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5 retirement derailers and how to avoid them

The business of working life means retirement can sneak up on us. For the unprepared, the speeding train can quickly fall off the tracks – with potentially devastating consequences. Thankfully, if you know what to look for and how to prepare, you can reach your retirement destination safe and sound: <ol> <li>Failing to plan</li> </ol> Failing to plan means planning to fail. Ideally, you haven’t put off having a spending and investment plan until now. So, what’s needed is to update that plan. Your update should cover: <ul> <li>When will you stop working? Will it be gradual? What about your partner?</li> <li>How will you fund your retirement? How much will you need? How often?</li> <li>Your eligibility for a full or part <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/how-much-age-pension-you-can-get?context=22526">age pension</a>? (Remember, the family home isn’t means tested, so you may be eligible even without realising it!)</li> <li>Any benefits/payouts you’re entitled to and what to do with them – e.g., bonuses, share options, proceeds of a business sale.</li> <li>New and changed living costs in retirement – new hobbies, extra travel, higher energy bills from more time at home.</li> </ul> <ol start="2"> <li>Poor super strategy</li> </ol> Superannuation should never be set-and-forget – before or in retirement. Before retiring, look at maximising your super’s value – including <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/income-and-deductions/offsets-and-rebates/super-related-tax-offsets/#Taxoffsetforsupercontributionsonbehalfof">spousal contributions</a> and <a href="https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/super/in-detail/growing-your-super/super-co-contribution/">co-contributions for low and middle-income earners</a>. There are loads of other strategies too. This money gets invested for faster growth, while delivering you tax concessions now. Then determine how and when to begin drawing from it. Avoid the temptation to go big and risk blowing it all early, leaving nothing to support you in your later years. Check in regularly to ensure continued growth – potentially even offsetting what you’re withdrawing as income. <ol start="3"> <li>No stable home</li> </ol> "Older households that were not able to access or sustain home ownership when they were younger are more likely to face high housing costs in their retirement than similar households who are home owners," a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BriefingBook46p/HomeOwnership">Parliamentary paper</a> notes. The family home is effectively our only tax-free asset (save for buyers’ stamp duty). Its equity can be leveraged to fund other income-producing investments – property rents, share dividends etc. Or it can be sold, allowing you to downsize comfortably and still have money left over. Home ownership also offers stability when you need it most – moving is more cumbersome as your years advance, plus securing rental accommodation is usually harder when you’re no longer working. It needn’t be much, but owning property keeps many doors open to you in retirement. <ol start="4"> <li>Inadequate estate planning</li> </ol> There are two major mistakes around estate planning: <ul> <li>Not having a current will: Devising a will is generally simple and not expensive. So don’t put it off. If you do have one, when was it last updated? Does it reflect your current circumstances – relationships breakdown, remarriage, children/stepchildren, grandkids? If not, you could inadvertently lavish your ex or overlook loved ones.</li> <li>Undeclared beneficiaries: Contrary to popular belief, wills don’t cover everything. Superannuation, businesses, trusts etc. are treated separately, requiring you to nominate beneficiaries within their structures. Not doing so can lead to disputes or the government becoming your primary benefactor. </li> </ul> Work with your team – lawyer, financial adviser and accountant to ensure your estate planning is done tax effectively and your loved ones won’t see their inheritance gobbled up in tax or other costs. <ol start="5"> <li>Insufficient protections</li> </ol> Just because you are or soon will be retired, doesn’t mean you don’t need protections. Arguably, you need them even more. <ul> <li>Revisit insurances: Can you get retiree discounts/better coverage? Are any new assets you purchase covered – boat, caravan, artwork? Business/professional insurances may no longer seem relevant, but ensure they really aren’t needed before cancelling them – once they’re gone, you won’t get the same cover at the same price again.</li> <li>Guardianships/power of attorney: We never know what’s around the corner. Explore legal provisions should you become ill, disabled or otherwise unable to make decisions over your affairs or for children/dependents in your care. </li> <li>Social connections: Retirement can be lonely as you cease seeing colleagues daily. Memberships to sporting, crafts, automotive, gardening, and other clubs are good for maintaining social connections. Spend more time with family and friends too, but remember – they may not have as much free time as you do.</li> </ul> Retirement should be enjoyable. Yet by not planning ahead, your twilight years could run off the rails. Investing a little time and effort now is sure to pay big dividends during your twilight years! Helen Baker is a licensed Australian financial adviser and author of the new book, On Your Own Two Feet: The Essential Guide to Financial Independence for all Women (Ventura Press, $32.99). Helen is among the 1% of financial planners who hold a master’s degree in the field. Proceeds from book sales are donated to charities supporting disadvantaged women and children. Find out more at <a href="http://www.onyourowntwofeet.com.au">www.onyourowntwofeet.com.au</a> Image credits: Getty Images

