The Means AND the Ends

The Means AND The Ends is the recognition that "getting there" is at least as important as where you're going. These posts are a curated collection of articles I've written as well as interesting finds that can be serious, humorous, and sometimes skeptical about investing and saving for retirement while being mindful that we must enjoy the ride all along the way.

Airline gate agents share their favorite travel hacks

Travel

Airline customer service reps know a thing or two about travel. From the moment you step into the airport to when you finally board your flight, it’s these airport workers’ job to help you successfully navigate getting from point A to point B.

What’s more, with the perks that come along with working for an airline, like free or discounted flights, many of these agents have quite a bit of travel experience themselves. So, who better to turn to for travel tips and tricks than the people with extensive knowledge on the matter?

We asked airline gate agents, ticket agents, and other airport customer service reps to share their best travel hacks with us, and scoured the internet for more.

Read the entire article: Airline gate agents share their favorite travel hacks – Business Insider

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Pauline Frommer: 13 Expert Budget Travel Tips | Money

Lifestyle, Travel

Before you lock in those summer travel plans, make sure you’re getting the most bang out of your travel buck. Here are are 13 favorite tips from Pauline Frommer of travel-guide company Frommer’s on where to scrimp and splurge when planning a vacation and how to get the best rates on airfare, car rentals and lodging.

1. For airline tickets, check Momondo first. Frommer’s compared prices quoted by airfare search engines, aggregators and booking websites on 25 popular routes, both for last-minute flights and those booked six weeks ahead. The results? Momondo is the best place to find the cheapest airfare. Skyscanner came in second. Frommer’s ran a similar test for hotel booking sites and found that Booking.com came out on top, especially for travelers looking for city-center spots under $200 a night.

2. Accept a little discomfort in the air. “I think it is a huge waste of money to buy business class or first class unless you’re 6’4″ and will be in incredible agony,” says Frommer, co-president and editorial director of Frommer’s. “People concentrate too much on the flight. It is a couple of hours and then you’re in this wonderful destination. So if it is between getting a business class seat and eating a meal in a spectacular restaurant or seeing a show, the hell with business class.

3. Always carry on. “You do not want to be a slave to your suitcase. I only own carry-on luggage and that forces me to pack less than I would have normally and you just wear things over and over,” says Frommer. Packing light delivers three big advantages: You avoid costly airline baggage fees, skip wasting time waiting at baggage claim, and can use public transit easily to get from the airport to your destination or from one city to another.

Read the entire article: Pauline Frommer: 13 Expert Budget Travel Tips | Money

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Don’t leave work without laying out a ‘retirement map’

Financial Planning, Retirement, Travel

Can you imagine going on an extended vacation without making any plans?

No websites or tour guides consulted. No hotel reservations made. No itinerary mapped out.

Of course not. If you wanted your vacation to be a success, you’d budget enough money to cover your costs. You’d know when you were going, how long you could stay and at least generally what you would do while there.

But when it comes to the longest vacation most people will ever take — retirement — fewer than half of all Americans have a formal plan.

And that can spell trouble.

There’s nothing worse than being 85 years old, full of life — and being flat broke.

Read the entire article: Don’t leave work without laying out a ‘retirement map’ – NY Daily News

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4 Retirement Myths That You Need To Know

Financial Planning, Retirement

Retirement planning is hard enough, but disinformation will get you sidetracked from your goal. You’ll need to know what’s not true before you start planning. There is a lot of fake news in the retirement saving world. The truth is, President Trump, Wall Street and GOP allies are making retirement planning more difficult. They are torching investor protection rules found in the Dodd-Frank Act and cutting state offerings for small business retirement plans. And that’s just what’s been happening in the firs

Read the entire article: 4 Retirement Myths That You Need To Know

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Americans Aren’t Loving Retirement Like They Used To — Here’s Why

Lifestyle, Retirement

Retirement is a time to shake off years of employment and enjoy life, right? That might be the goal, but many Americans aren’t feeling it. Dwindling satisfactionA 2016 Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) study analyzed retirement satisfaction trends between 1998 and 2012. Respondents who said they were “very satisfied” with their retirements dropped by 11.9 percentage points, those “not at all” satisfied increased by 2.6 percentage points, and the middle-of-the-road “moderately satisfied” response saw a gain of 9.2 percentage points.

