You've spent your entire adult life working toward -- and saving for -- retirement, but it can be hard to accurately predict how much money your will need in your golden years.

If you're unsure about how much money you'll need in retirement, follow these pieces of advice from financial experts:

A Solid Goal: 80% to 90% of your pre-retirement monthly income

Retirees should expect to need about 80 to 90 of their pre-retirement income per month, according to ING retirement coach and planner Larry Rosenthal. That means, if your income is $40,000 per year, you'd want to have $32,000 on hand per year in retirement. "People will spend money on hobbies or some type of entertainment," Rosenthal says. "They'll also tend to spend more money on their grandchildren after they retire. And travel is expensive and becomes a big part of retirement spending." Experts says a good strategy is to withdraw about 3 or 4% of your retirement savings each year. "If you had about $1,000,000 in an interest account, you could live on the income of $40,000," according to Charlie Epstein, author of Paychecks for Life.

Know your expenses: Expected and unexpected

While some expenses can be predicted he expenses you anticipate, there will also likely be unexpected expenses. "The most significant and unexpected expense in retirement is due to out of pocket health- care expenses," says John Ulin, a certified financial planner in Boca Raton, Fla. More than 50% of people 65 or older will at some point in their life need either home health care or will enter a nursing home, he says. "This type of 'care' is not covered by Medicare or Medicaid and can financially devastate your nest egg," he says. "Home health care can cost upwards of $35,000 a year and a facility care can cost upwards of $60,000 a year. Plan accordingly."

Common Mistakes

Experts agree that the most common mistake people make is not having and following a financial plan. "How does someone know where they are and where they need to go if they don't have a financial plan in place that analyses retirement cash flow," says Barry Taylor, a financial adviser and money manager based in San Francisco.

In addition, many people planning on retiring don't begin saving early enough. "As a rule of thumb, you need to save 10% of your pay each year," says Epstein.

Another common -- and frequently devastating -- mistake is underestimating the cost of health care in retirement. "The latest projection on cost of health care is that on average, health expenses will equal or exceed $325,000 for a couple from age 65 until death," Taylor explains. "A great deal of this cost will be paid by Medicare and 'Gap' insurance policies that cover most of medical, hospitalization, and drugs. But many soon-to-be-retirees do not understand the conditions of the retirement health insurance they purchase at retirement and the size of the 'gaps' that may not be included."

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How Much Money Will I Need in Retirement?

With all of the monumental challenges facing retirees, I sometimes wonder if retirement as we know it will survive. Many potential retirees are ill-prepared from a financial and non-financial perspective, and the clock is ticking. Maybe people will just work until they die, rather than attempt to exit the rat race and enter their second act. But theres also the possibility that these doom and gloom predictions are exaggerated and retirement will not be all that bad. Here are eights reasons your retirement will probably be just fine:

1. Average life expectancies have been trending upward for decades. In 1900, the average life expectancy was 46.3 years for men and 48.3 years for women. Today the average life expectancy in the U.S. is 79.6 years, while Japan leads all countries with an 83.2 year average.

2. For many people, retirement represents a time of opportunity. The majority (86 percent) of baby boomers between ages 45 and 65 who have a minimum household income of $75,000 view retirement as a whole new chapter in life and a chance to reinvent the person they are and will be, according to a 2011 survey commissioned by the resort real estate advisory firm Civano Living. And 90 percent of those surveyed believe retirement will give them time to pursue their interests and hobbies more fully. Retirees should be excited about this chance to journey down a different path and pursue what they are truly passionate about, rather than just existing.

3. The nature of work has changed from the physically demanding jobs of old. Todays knowledge workers use their minds more than their backs. When retirement age is reached, these seniors still have a lot of mileage left and can consider the possibility of a second career more along the lines of what they would like to do.

4. With 10,000 people reaching age 65 each day for the next 20 years, the impact of aging baby boomers is being felt far and wide. Senior citizens are a large portion of the population and have powerful organizations like AARP behind them. They are a highly influential group whose interests and impact cannot be ignored. Expect senior citizen voices to be heard and attention to be paid to their specific needs.

