Tips for your pre-retirement years

• Life tips for my friends and readers who are 45-ish.
• Put away about 15% in your retirement account, above what your employer or government is contributing.
• Take good care of your relationships--they are like gold.
• Ignore all the food fads and scares; eat all the colors, eat less and move more. Just like mom said.
• Everything in moderation; especially alcohol and coffee and just pitch the cigarettes. They've never been found to benefit anything in your body.
• Don't be a pot head even if it is legal--you need every brain cell you have working at full capacity.
• Take care of your ears--turn down the music--and your teeth. Don't become a deaf senior citizen with ugly teeth--it's not pleasant. Take out the ear buds and see a dentist twice a year.
• Go to church. There are thousands of denominations as a result of squabbles that happened years ago. One should meet your needs. The world is actually more religious now than ever before--don't lose out on the benefits.
• Enjoy the many pleasures of owning a pet, but they are not family--don't kid yourself.
• Think about the benefits and responsibilities of being a citizen of the United States. It's not perfect, but it's the only one ever created with idea that the state/monarch/king/president doesn't own the people.

What's wrong with this picture?

Reading through this LA Times article, you see that the current down turn is not the problem. These retirees had too much debt and were taking too much risk. All bubbles burst. There were recessions in 1973-75, 1981-82, 1990-91, and I personally know what was happening to my investments in 1999, and we know what happened after 9/11. So why does any retiree think the next 20 or 30 years will be different than the past?

“Three refinancings have left Dale Campbell and his wife owing $485,000 -- more than their Whittier home is worth. The interest rate on their mortgage is due to reset in November, and the payments will more than double to $3,800 a month. The 77-year-old retired truck driver figures it's just a matter of time before the bank sends the couple packing.

"We don't want to leave here, but we can't afford the payments," said Campbell, who spent the proceeds from the refinancings on home improvements.

The Campbells aren't alone. Homeowners ages 50 and over account for an estimated 28% of all delinquencies and foreclosures in the current crisis, according to a report released last week by AARP, the nation's leading senior citizens lobby. That translates into 684,000 older people who have lost their homes or are in danger of losing them. Many experts believe there are a lot more on the way.

The bad news doesn't end there. A separate AARP study found that, over the last decade and half, Americans 55 and older have experienced the sharpest increase in bankruptcy filings than any other age group, accounting for nearly a quarter of all filers last year.

Los Angeles bankruptcy attorney Scott Bovitz has noticed the graying of his clientele.

"In prior years, it was rare for me to hear from a grandma," he said. "Now we're talking to people 55 and older every day." "
The golden years have lost their glow