that deciding on where to live, how to get around, how to manage money, how to manage health are all things that are shaded by retirement so that this is the more appropriate forum than the specific ones I have mentioned. Here's a question: How about AARP?. Do you belong? Why or why not? How has it helped you if it has. Have you taken up any of their offers for insurance or the like?

To me, it seems like AARP just wants to sell you something all the time. Good news--card gives you 15% discount on motels most of the time, and magazine and newsletter does have some good articles. As to all the insurance stuff, including medical, it is best to check with others, before just jumping in. If you have an active club chapter in your area, you might go to it for information. The organization does sponsor a Driving Alive program, which does give you a small % off on your insurance, and does point out some pitfalls as we get older as to driving. A lot does depend on your teacher, and how the class stays on track during the meetings. I have not used the insurance, but for seniors completly without insurance, this could be a alternative. If you start now planning for retirement, you will enjoy it better. We started traveling way before we retired, (RV) and now cannot do as much, but the memories are there. Please feel free to emai me for further information.

I certainly hope that it is not discontinued. I haven't used it much because it is so slow, but it could be a very valuable forum as well as a great place to meet other retired folks. Let's try to keep it going.
Lu

I sure hope not! I still have a lot of reading & posting to do. Give me about 3 months to catch up, then you can do as you please. ;-)

I really think that this forum could be a great place to seek advice and to keep in touch with the latest retirement goodies...I wish it were more active...

Thanks Ruthie G for your input today on various threads.

I don't have much to add except to encourage others in staying happy regardless of the circumstances they find themselves in. I'm so glad you posted Happy New Year.

There was a great discussion on over 55 communities on the "Buying and Selling Homes" forum. I suspect it was posted there because that site gets so much action. They had 25 responses in no time at all. I don't know how you attract new viewers to a forum once it has slowed down. My daughter asked me to pose a plumbing question and I posted it under new home construction because I knew more people would respond from that site than if I had posted in plumbing. Maybe we should respond to folks who post retirement questions on other forums and ask them to double post. I know that double posting is generally frowned on, but I don't know how else to revive this.

Last year I offered a Christmas gift to all on the "Money Saving Tips" forum, offered the same idea this year on "Household Finances", with a post on "Saving" to suggest that anyone who hadn't seen it on "Saving" last year could find it at HF.

I do hope that this forum is not discontinued - there is so much that we seniors can offer one another.

It seems to me important that we not only keep our body in good shape with exercise (honoured more in the avoidance than in the observance in my own case, I fear) but that we exercise our mind, as well.

Sort of like a muscle - use it or lose it.

Remember how lazy your muscles had become after spending only a few days in bed when you were ill?

Good wishes for continued good health through your retirement.

And for a great and memorable New Year.

joyful guy

Well the last post was January 6th and I am glad this forum was not discontinued. Do you think maybe this forum would be busier if it was a free forum. I am sure alot of people lurk but are not able to post because they have not paid membership fees. I still have a few years til DH and I retire, and I am sure I can get some valuable information on this forum.

Linda

Hi Tonylyn,

Greetings - and welcome to this place.

Though a number who particpiate here are active in other forums, as well, that's not the issue. Would a number of people who now just read add by writing, if they could do so without paying the annual fee?

There's been a major change in the system recently, for Spike has sold his share of the system to some other entity in the field of information technology, so we have yet to learn what rules they may put in place.

If you have some specific questions, shoot - we'll try our best to offer our ideas and opinions.

Some financial advisors suggest that one should have a large kitty on hand at the time or retirement, but others say that they doubt this to be necessary.

It'll be much more important, I think, if one lacks a fairly stable pension backing when one retires.

A few months ago I suggested that some personal messages that some of us could learn from the Enron, Worldcom and other corpporate debacles in recent years are:

-if you have bought shares in the company that you work for, probably trade them for shares in other quality companies when they are released.

Though many are quite well aware of how well their company is doing, many of the lower-level employees of those scoundrel companies thought that their companies were going great guns - till the very end.

-if your company has a pension system, best have it managed by an outside company. When the employer manages it, sometimes they add sucbstantial funds in years of high profit and little when markets are not so good.

But - if the company is in serious trouble, whether real or manufactured, in many cases where they are in charge of the pension, frequently they withdraw those assets, leaving the pension system flat broke.

So - employees lose their jobs.

