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3 rules for a happy retirement

Research reveals it's how you manage your time and money that counts, not just how much you've got.

By Walter Updegrave, MONEY Magazine senior editor
January 13, 2006: 11:36 AM EST


NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - What can you do to ensure you'll be happy after you retire? The answer might seem obvious: Just sock away as much as you can in your 401(k). The bigger your nest egg, the happier your retirement will be, right?
Not quite. Having a bundle of money certainly helps, but not nearly as much as you might think, according to a growing body of research on retirement satisfaction. In one study last year, for example, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee economist Keith Bender found that an extra $10,000 of wealth increases the odds that a retiree will rank among the most satisfied by less than 1 percent.
So how can you boost the likelihood that you'll have a fulfilling retirement? Insights from "happiness researchers" suggest the following strategies can help.
Create a steady income
Retirees with a traditional pension who get a monthly check for life have been found to be more content than those with the same level of wealth but only a 401(k). "People feel more secure when they don't worry about outliving their money," says Stan Panis, a manager with Deloitte Financial Advisory Services.
And retirees who have both a pension and a 401(k) are even happier, buoyed by the security of a guaranteed income plus a pool of cash to pay for unexpected expenses. Traditional pensions are going the way of the Nehru jacket, but you can create the equivalent of one on your own.
How? By investing a portion of your 401(k) or other savings in an "income annuity," which will pay you a guaranteed income as long as you live. You can get price quotes from several annuity issuers, as well as their financial strength ratings, at a site like Immediateannuity.com. [See more in a recent Ask the Expert column, "Income for life."]
Keep active -- to a point
Staying engaged in a variety of activities also increases your shot at an enjoyable retirement. Urban Institute economist Barbara Butrica found that retirees who both worked and volunteered were 13 percent more likely to consider themselves very satisfied than those who didn't.
But you can't hustle and bustle your way to retirement nirvana. The boost in satisfaction trailed off for retirees who worked or volunteered more than 200 hours a year, and the positive effect seemed to disappear at 500 hours.
Motivation also mattered. People who worked because they needed the income, rather than for enjoyment, actually felt less satisfied about their retirement. The moral: Be careful that the activities you pursue don't become too much like, well, work.
Try to control your exit
Bender's work shows that people who left their jobs voluntarily were 30 percent more likely to be happiest in retirement than those who were pushed out.
One reason: People who retire on their own schedules have had a better opportunity to get their postwork finances in order. They're also better prepared psychologically. "If you're humming along and suddenly things don't work out as planned," says Bender, "it can be quite a shock."
You can't control whether you'll have to stop working because of ill health or a downsizing, which account for 75 percent of involuntary retirements. But while it's tough to think about, it pays to recognize the possibility and do some advance planning -- say, looking into your options for taking Social Security and getting health insurance to tide you over until you qualify for Medicare. Then, if you do get the boot, you won't be caught totally off guard.
A final, happy note: Studies show older retirees tend to feel better about their lives than younger ones. So if you've tried to improve your situation and it still isn't going well, hang in there. Chances are that life, like fine wine, will improve with age.

Test Posting

You may have interest in Last Posting on 22 Dec 2005
and also on 11 Dec 2005

Since my last Posting

Lessing Mistakes Made

Don't Repeat Mistake Again and Again


Must use: Plan for trading.Meaning enter at 3A instead of 2A and Don't get panicky when 3B occurred. Do not enter without checking Trade Summary (TS) of Buy and sell quenes. Do not sell the same day.
The oppostite is true. Meaning don't check TS when sell intrayday wise after immediate purchase

P/s for more detail, go to My Blog and see it. Use search facility on Top left corner for "Rational for Comfortdelgro".

Example of Good Entry Point

I Love My Blog so see it!

You may have interest in Detail of Plan

Common Trading Mistakes

Must use:

Plan

for trading.Do not enter without checking Trade Summary (TS) of Buy and sell quenes. Do not sell the same day.
The oppostite is true. Meaning don't check TS when sell intrayday wise after immediate purchase

Technical Indicators

Charter 2.0 offers many technical indicators for your research needs. The advanced technical chartist would know what to do with the right away, but most people don’t have a clue. Knowing how to use various technical indicators (or use a combination of a couple for added assurance) would add value to your investment research. You can sharpen your trade timing and get better entry/exit pricing. I spent over a year learning this stuff and I wanted to give back to my readers on what I learned and how you can be a better chartist. Below, I put together resources for every feature available for my program Charter 2.0. Feel free to bookmark it if you can’t go through everything in one sitting.

