A home based business is an answer to the retirement worries that everyone is facing when retirement funds are shrinking. Few Americans have saved enough money so that their retirement can last for more than 30 years. People are outliving their money. So what is the answer? Well, you have 3 choices; a delay in retirement by working longer, learn to live on less money, or start a home based business that will be able to give you a residual income to last the rest of your life.Let’s look at all the choices.First choice is a delay in retirement. In order to live at a lifestyle that you are comfortable with, you will have to work past your expected age of retirement. How much longer depends on the kind of lifestyle you want. It also depends on the economy and the cost of living at the time of retirement.Second choice is to learn to live on less money. Here are some steps you would have to consider:Downsize your home – less mortgage and lower maintenance costs
Give up one car – a couple will have to learn to live with one car which lowers cost of insurance and car maintenance
Must Spend Taxable Accounts First – you must use the funds that are taxed each year before you touch your 401K and IRA’s. This will reduce your tax burden.
Hidden Fees – Avoid banking fees, ATM charges or overdraft charges on your checking account. Check out any mutual fund fees or penalties for early withdrawals; make sure you have one of the lowest ones. Pay all your credit cards in full, so you can take advantage their offers (travel points). Don’t retire with debt!
Sign Up for Medicare on Time – you must sign up during the seven month period beginning three months before your 65th birthday. If you don’t, then there is a premium increase of 10% for each 12 month period of delayed enrollment after age 65. If you are still working past the age of 65 and receive health insurance benefits from your employment, then you must enroll within 8 months of leaving the job to avoid the penalty.
Find a Prescription Drug Plan – you must check out-of-pocket costs of the prescriptions you are receiving not just the cost of the plan. Compare all the plans. Seniors can only switch drug plans during open enrollment, which happens only once a year, so be careful.
Delay Signing Up For Social Security – benefits start at age 62, but benefit checks are reduced by 20-30% for workers who claim their checks at this time. Full retirement age is now 66 (if you are born from 1943-1954) and you can then claim full benefits. If you are born after 1954, full retirement age is now 67.
Leave Expensive Cities – now that you are no longer tied to your job, you should consider moving to a city where the cost of living is much lower, taxes are lower, and housing is cheaper.
Cut Expenses – Get rid of your land line phone, your cable TV, and some hobbies such as golf, bowling, theater tickets, and gym memberships.
Find free entertainment – either by volunteering at your local theater or your local botanical gardens. You will have to look for less expensive hobbies.
Resist Gift Giving – you will have to resist spending money on your children and grandchildren. This is the hardest, because emotionally you want to but financially you can’t.
Eat Out Less And Cook More – you will have to become part of that “early bird” crowd or share meals.Sounds pretty bleak, doesn’t it? It doesn’t have to be because there is a third choice, start a home based business. This can be done either part-time or full-time.Your home based business can give you a residual income so that you don’t have to worry about any of the above. You can live the lifestyle you either are at now or have always dreamed of. The statistics for a home based business failing are high, but a home based business with a great marketing system can give you a great advantage. A marketing plan can bring your business to another level.
How a Home Based Business Could Be Your Solution to Avoid the Retirement Blues
How To Succeed At Online Product Creation The Easy Way
Product creation could be a frightening subject for a lot of Internet marketers to face. Some folks who get in the game with the intention of making a full time income are completely ignorant as to how an online business operates. One of the most profitable ways to create online cash is by creating a product that others are happy to pay for.
Product creation is legitimate method of generating money through internet marketing but many entrepreneurs get it wrong. They start by imitating their Internet marketing gurus by creating information products on Internet marketing in hopes of getting rich the way their heroes did. The problem is that they usually don’t know what they are doing and enter a highly competitive niche with very little marketing experience or connections.
Here are a few tips for effective product creation that may help you get on the right track:
Start by finding a profitable niche with low to moderate competition. If you conduct some rudimentary market research and keyword research, you’ll find many opportunities in areas that will surprise you. Amazon and eBay are two great places to brainstorm for product ideas.
Developing Your Product does not have to be a difficult project. You can find experts in the right field for your niche and pay them to write the material while an artist designs the packaging and website or blog. You can outsource the entire product creation part of the project after you conduct the research and testing to ensure profitability.
Sales and marketing strategies should be created while developing the product and learning about the market. Some experienced marketers use pay per click to drive traffic to their offer page; some folks outsource the entire marketing campaign to affiliates through ClickBank or other affiliate programs.
Product creation does not need to be hard, particularly when the merchandise is electronic. E-books, videos, audio and multi-media products sell very well. They are distributed immediately to customers electronically. Once you have a good feel for a niche market, try to service your customers with associated products and upgrades. If you want to earn money online through product creation, you must understand supply and demand. The majority of new online marketers fail miserably because they go after highly competitive markets or forget to research their chosen niche properly. You have to create your products according to the needs, wants and desires of the prospective customers.
Do Your Homework On Home Based Businesses
With the seemingly endless variety of home based business opportunities popping up for those who what to work at home these days, it is important to make sure that the home based business of your choice is legitimate. No one wants to waste money on a work at home job that turns out to be a scam.There are many things that you can do to make sure that your work at home job is legitimate. Before settling on one choice, do your homework. Ask plenty of questions. Find out as much as you can about the home based business. There are many ways to investigate a home based business or work at home job. Read all the information on their site and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Find out if the home based business is a member of the BBB. Ask how long they have been in business and see if you can talk with some of the members about their experience with the home based business. If they can’t answer your questions to your satisfaction, they are probably not the home based business for you.Another way to find out more about a home based business is to type the name of the home based business into a search engine and see what kind of results you get. Check out the sites that detail work at home scams. Ask online in chat rooms or with online acquaintances if they have heard anything about a particular home based business. Word of mouth can be a very effective way to learn about a home based business.Once you have narrowed your choices down, find out about the specific practices and procedures of a home based business. If you don’t like the way they operate or feel that you can’t be comfortable with their practices, then it is probably not the work at home job for you and you need to move on to another home based business that you will feel comfortable with. Also, if you don’t like or approve of the products or services they are selling, then keep on looking until you find one you like. With the choices available, everyone should be able to find a home based business they will like that will provide them with the work at home experience they want.Hopefully this articles has proven useful to you. Download my Free E-Book and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a successful Home Based Business. Receive The Free [http://www.charlesfuchs.com/QuickStartWorkBook.pdf].