Retirement Income

New update derails Madeleine McCann claim

Polish woman Julia Faustyna, also known online as Julia Wendell and Julia Wandelt, took the internet by storm this week with <a href="https://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/woman-shares-evidence-that-she-is-madeleine-mccann" target="_blank" rel="noopener">her claims to be the missing Madeleine McCann. </a> “I think I can be Madeleine,” Julia initially wrote in a post on Facebook, where she hoped to gain the attention of the authorities and secure a DNA test to prove her theories. Julia noted the similarities in their appearances as her most compelling piece of evidence, particularly their eye defects - though Julia said in the post that hers had “faded more and more every year.” She also spoke of a conversation she’d had with her kindergarten teacher, explaining how she had “been in kindergarten since my last group, from September 2007 to July 2008” but that she was told by her family that she was “there all kindergarten.” <iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fyavassa01%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0KLozoKa5Lu7dosr5Twkc2erHSR2JV5sQ2Tuz4hxqDc8gT95bm3qrpKWCzQPpsbi7l&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="670" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> On her Instagram account, Julia has been providing her audience with updates, pleas for help, and further “evidence” to support her claims. Most notably, she has referenced those absences from her childhood, noting that she has “asked for pictures of when my mum was pregnant with me, other medical records and any pictures from my childhood and she never shows them, she just always tells me I’m crazy.” This claim, that she has been unable to secure pictures from her childhood, has been blown open by none other than Julia’s own grandmother. In a video uploaded to her account, a distraught Julia shared that she had received a phone call from her grandmother. “She said that I’m a very bad person,” she said, “that she doesn’t want to meet me anymore. She started to shout at me. “I asked her for a DNA test with her or with my parents and she will not take a DNA test with me and I can’t say she has to do it.” In another story, uploaded the same day, Julia shared a baby picture from her grandmother - one that she has trouble accepting as legitimate. “She sent me two pics,” Julia captioned the picture. “but, well, I don’t see faces clearly.” Julia went on to explain that she had asked for a DNA test but that her grandmother was unsure that Julia’s parents would agree to the test. Later, she stated that it was because “they don’t agree.” In a conversation with a fellow social media personality, Julia also spoke of her family’s belief that she is “horrible” giving “hope to the McCanns”. That same user noted that Julia’s family were “concerning” for refusing to give her the information she requires. Although Julia has claimed numerous times that she isn’t doing any of it for fame, many around the world remain skeptical. And with no firm evidence to back her, that doesn’t look likely to change. Images: Instagram

Legal

Derailed train saved by giant whale tail

An elevated tram ran past the end of its tracks in the city of Rotterdam and instead of plunging 10 metres to the ground, it rested gently on top of a statue of a whale's tail, coincidentally called Saved by a Whale's Tale. The conductor emerged shocked but unharmed and there were no passengers on board. The event created such a stir that authorities urged sightseers to stay away, adding that coronavirus restrictions were still in force. <img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7838606/giant-whale-hero-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/8a27dc26bc3c4cd1990bbbc816e4e7cf" /> <div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> "A team of experts is investigating how we can make it safe and get it down," Carly Gorter, a spokeswoman for the local security authority, said in a telephone interview. "It's tricky." The architect who designed the sculpture Maarten Struijs has said he is pleased that it likely saved the life of the driver. "I'm surprised it's so strong," he said. "If plastic has been standing for 20 years, you don't expect it to hold a metro carriage." </div> </div> </div>