5. With longer life expectancies, many seniors see themselves living well beyond the official averages, continuing to remain productive, and developing deeper family relationships. According to a 2011 SunAmerica Financial Group and Harris Interactive survey, two-thirds of adults age 55 and older say their personal goal is to live to 100.

6. With aging comes challenges to health and well being. However, 82 percent of seniors are satisfied with their own physical health, according to the Civano Living survey. And 84 percent of those ages 45 to 65 say they are interested in health and fitness programs designed for them.

7. The years of experience and knowledge gained in the working world will make seniors increasingly more important in the job arena. Older workers are, in fact, not more expensive to employ because their typically higher wages are based on experience rather than age, according to Peter Cappelli, coauthor of Managing the Older Worker: How to Prepare for the New Organizational Order. Changes will need to be made to adapt to the needs of older workers such as increased flex time, age-friendly work environments, and less forced retirement when the worker has many good years still to offer.

8. It turns out that the adult brain is not a slower version of the youthful brain. Instead, the middle-aged brain maintains many of the abilities of youth and even acquires some new ones. The Seattle Longitudinal Study showed middle-aged adults performed better on four out of six cognitive tests than those same individuals did as young adults.

Retirement will be a big change from the way of life we were accustomed to while we were in the workforce and raising a family. We need to prepare financially and socially if we are to realize the fulfilling retirement we want. But it is encouraging to see that retirement can be an exciting, positive time in our life, even for those with modest incomes.

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8 Signs Your Retirement Will Be Just Fine

(MoneyWatch) This post continues my series on various retirement income offerings that are being introduced in 401(k) and other defined contribution retirement plans. Today we'll take a look at Income +, the retirement income service offered by Financial Engines.

Founded by Nobel Prize winner Bill Sharpe, Financial Engines is well-known as the financial advisory service that's available on the platforms of many 401(k) plan administrators. Since 1996, Financial Engines has provided online advice to 401(k) plan participants. These services help participants decide how much they should save to reach reasonable retirement savings targets and how to allocate their accounts among the investment funds offered in their 401(k) plans. In addition, participants can elect to receive professional management services, which monitor their retirement savings and progress toward retirement goals, periodically re-balance the investments in their accounts, and prepare personalized retirement plans.

In January 2011, Financial Engines introduced Income +, an extension of their professional management service. Income + isn't a product, such as an annuity or managed payout fund. It's a service that helps plan participants turn their 401(k) balances into monthly retirement income that can last for life. During your retirement, you stay invested in the funds offered by your employer's 401(k) plan, and Financial Engines helps you manage your account balances to generate a retirement paycheck.

401(k) retirement income options coming your way Retirement income review: Hueler Income Solutions Retirement income review: GLWB in retirement Rolling your 401(k) to an IRA? Think twice

With its Income + service, Financial Engines can help you in the years leading up to retirement by developing an asset-allocation strategy that manages your exposure to stock market fluctuations. The goal is to prevent your retirement plans from being thrown off track due to stock market crashes just before your retirement. The services also provides estimates of your retirement income at various retirement ages to help you decide when you can retire.

When you retire, your savings are then divided into three pots. The first generates a retirement income until an advanced age, typically age 85; it's invested in fixed income funds -- either bond funds or stable value funds -- in your 401(k) plan. This pot equals roughly 65 percent of your 401(k) account when you retire.

The second pot equals about 20 percent of your account when you retire and is invested in equity funds in your 401(k) plan. The intent of this account is to provide boosts in your retirement paycheck until age 85 to help your income keep pace with inflation.

The third pot equals about 15 percent of your account when you retire and is invested to serve as a reserve you could use to purchase a lifetime annuity at age 85. The goal is to protect you if you happen to live longer than expected.

Currently, the initial annual income you'll receive if you retire at age 65 is a little less than four percent of your total account balance, not much different from the "four percent rule" that's advocated by many financial advisors.

Financial Engines charges between 0.20 percent and 0.60 percent of your accounts for their services, depending on the arrangement it has with your 401(k) plan. Its charges are roughly one-third to one-half the charges typically assessed by personal financial advisors, who charge a percent of assets under management.