Read the entire article: Americans Aren’t Loving Retirement Like They Used To — Here’s Why

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Americans Focused on Short-Term Risks When It Comes to Retirement Planning

Behavioral Finance, Financial Planning, Retirement

SAN MATEO, Calif., June 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Americans are almost equally as concerned about short-term market volatility (47 percent) as they are about not achieving their long-term retirement investment goals (53 percent)

Read the entire article: Americans Focused on Short-Term Risks When It Comes to Retirement Planning, Franklin Templeton Investments Survey Finds – NASDAQ.com

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Alleged Jackson Pollock goes to auction June 20

Lifestyle

Jackson Pollock spent nearly all of his youth in Arizona and California. He even left a tiny bit of himself in Phoenix, close to what is now Sky Harbor International Airport.The 20th-century artist, internationally known for abstract, splatter and “drip” paintings, became a sensation in the New York art world starting in the 1940s until his death in 1956. So how is it that one of Pollock’s paintings might have found its way into a Sun City garage?

Read the entire article: Alleged Jackson Pollock goes to auction June 20

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Healthy Lifestyle Important to Retirement Planning

Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Retirement

Retirement has become an active stage of life—one people have positive ideas about. For example, they aspire to stay socially connected, participate in their communities and remain economically active, according to the 2016 Aegon Retirement Readiness Survey.

Globally, the majority (72%) of people associate positive words with retirement, including “leisure” (46%), “freedom” (41%) and “enjoyment” (31%). People ages 65 and older have more positive associations with retirement than do younger people, ages 18 through 24.

The two most widely held retirement aspirations among respondents are traveling (62%) and spending time with friends and family (57%). Twenty-six percent mention some form of paid work as a retirement aspiration.

Achieving retirement aspirations requires more than saving, investing and planning, however; it also depends on staying in good health, the survey report notes.

Read the entire article: Healthy Lifestyle Important to Retirement Planning

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Your Money: 3 moves you should make in the 3 years before you retire – Twin Cities

Lifestyle, Retirement

Life’s major milestones — graduations, births, weddings and cross-country moves — all require a certain amount of preparation.Retirement is no different. That’s why we believe it’s important for people to meet with a financial adviser several years before they retire so you can jump right into the retired life once you’re ready.

Read the entire article: Your Money: 3 moves you should make in the 3 years before you retire – Twin Cities

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Pass On Your Assets Wisely: How To Choose The Right Beneficiaries

Financial Planning, Lifestyle

I’m often asked by clients about who should be named as beneficiaries on their IRAs versus their retirement plans and other assets. This article provides a starting point. I have more detailed information if you wish… just ask. -Jeff

When you pass away, what you leave to your loved ones is important, but so is how you leave those assets. Determining the right assets to leave to different beneficiaries is an absolutely critical part of effective estate planning.

Read the entire article: Pass On Your Assets Wisely: How To Choose The Right Beneficiaries

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Making the case for the reverse mortgage as a retirement planning option | Financial Post

Financial Planning, Retirement

I may be in the minority, but I think that considering a reverse mortgage can, in certain instances, be a viable financial planning alternative scenario. -Jeff

It’s a problem — home-owning seniors retiring with reduced income but healthy levels of consumer and mortgage debt — that seems to contain its own solution.The solution: consider the house as an asset like the others and use it as a way of managing your financial affairs, a move that could make for a more carefree retirement.

Read the entire article: Making the case for the reverse mortgage as a retirement planning option | Financial Post

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5 New Realities of Retirement – US News

Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Retirement

My experience has been that the happiest and healthiest retirees that I know find ways to stay socially and emotionally engaged in life all around them. For some, working or scheduled volunteering forces them to do this. Worth the read. -Jeff

Our parents were able to retire and collect full Social Security at age 65. Most baby boomers have to wait until 66. People born after 1959 have to wait even longer – until age 67 – before reaching what Social Security defines as “full retirement age.” And while the younger generations can still start collecting Social Security as early as 62, they will suffer a bigger penalty – a 30 percent cut to their full benefit, rather than 20 percent for those eligible under the old 65-year-old rule.

Read the entire article: 5 New Realities of Retirement – US News

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