The shares in their company that they thought had value ... are worthless.

And the pension system that they depended on for funding a comfortable retirement ... is broke.

A really tough spot to be in, if one is age fifty or higher. Not so good if one is younger, but one has the possibility of at least partial recovery.

Though high-profile Martha Stewart spent some time in jail for a much lower level of skullduggery than that practised by many of the company bosses ...

... I haven't heard of any of them going to jail, have you?

Nice to be part of the "old boy" network.

Good wishes to all for success in being a good, and questioning, citizen.

joyful guy

Discontinued? That figures, I just found it. It's like finding a color of lipstick you like - it's gone, a shoe that fits - it's no longer made, a sweet bread that's the tastiest- no longer retail. The world moves too quickly, has no patience, if it doesn't produce right now - it's no good.
jan

rie, Please talk about it here. That may be one reason the forum is slow, if people are emailing individuals instead of the group.
I agree with Tx, zo and Way, the forum can offer some great helps.
bb, if you were to start a new thread with that question, more people would see it than if it is buried in another's thread - which BTW is call "hijacking" their thread.
ful, Sounds somewhat like NW Airlines doesn't it? As for DH and I, neither of us has a pension. I was a part-time nurse and later a chaplain making next to nothing and sometimes it was actually volunteer work. But now, all we have is SS whoopee and our own investments which took a hard hit.
jan

I think any information about retirement issues is valuable to all that come here...In the past I believe there was a charge to join which I'm sure put off a lot of folks...Other retirement sites do well..(EARLY RETIREMENT FORUM) for instance...So let's give this site another chance...

Regards,
John

I'm glad that the membership fee is no longer required; I've lurked in the past but couldn't post a question till recently.

Last month, I left my job (of 25 years), and I'm not sure whether to call it "retirement" or not (I may freelance, but right now I'm still taking a break). I have lots of questions on how to adjust to an unscheduled lifestyle, how to deal with finances and insurance, etc. I'd like to hear more from others in the planning or transition phase, as well as from those who've settled into retirement.

I do wish there was a Search function on this forum; it's pretty tedious to read through all the old posts, especially when you know they're ancient. But it does seem to be a friendly bunch of folks!

Sue

This is a good thread! I certainly hope the forum stays put... I just found it because hubby wants to retire early and we need information! Joyful!!! I would love it if you would post more about what you know regarding cashing in stock options and spreading around to other companies... etc. (we have not done it yet because it's making us money at the moment).... We are complete idiots about what we need to do. Scarey, huh?

LindaTmd,

As I'm a Canadian, I can't give you info re tax situation relative to cashing stock options in the U.S.

As I'm not as familiar with the ins and outs of it here as I'd like to be, really should beg off regarding giving information to Canadians, either - though I think that I could source some info for them).

You can make money faster relative to your amount invested in options than owning the stock (as long as they are going up).

If they go down, they depreciate fairly heavily, too.

If the price of the stock goes below your exercise price, of course, their value is very low (or nil). But you wouldn't have wanted to exercise them, for the value of the underlying stock would have gone down, as well.

You need to keep in mind their expiry date, especially if they are "in the money" - that is, have value. Even if they do, if you don't exercise them by the expiry date, on the next day they are ...

... worthless.

If you have specific questions, I'll try to answer, or maybe can find some info for you. But doubt whether I can find much relative to tax issues re stock options for U.S. residents.

Learning how money works is an interesting hobby - that pays well.

And, like school, you don't learn it all at once.

Check your library - there's a wealth of excellent books: start with the simpler ones, progress to more complex issues.

Don't be embarrassed to ask: many who are knowledgeable appreciate helping oters become more literate financially.

A question for you - in the money game, who benefits from inflation? Who loses?

o j

MT - There is a search box for this forum, at the bottom of the previous page.

Carol

Ahh, there it is! I see the search box now, Carol. Thanks for pointing it out. On the other forums I frequent, there's a link at the top, next to links for "Other Forums" and "Instructions," so it didn't occur to me to look at the bottom of the page here.

Sue

It's a year since the original post asking *the question*. Personally I'd like to see it remain but believe it may perhaps fare better (be more active) if it was not deposited under a Finance Header which gives the idea it's about finances in retirement. Many questions/threads don't relate to finance at all. One would think, with all the BB's retiring now & in the coming years, this could be a more active forum.