Bless This Stress

The one thing that virtually all baby boomers have in common is the stress of living in this modern age.  So much has changed for baby boomers since they first enjoyed those days of youth culture when hairstyle and rock music seemed like the most important things in the world.  But, like all generations before them and to come, baby boomers had to grow up and take on the responsibilities of raising a family, making a living and figuring out their place in this big complicated world.

Stress comes from a lot of sources.  Obviously, we get it from work.  We think of the work place as a source of stress because it is a place where making a living is paramount and there are daily demands, deadlines and schedules to be met.  In addition, most of us have to deal with at least some difficult people during our workdays, which only compounds the stress.

But stresses don’t end when we walk out of our workplace.  Traffic itself can be a stress.  Then the joys of raising children and marriage can also bring some trials with them as well.  It is common to return home from a difficult day only to face serious problems at home.  In this situation, it seems that the stress and anxiety just keep mounting up. 

This is not the adult life most baby boomers envisioned in their youth days when they were idealistic and the world was their oyster.  But nobody told us that the reason the oyster is so beautiful is because it creates stress on the clam who copes with it by covering it with the smooth oyster material.  So stress can build us up and make something beautiful.  But it can also tear us down and lead to serious medical and mental problems if we don’t develop some coping techniques to deal with it. 

Some good coping mechanisms that many baby boomers have found helpful to defray the stress in their lives include…

1. Get away from it.  To put the cares of the world in perspective, we have to get away from them for a while.  If nothing else, just soaking in a hot bathtub with a good magazine, esdiential oils and some soothing music can wash away the cares of the world and let them swirl down the drain with the bubbles.  But look for chances to relax and put those worries aside for a little bit.  It will help you calm your mind, rest your system and be ready to deal with those issues without so much anxiety, which doesn’t do anybody any good.

2. Partner with your family.  Your spouse and children don’t want to see you stressed out.  But sometimes they don’t know how much they add to the problems when they throw the problems of the day at you as soon as you walk through the door.  It’s good for them to see the world through your eyes.  But remember that they are stressed with school or issues of work and relationships too.  So partner together to have a little time to just be family and love away that anxiety.  Everybody will be better for it.

3. Take time for health.  Its strange but our diet and restare the things we need the most to cope with stress and yet those are the areas of life that are most damaged if we let stress wear us down.  So go back to basics and make sure you get good meals, good rest and take care of yourself.  It will make you a better worker and stronger for your family as well.

Seeing stress as a serious enemy to your lifestyle above and beyond the causes of stress is a big step forward to not letting this enemy continue to damage your ability to be a good worker and family member.  But if you take action to keep stress from dominating your life, you are doing something very good for yourself and making yourself more able to attack problems and solve them with the creativity and intelligence people know you for.

Creating Retirement Wealth

As baby boomers are rapidly approach what used to be defined as “retirement age”, a big concern often comes up about whether there will be enough retirement savings in place to be able to live a comfortable life later in life.  There have been plenty of rumbles from Washington that the Social Security system will not be able to bear up under the huge demand the boomer generation will put on it.  So few baby boomers are looking to depend on that money being there, even though we are all paying into it every month.

On top of that worry, the method our parents used of working for the same company for 50 years and retiring with a hefty financial package and a gold watch has gone the way of the dinosaurs.  Long ago corporate America began to eliminate retirement packages as a straight forward benefit.  So many baby boomers find themselves approaching retirement age with insufficient retirement monies to support them.  What is needed is a solid plan to attack this problem while boomers still have a good 10 to 15 years of working potential in them.  Some principles of that plan might be…

Simplify Your Life.

When the kids finish college and get out on their own, you may find your life could be simplified considerably.  You might not need as big a house and many of the extras that were important when you raising a family in that house.  Do a thorough review of your assets and your expenses.  You will find you can cut costs significantly and even begin to cash in on some of the extras you have had all these years and put all of those savings into the bank as a hedge for the day when you are ready to retire.

Pack the Bank Account Now.

The empty nest syndrome isn’t all bad.  There are some real benefits to returning to a lifestyle of just you and your spouse discovering life together.  You have conquered many challenges raising a family in this tough world and you deserve to be proud of your life of accomplishment.  But now you and your spouse can take on a big challenge that is just for you which is to get out there and generate income for retirement.

Mom can go back to work and both members of the union can take on as much work as can be found.  Often in the mid to late fifties, the primary bread winner may be able to retire from that job they have held down for several decades.  But instead of beginning to live off of retirement funds, get another career going that can generate another ten to fifteen years of income.  With good budget management, it’s very likely you will be able to bank at least one entire income if not more and put all of that money back into retirement. 

Working with your investment counselors you can find ways to shelter that extra income so it stays out of the tax system until you are ready to use it.  The good news is that this push for productivity and revenue generation late in life can lead to a healthy retirement budget that can benefit you well as you finally sit back to enjoy your leisure years in the rocking chair taking care of the grandkids.

Identify a Money Generator that Can Stay With You

There are second careers that you can find that will become a good source of supplemental revenue even after you retire.  Start now looking for a potential “retirement career” which will be a line of work you can do even after you retire to generate additional income for you.  Writing or internet work is a good way to set up a home based business that you can continue to work at as long as you can type, see reasonably well and your thinking capacity is sound.

Other examples of retirement careers are part time jobs as apartment managers or care givers, sales jobs in using the expertise from your primary career or jobs that are somewhat non-taxing such as greeting customers at a Wal-Mart or working in a book store.  And these retirement jobs have the double benefit of adding to your revenue resources and keeping you active and enjoying life in your retirement years.  And that is what all of us want.

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Good Morning

It is great to wake up when I am done sleeping.  No more alarm clock!
My daily routine for years was getting ready for work,  grabbing a cup of coffee and eating my breakfast in the car during my 45 minute commute to work each day.
Nothing much varied during the years except I begain to dislike the routine and crave more out of life. 
I am happy today, because I am doing what I love working from home.

I hope everyone is also living the life of their dreams.

Leave me a comment below and share this post with other baby boomers.  Life is good.