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Retirement income review: Financial Engines

Mumbai, July 20:

A Reserve Bank panel has recommended banks should seek personal guarantee from promoters and adopt a carrot-and-stick policy while restructuring loans of corporates.

As stipulating personal guarantee will ensure promoters skin in the game or commitment to the restructuring package, obtaining the personal guarantee of promoters be made a mandatory requirement in all cases of restructuring, the panel said in its report.

The RBI had in January set up the panel to review the existing prudential guidelines on restructuring of advances by banks and financial institutions and suggest modifications taking into account the best international practices and accounting standards.

The panel, which is headed by RBI Executive Director, Mr B Mahapatra, said corporate guarantee should not be considered as a substitute for the promoters personal guarantee.

In cases where the restructuring package could not be implemented due to promoters nonadherence to terms and conditions, the banks should exercise exit option at the earliest with a view to minimise the losses, the report said.

The terms and conditions of restructuring should inherently contain the principle of carrot and stick, i.e. while restructuring being an incentive for viable accounts, it should also have disincentives for nonadherence to the terms of restructuring and underperformance, it said.

The panel further said that conversion of debt into preference shares should be done only as a last resort. Also, conversion of debt into equity/preference shares should be restricted to a cap (say 10 per cent of the restructured debt).

Conversion of debt into equity should be done only in the case of listed companies.

The banks should disclose all recast loans on books, and from hereon keep a 5 per cent provision for new standard loans recast, as against the existing norm of 2 per cent.

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Promoters’ personal guarantee must prior to loan restructuring: RBI panel

Personal guarantee must before loan restructuring: RBI The panel said corporate guarantee should not be considered as a substitute for the promoters' personal guarantee Press Trust of India / Mumbai Jul 20, 2012, 17:49 IST

A Reserve Bank panel has recommended banks should seek personal guarantee from promoters and adopt a 'carrot-and-stick policy' while restructuring loans of corporates.

"As stipulating personal guarantee will ensure promoters' skin in the game or commitment to the restructuring package, obtaining the personal guarantee of promoters be made a mandatory requirement in all cases of restructuring," the panel said in its report, on which it has invited comments of stake holders by August 21.

The RBI had in January set up the panel to review the existing prudential guidelines on restructuring of advances by banks and financial institutions and suggest modifications taking into account the best international practices and accounting standards.

The panel, which is headed by RBI Executive Director B Mahapatra, said corporate guarantee should not be considered as a substitute for the promoters' personal guarantee.

In cases where the restructuring package could not be implemented due to promoters' non-adherence to terms and conditions, the banks should exercise exit option at the earliest with a view to minimise the losses, the report said.

"The terms and conditions of restructuring should inherently contain the principle of 'carrot and stick', ie while restructuring being an incentive for viable accounts, it should also have disincentives for non-adherence to the terms of restructuring and under-performance," it said.

The panel further said that conversion of debt into preference shares should be done only as a last resort. Also, conversion of debt into equity/preference shares should be restricted to a cap (say 10 per cent of the restructured debt).

Conversion of debt into equity, it further said, should be done only in the case of listed companies.

The banks, according to the report, should disclose all recast loans on books, and from hereon keep a 5 per cent provision for new standard loans recast, as against the existing norm of 2 per cent.

Original post:
Personal guarantee must before loan restructuring: RBI

Now, it's personal. Our naf of a president has again insulted every American who has worked hard and attained some measure of success. President Barack Obama last week again belittled business owners, diminishing their industry, dismissing their perseverance and deriding their ingenuity. Yes, this is very personal.

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help," Obama said at a Virginia campaign event. "There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges."

Of course somebody helped us. In my case, it wasn't a community organizer. David Johnson worked hard to buy the food Dorothy Johnson prepared for me and my brothers. Ralph Sims, my maternal grandfather, helped me get a job in construction, hefting shovels to dig ditches in 100-degree heat. The federal government didn't lift a single shovel.

