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.

Breweries Are Launching Almost Half As Many New Beers This Summer | Food & Wine

Lifestyle

Summer is in sessionOver the past generation of beer drinkers, brand loyalty has fundamentally shifted. Time was, you had one favorite beer, you attempted to only drink that favorite beer, and you vehemently argued with people who had a different favorite beer.

But modern beer lovers tend to be box tickers: The Untappd generation wants to check-in as many different beers as possible, and though they may still have favorite breweries, they’re more concerned about that brewer’s newest release

Read the entire article: Breweries Are Launching Almost Half As Many New Beers This Summer | Food & Wine

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Food Bank Receives 33-Year-Old Tin of Anchovies | Food & Wine

Health & Fitness, Lifestyle

Anchovies canOne man’s trash certainly can be another man’s treasure—but that expression probably doesn’t hold true when we’re talking about 33-year-old fish.

So maybe that explains why someone happily gave a British food bank a tin of anchovies to with a “best before” date of April 1987. Last week, the Norwich Foodbank in Norfolk, England, posted a couple of photos of a 1.76-ounce box of fillets of anchovies in oil

Read the entire article: Food Bank Receives 33-Year-Old Tin of Anchovies | Food & Wine

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Amtrak’s Sleeper Cars Make for the Perfect Socially Distanced Trip | Travel + Leisure

Lifestyle, Travel

Amtrak sleeper carStriking the balance between wanting to get away while ensuring you can physically distance while doing so — Amtrak’s private rooms check off all the boxes for a safe vacation.

Hearkening back to an older and slower style of travel, a train journey can provide a relaxing way to take in the scenery and a private room provides a way to do that while limiting your exposure to other passengers.

“As a truly unique experience when traveling by train, private rooms [offer] our customers added privacy, comfort, and space to enjoy the journey without having to worry about maintaining social distance,”

Read the entire article: Amtrak’s Sleeper Cars Make for the Perfect Socially Distanced Trip | Travel + Leisure

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The Pros and (Mostly) Cons of Early Retirement

Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Retirement

Even though Americans’ net worth still hasn’t fully recovered from the Great Recession of 2007-2009, many of us continue to dream of retiring early.

A 2019 survey by the reverse mortgage company American Advisors Group found that 52% of Americans plan to exit full-time employment before age 65.

Not everyone will have a choice in the matter, of course. Job loss, health problems, or family responsibilities can disrupt the best-laid retirement plans, forcing people out of the workforce sooner than expected. But if you’re lucky enough to have control over when you retire, it’s worth thinking through the pros and cons before you make any decisions.

Even if you can afford to retire early, you might not want to.

Read the entire article: The Pros and (Mostly) Cons of Early Retirement

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5 Key Retirement-Planning Steps Everyone Should Take

Financial Planning

Retirement planning is a multistep process that evolves over time. To have a comfortable, secure—and fun—retirement, you need to build the financial cushion that will fund it all. The fun part is why it makes sense to pay attention to the serious and perhaps boring part: planning how you’ll get there.Planning for retirement starts with thinking about your retirement goals and how long you have to meet them. Then you need to look at the types of retirement accounts that can help you raise the money to fund your future.

Read the entire article: 5 Key Retirement-Planning Steps Everyone Should Take

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The Art of Doing Nothing in Retirement | Baby Boomers | US News

Lifestyle, Retirement

THE EXPERTS ARE NEVER shy about telling retirees to go out and volunteer for a worthy cause, take a part-time job, attend a class, babysit grandchildren or otherwise check off some item on a bucket list. Retirees are often advised to stay busy and do something meaningful.For the most part this is good advice. No one wants to feel bored and useless in retirement. But sometimes it’s nice to just relax and do absolutely nothing. Here’s how to adjust to a relaxing pace of life in retirement.

Read the entire article: The Art of Doing Nothing in Retirement | Baby Boomers | US News

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9 Work From Home Jobs for Retirees | Second Careers | US News

Lifestyle, Retirement

MANY SENIORS continue to work after retiring from a full-time career due to financial need and a desire to remain engaged in meaningful work. But instead of commuting to an office every day, work at home jobs provide a better fit for a retirement lifestyle. There’s no commuting or office politics, and jobs for seniors at home have flexibility, so that work doesn’t impede on retirement leisure.

Read the entire article: 9 Work From Home Jobs for Retirees | Second Careers | US News

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Sweeping changes considered for retirement plan rules | The Kansas City Star

Financial Planning, Retirement

On May 23, the House passed a bill that could drastically change the rules of retirement.It is referred to as the “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019,” or “SECURE.”These sweeping changes affect traditional IRAs, 401(k) plans, inherited IRAs, required minimum distributions, college savings plans, student loans and filter into many other aspects of personal financial planning.

Read the entire article: Sweeping changes considered for retirement plan rules | The Kansas City Star

Sweeping changes considered for retirement plan rules | The Kansas City Star Read Post »

The First Issue In Retirement Planning

Financial Planning, Lifestyle, Retirement

uncaptionedTwo questions I hear a lot from people who aren’t retired are: “When can I retire?” and “How much money do I need to retire?” They’re really variations of the same question. It’s the wrong question to ask because most people approach the retirement date question from the wrong direction. My answer usually is a person can retire whenever he or she wants. The real issue is what the standard of living will be. Imagine two peo

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Retirement is perfect time to revive old hobbies or find new ones | Senior Living | lancasteronline.com

Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Retirement

Think you’re too old to try a new hobby? Think again. Studies show many retirees 60 and older refuse to let age get in the way of tackling a new pastime. Savvy seniors are pursuing hobbies enjoyed by all ages from trying a new sport to finding creativity in fine art.The key, says retirement lifestyle author Dave Hughes, is “to find a hobby which brings fulfillment.”Barb Noble found horseback riding at age 60 to be a fulfilling hobby.

Read the entire article: Retirement is perfect time to revive old hobbies or find new ones | Senior Living | lancasteronline.com

Retirement is perfect time to revive old hobbies or find new ones | Senior Living | lancasteronline.com Read Post »

Want to enjoy a longer, happier life? Just keep on working | Science | The Guardian

Financial Planning, Lifestyle, Retirement

Sarah Harper has a personal take on early retirement. “My father stopped work at 54,” says Professor Harper, founder of the Institute for Population Ageing at Oxford University. “His employers, IBM, offered him early retirement. He was really excited at the prospect.”But the voluntary work and further education that Robert Harper had lined up for his later years dwindled and eventually disappeared and he was forced to become increasingly self-reliant in trying to find ways to pass the time.

Read the entire article: Want to enjoy a longer, happier life? Just keep on working | Science | The Guardian

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3 Key Goals for Building a Retirement Income Plan

Retirement

During your working years — the accumulation phase of your investing life — the path is pretty clear.

And that’s it. Until it isn’t.

In retirement, when you’re living off the nest egg you worked so hard to build, it becomes necessary to make a major change of course. And that takes some planning, preferably with some guidance, with these three objectives in mind:

You’ll need to line up reliable income streams. When you create your plan, you’ll want to make sure your day-to-day expenses are covered by reliable sources, including Social Security and…

Read the entire article: 3 Key Goals for Building a Retirement Income Plan

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