TECHNICAL INDICATORS:

Commodity Channel Index (CCI)
The CCI, when used in conjunction with other oscillators, can be a valuable tool to identify potential peaks and valleys in the asset’s price, and thus provide investors with reasonable evidence to estimate changes in the direction of price movement of the asset.
Learn More: Commodity Channel Index

Relative Strength Index (RSI)
The RSI compares the magnitude of recent gains to recent losses in an attempt to determine overbought and oversold conditions of an asset.
Learn More: Relative Strength Index

Moving Average Convergenge-Divergence (MACD)
A trend-following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages of prices.
Learn More: MACD

Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)
The Chaikin Money Flow oscillator generates bullish signals by indicating that a security is under accumulation. It is based on calculations from the Accumulation/Distribution by Chaikin.
Learn More: Chaikin Money Flow

On Balance Volume (OBV)
A method used in technical analysis to detect momentum, the calculation relates volume to price change. OBV provides a running total of volume and shows if this volume is flowing in or out.
Learn More: On Balance Volume

Accumulation/Distribution (ACC/DST)
ACC/DST measures supply and demand by discovering if investors are generally “Accumulating” (buying) or “Distributing” (Selling) a certain stock by identifying divergences between stock price and volume flow.
Learn More: Accumulation/Distribution

Bollinger Bands (BB Width)
BB Width is the measurement of the width between the top and bottom bollinger lines. When the BB width is small (tight bollingers), then it may indicate and a price expansion will soon occur.
Learn More: B.B. Width, Bollinger Bands

Price Relative To (Price Relative)
The Price Relative compares the performance of one security against that of another.
Learn More: Price Relative

Fast/Full/Slow Stochastics (Stochastics)
Stochastics measures oversold/overbought conditions. When it is above 80, it is in the overbought region and when it is under 20, it is oversold.
Learn More: Stochastics

OVERLAYS:

Moving Averages:
Simple Moving Average (MA or SMA) and Exponential Moving Average (EMA)
SMA is basically the average price for a given period. ie: MA(50) is the average price for the past 50 days (if you are looking at daily ticks).
EMA is like SMA except it weighs the most recent tick heavier in the average price calculation.
Learn More: Moving Averages

Zig-Zag
Its purpose is to filter out random noise and compare relative price movements.
Learn More: Zig-Zag Lines

Price by Volume
The length of each bar on the side is determined by the cumulative total of all volume bars for the periods during which the closing price fell within the vertical range of the histogram bar.
Learn More: Price By Volume

Parabolic SAR
Parabolic SAR sets trailing price stops for long or short positions. It is also referred to as the stop-and-reversal indicator.
Learn More: Parabolic SAR

CHART ANNOTATIONS:

Use the line tool to connect top to top to or bottom to bottom to draw a trend line or price channel. You can even connect a top to a bottom (which should lead to a future bottom) or a bottom to top (which should lead to a future top). Keep in mind that a lower high is almost always bearish except if the stock is consolidating and a higher low is, in the other sense, bullish. Remember that you can make a parallel line to a top trend line or bottom trend line to find the other line to make a channel.

If you want to edit a line or anything annotated on the chart, select the arrow tool on to top of the chart and select a line to edit it. Note that you can also change the line width/color/ or make dashes.

Another useful annotating tool is the Fibonacci retracement tool. You start it at a price bottom and drag it to the next top. Stocks usually retrace back to the 38.2%, 50%, or 61.8% level. If price bounces off the 38.2% level, it is very bullish. At 61.8% it may indicate it is the last time turning up (could mean bearish).

Learn More: Annotating Charts

For your reference, go here to get Charter 2.0. I hope these resources will help you grow as a technical analyst. Enjoy!

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Emotion & Trading

Can I control my emotion?

It's kind of tiring to flying back from the US to Singapore - an aggregate 24 hours and 10,000 miles away from Los Angeles to Singapore. I am still trying to catch up with lots of stuff I learnt in the US but must admit that it may take a few more days to do so. Never mind. There is no need to rush.

This brings me to another point which I want to share today. It's emotion....

Human beings are human beings. We are not robots and hence, we have EMOTIONS. Sometimes we are happy. Sometimes we are sad. Sometimes we aren't feeling good. Sometimes we need support and enouragement from family and friends.

As a professional trader, I fully understand that I will never remove emotion when I am in a trade. My trading account was up 10% just over last week and how can I say I am not happy? It's emotion, isn't it?

Emotion is a culprit in our trade. When we have no trade on hand, our emotion may tell us to look for trades so that we have enough trades to keep us busy. Sometimes when we are in the trade, emotion may tell us to deviate from our trading plan When we have losing trades, emotions may transform into hope which in turn tells us to stay on because there is a chance of recovery.

I tend to admit that emotion cannot be completely removed but we can control it to certain extent. Here are some thoughts:

1. Practise quality assurance - make sure all potential opportunities we identify are good ones. It is good to have 10 trades at one time with good quality rather than 30 trades at one goal where some are good, some are moderately good. This will definitely help to increase the win/loss ratio.

2. Practise internal control - when I am not in the mood to trade, don't trade. When I am busy with some other thing and cannot focus on my trades, don't trade. Spend whatever time available to manage the existing trades will be a good idea. Actually I used to enjoy Thinkorswim US$40 rebate because I opened lots of trade in the past. However, I haven't been able to enjoy such rebate last two months but my trading result is a pleasant one. So, this may suggest that fewer trades may be better for me, even though I am a person who can easily remember as many as 60 trades at one time and can still remmeber all the details.

3. Practise management questionnaire - i.e. being the boss of the business, and the central management and control, I got to ask myself in what way I can improve my trading results. Is there anything I should be aware such as whether my trading plan is yet to be completely thorough or the timing of the entry of a trade.

4. Proper documentation - that's the reason why I started this trading blog. So, whatever discovery I have, I can document it and review constantly.

5. CPD - Continous Professional Development is essential, either in the form of continuous education/ seminars or self-study.

Have a good weekend.

Good trading!