Gladys Sims pinched pennies and counted quarters so she and my mother could stock my pantry on trips to Cookeville, where I was the first in our family to attend a university. My irascible uncle, Arley Johnson, hired me to work summers servicing swimming pools so I could pay my own way at Tennessee Technological University.

Norma Blair, my high school English teacher, taught me to write. Julia Householder, my history teacher, challenged me to think. Bill Williams, my science teacher, took me to the University of Tennessee, where I first set foot on a college campus. Chick Graning, my high school football coach, later hired me to coach college football before recommending me for my first job in financial services.

Of course many more helped, but not one did it for the money. Not one was part of some grand plan by a Harvard graduate who can barely mask his Marxism. They did it for love.

Obama's biggest insult was to business owners. "If you've got a business you didn't build that," Obama said. "Somebody else made that happen."

Is he nuts? Seriously. Is our president insane? Or just stupid? Is this why we've never seen his college transcripts? Would they reveal his ignorance in its totality?

I've worked with business people for more than a quarter of a century now. Want to know why hiring is slow? The people who took the risk, worked their behinds off and built something from nothing feel belittled by this president. He hates them, and they don't trust him.

Obama speaks of "paying it forward." Well, my family did. Those teachers did. Now many, many, many of us are paying it forward to our kids, to our churches, to our communities. And this president has the audacity to equate taxation with family, friends and community? He insults us all and the American Dream.

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Greg Johnson: Obama's insults make politics personal

If youve been successful, you didnt get there on your own. . . Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If youve got a business you didnt build that. Somebody else made that happen. Barack Obama

The presidents defenders have claimed he either misspoke last week or that what he said is true. Both defenses have merit.

No mans accomplishments are entirely his own; were all indebted to others, and we all rely on government to provide some basic things. If the presidents praetorians want to defend him on grounds of platitudinous banality, fine.

But even they have to know in their hearts that this is a pathetic maneuver, given that the reason theyre rushing to defend Obama in the first place is his commitment to the very philosophy they deny hes espousing.

Obama is a progressive ideologue and a passionate believer in social justice, and thats a large reason why his fans love him so. But if you ever say that he is what he is if you take his words seriously they ridicule you for believing hes anything other than a pragmatist and moderate.

Yet many conservatives dont appreciate that Obama fits within an old American intellectual tradition. Indeed, you might even call him a reactionary progressive; he seeks to restore the assumptions and priorities of the Progressive Era.

Herbert Croly, the godfather of American progressivism, spoke for a generation of progressive intellectuals when he wrote that the individual has no meaning apart from the society in which his individuality has been formed. For the progressives, society and government were almost interchangeable terms.

John Dewey, the seminal progressive philosopher, believed that organized social control via a socialized economy was the only means to create free individuals. For the progressives, freedom wasnt the absence of government coercion, it was a pile of gifts from the state.

Progressives invented the idea of the moral equivalent of war as a means of inciting citizens to drop their personal priorities and rally around the state for a government-defined cause larger than themselves. Obama came into office under the motto a crisis is a terrible thing to waste and has been looking for Sputnik moments ever since in a search for a way to rationalize his agenda.

To the extent Obama ever speaks the language of religion, it is to justify, even sanctify, the works of government. He often invokes the Hallmark-ized biblical teaching that I am my brothers keeper, I am my sisters keeper as a means to rationalize not personal action but government action.

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Co-sponsoring your success

Raju Khatri combines personal experience in leadership in business as an entrepreneur, trainer and motivator. In Leadership in Business, he coaches the reader in individual areas of personal development and achievement. Heprovides a logical motivational approach to starting and running a business. He brilliantly parallels principles of communication, marketing, and motivation from ancient Buddhism, the logic of Hindu Vedas, and from the working production model of the community of bees.

I found his discussion on several topics of particular interest, including: The decision making process, a formula for success, business investment, family business strategy, and situational leadership. The chapter titled "Career Plans in Business" tells the stories of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and other recognized leaders. Each illustration defines a specific stage of their success story. Illustrations are interesting, informative, and entertaining.

