Bye Bye Pensions - Hello Personal Pensions and Work

The end of pensions.  - create your own because if you hope to rely on social security you'll be very disappointed.

How to create your own pension.  

Simple way - save money and then purchase an annuity.  Wait as long as you can  to begin collecting so the payout will be higher.  Because there is no way to know if the government will destroy the currency or ramp up inflation to the point your annuity check will be worthless is is another gamble you are taking just as if it were a stock market investment.

Creative way - start some type of business that pays cash with minimal overhead and is not dependent on government licenses.  Teaching is a good option if you have a skill or knowledge and maybe some credentials that back it up you can do it as long as you can talk and stand.  Depending on what you teach even standing may not be necessary.  I have taught computer classes and even in that class I had to move around so most teaching seems to require at least some level of mobility.  If you have or develop such a limitation, well then hopefully you can find accommodations to make it work.
Teaching tennis - this is the one I am familiar with and the biggest problem with teaching tennis as you age is the risk of infirmity or disability.  I suggest you learn to limit your movement and teach groups as you get older and less able to handle the task of a teaching pro.  The need to move around the court for advanced private lessons usually is what takes a pro out of that category and moves them into management or group instruction.  I am assuming you are reading this since you're not in management so to get started or to get business from referrals your best bet is to work for a county tennis program or at a club as an assistant pro.  From there you can develop and reputation and following.  An advantage of doing this when you are retired is that you can work a flexible schedule that younger people may not be willing to do.

Another suggestion - ramp up your social security payments by waiting as long as possible to collect. If you are starting early in your career of tennis teaching then make sure you are reporting a good amount of income or you will see little accumulated earnings to get a good payout.  All of this of course assumes that the program will be solvent by the time you will collect.  Don't assume that though you will probably get a check it is likely the check will be barely enough to pay for some of your expenses.

Final suggestion - learn to live on less.  Much less.  Any dollar you don't have to spend is a dollar you don't have to earn.  Doing this early in your career will also allow you to work less and save more. That is the approach I have taken and it worked to give me a much longer career of teaching on the court than many of my contemporaries.


 

Secret to Happiness: Retire

The secret to a happier, healthier life, just retire.

I've been saying this all along in one form or another.  Retirement can mean many things that include doing some form of work, but it makes sense to shift gears and spend a lot less time working and more time playing and relaxing.  It really helps to have things that you like to do as hobbies and activities other than laying in front of a TV or computer screen for health reasons if nothing else.  Physical activity is a great way to keep your body in tone and it helps insure overall health, both mental and physical.  This of course is where tennis comes into the picture.

Look, you can take up the sport at almost any age and limit the extent of your activity to avoid injury and take into account physical limitations.  There are leagues, ladders,  and other means of joining social competition in most places.  There are public tennis courts in almost every state in the country.  I'm not sure about Alaska though there are private clubs there.

Most important of all is to get started on developing your hobbies and pastimes so you can have a successful transition to the reclining years of life.  Trying to find something after you retire is not a good plan as it can lead to frustration and developing the habit of doing something is how you can use such a routine to make retirement less traumatic.

Tennis players and tennis teachers have the advantage here.   The cost of playing tennis is very low if you have access to public courts where games like golf can become prohibitive for a low budget retirement.

 I prefer the teaching aspect of tennis because it is the best way share the game with others.  Unless you are just in a volunteer position it is also a way of earning extra income to support your tennis retirement.

Start planning your retirement now and my advice is to make tennis a central part of it.

Retiring in your early 20's.
I have no issue with this idea except how they will accomplish it.  If it is done with a reduced standard of living combined with a very self sufficient way of earning income without showing up to the office every day then I am all for it.  However, if it is done by taking advantage of government programs that allow you to stay home and collect disability while not really disabled, then we have a problem.  Such a system cannot be sustained and if we have lost a good number of young workers due to the ability to just milk the system then it won't last.  It will fail to take care of the truly disabled.