Although much of the material is covered by other personal coaches and self-help books, Raju Khatri's approach is unique. Using a variety of elements within the format of the book enhance, reinforce, and summarize the principles of leadership and success being introduced. These include: Outlines, graphs, charts, case studies, illustrations, lists, topical headings, and parallels. The case studies and illustrations include Sony, Southwestern Bell Corporation, Pepsi-Cola, and other highly recognized companies.

I personally enjoyed Raju Khatri's frequent use of alliteration to emphasize key points. His writing is practical in presentation, content, and conclusions. The book is filled with valuable lessons for every level in one's career, whether beginning employment, starting a small enterprise, operating a challenging business, holding a leadership position in business, or moving into an advisory role.

Raju Khatri's Leadership in Business is worthy of reading, assimilating, and applying--and then starting the cycle all over again. Highly recommended.

(Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views)

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Book Review: Leadership in Business by Raju Khatri (K.C.)

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/7rprrx/islam_and_sustaina) has announced the addition of the "Islam and Sustainable Development: New Worldviews" book to their offering.

In Islam and Sustainable Development, Odeh Al-Jayyousi addresses the social, human and economic dimensions of sustainability from an Islamic perspective. Islam is sometimes viewed as a challenge, threat and risk to the West, but here we are reminded that the celebration of cultural diversity is a key component in Islamic values. Promoting common understanding between East and West, this American-educated, Middle Eastern-based author offers something broader and deeper than conventional Western ways of thinking about sustainability and presents new insights inspired by Islamic worldviews.

Drawing on his roles as both academic researcher and senior development practitioner, Professor Al-Jayyousi applies his deep understanding of Islamic values to contemporary environmental, financial and social conflicts and crises and defines a framework for sustainability embracing local, regional and global perspectives. He also addresses how education might produce innovation, knowledge creation and development to support a new paradigm for sustainability that re-defines what constitutes good life, beyond consumerism and the production of waste.

This book will interest policy makers, development and donor communities, funding agencies and banks in the Islamic World and beyond, as well as those with a professional interest in planning and in environmental and conservation issues. Scholars of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies and more broadly, those with an academic interest in cultural and religious studies, will find that this book in Gower's Transformation and Innovation Series is perhaps the most substantial work yet on sustainable development from an Islamic perspective.

Key Topics Covered:

- Foreword, His Royal Highness El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan

- Introduction: reflections and personal journey: in search of insight

- Sustainable development revisited

- A framework for sustainable development: Islamic worldviews

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Research and Markets: Islam and Sustainable Development: New Worldviews

It all started many years ago in the basement of Matt OBriens parents house.

As OBrien and best friend Matt Cada spent countless hours acting as managers on baseball video games, they dreamed of having their own team.

Now, an actual scorebook has replaced those hand controllers and the players are no longer video-image; they are real people.

Oh, and perhaps the most important thing: the two Winona VFW Buddies coaches are still just that: buddies.

This team is like having our own video game come to life, OBrien said. We love to think about the game. We have our style and system, but we are creative. That video game aspect, its allowed the creativity to come in.

Those hours playing video games have been put to good use as OBrien enters his sixth season as the Buddies coach and Cada his fifth. The two will sit on buckets in the dugout instead of a couch in the basement this weekend as the Buddies play in the Divisional Tournament.

We can finish each others thoughts, Cada said. When a play happens, (OBrien will) say to me what I was going to say. We see the game with similar eyes. We know what we are looking for and what we expect. Its easy to be on the same page.

The similar style comes from growing up two blocks away from each other in Winona and being best friends for 22 years. Cada still calls OBriens parents mom and dad.

They have played on at least four teams together, but that doesnt count the backyard games or the times they hopped the fence at Gabrych Park. In a single summer day as 12-year-olds, they would play for the Winona Park and Recreation in the morning, have a Goodview Park and Recreation game in the afternoon, practice with their traveling team and still find time for some backyard whiffle ball as the sun went down.

If we werent playing it, we were playing a video game of it, we were talking about it, OBrien said of baseball. When it comes to our thinking, we are pretty darn close on the same page. It doesnt happen very often that we arent on the same page.

Original post:
Coaching Buddies: O'Brien and Cada team up to lead Winona VFW baseball team