Travel Trouble

How humans derailed the Earth’s climate in just 160 years

Climate change might be the most urgent issue of our day, both politically and in terms of life on Earth. There is mounting awareness that the global climate is a matter for public action. For 11,500 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations hovered around 280 ppm (the preindustrial “normal”), with an average surface temperature around 15°C. Since the Industrial Revolution, this level has been rising continuously, reaching 410 ppm in 2018. The geosciences, with their focus on timescales up to billions of years, are uniquely equipped to make extremely clear how abruptly industrial societies have changed and are changing the Earth’s climate. Climate, greenhouse gases and CO2 The main engine of Earth’s climate is the sun. Our star delivers an average surface power of 342 W/m2 per year (roughly that of a hairdryer for each square meter of the planet). Earth absorbs about 70% of this and reflects the rest. If this were the only climate mechanism, the average temperature would be -15°C (below the freezing point of water, 0°C). Life would likely be impossible. Fortunately, some of the absorbed energy is re-emitted as infrared radiation, which, unlike visible light, interacts with the greenhouse gases (GHGs) present in the atmosphere to radiate heat back toward Earth’s surface. This greenhouse effect currently maintains our average temperature around 15°C. The primary GHGs are water vapour and the much-debated CO2. Carbon dioxide contributes up to 30% of the total greenhouse effect, water vapour provides about 70%. CO2, though, has overall warming power that water vapour doesn’t. Water vapour in the atmosphere has a very short residence time (from hours to days) and its concentration can increase only if temperature increases. CO2 lingers in the atmosphere for 100 years and its concentration is not solely controlled by temperature. CO2 is thus able to trigger warming: if CO2 concentration increases, the average temperature, regardless of its own trend, will increase. Carbon sinks It is thus crucial to understand how atmospheric CO2 is regulated. Over geologic timescales (100,000+ years), volcanic gasses are the primary source of CO2, averaging 0.4 billion of tons of CO2 per year (0.4 GtCO2/y). But CO2 doesn’t just endlessly accumulate in the atmosphere. It fluxes in and out thanks to other environmental processes, and is stored in reservoirs known as carbon sinks. The ocean, for one, contains <a href="https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/earth_modeling/student_materials/unit9_article1.html">50 times</a> more carbon than the atmosphere. However, CO2 dissolved in the ocean can easily be released toward the atmosphere, while only geological sinks keep CO2 away from the atmosphere on geological timescales. The first geological sink is sedimentary organic matter. Living organisms contain organic carbon built from atmospheric CO2 through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis">photosynthesis</a>, and dead organisms are often sent to the bottom of the ocean, lakes, and swamps. Immense amounts of organic carbon thus accumulate over time in marine and continental sediments, some of which are eventually transformed into fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal). Calcareous rocks are the second geological carbon sink. Rocks such as granites or basalts are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weathering">weathered</a> by surface waters, washing calcium and bicarbonate ions away to the ocean. Marine organisms use these to build hard parts made of calcium carbonate. When deposited at the bottom of the ocean, calcium carbonate is eventually sequestered as limestone. Depending on the estimates, these two sinks combined contain <a href="https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/teaching_materials/earth_modeling/student_materials/unit9_article1.html">50,000 to 100,000 times</a> more carbon than the present atmosphere. The Earth’s atmosphere over time The amount of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere has varied widely. Decades of research allow us to draw the main lines of the history beginning after the Earth was fully formed <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016703718304666">4.4 billion years ago</a>. Earth’s <a href="http://www.csun.edu/%7Ehmc60533/CSUN_311/article_references/Sc_Feb93_EarthEarlyAtmos.pdf">early atmosphere</a> was extremely rich in CO2 (up to 10,000 times modern levels), while oxygen (O2) was scarce. During the Archean (3.8 to 2.5 billion years ago), life first flourished, the first continents built up. Weathering started pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere. The development of photosynthesis contributed to decrease atmospheric CO2, while elevating O2 levels during the <a href="https://www.origins.asu.edu/blog/oxygenation-catastrophe">Great Oxygenation Event</a>, about 2.3 billion years ago. CO2 concentration fell to “only” 20 to 100 times the preindustrial level, never to return to the concentration of Earth’s earliest eons. Two billion years later, the carbon cycle changed. Toward the late Devonian-early Carboniferous (<a href="http://scotese.com/newpage4.htm">approximately 350 million years ago</a>), CO2 concentration was around <a href="http://www.atmo.arizona.edu/students/courselinks/spring08/atmo336s1/courses/fall07/atmo551a/pdf/CarbonCycle.pdf">1,000 ppm</a>. Mammals didn’t exist. Vascular plants able to synthesise lignin appeared during the Devonian and spread. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lignin">Lignin</a> is a molecule resistant to microbial degradation that allowed massive organic carbon stocks to build up as coal over millions of years. Combined with the weathering of the Hercynian range (the vestiges of which can be found in France’s Massif Central or the Appalachians in the United States), organic carbon burial pulled atmospheric CO2 down to levels similar to (or lower than) today’s and generated a <a href="https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Plate-Tectonics/Chap1-Pioneers-of-Plate-Tectonics/Alfred-Wegener/Glacial-Deposits-from-Permo-Carboniferous-Glaciation">major glacial era</a> between 320 and 280 million years ago. By the end of the Jurassic (145 million years ago), however, the pendulum had swung. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth, mammals evolved, tectonic activity increased and Pangea (the last super-continent) <a href="http://scotese.com/jurassic.htm">ripped apart</a>. CO2 increased, to <a href="https://websites.pmc.ucsc.edu/%7Ejzachos/pubs/H%25f6nisch_etal_2012.pdf">500 to 2,000 ppm</a>, and remained at high levels, maintaining a warm greenhouse climate for 100 million years. From 55 million years, Earth cooled as CO2 <a href="https://websites.pmc.ucsc.edu/%7Ejzachos/pubs/H%25f6nisch_etal_2012.pdf">decreased</a>, notably following the Himalayan uplift and a subsequent increase in weathering and organic carbon sedimentation. Evolution continues with Hominids appearing <a href="https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/hominid/australo_1.htm">7 million years ago</a>. At 2.6 million years, Earth entered a new state characterised by an alternation of glacial and interglacial periods at a regular pace led by Earth’s orbital parameters and amplified by the shorter-term carbon cycle. CO2 reached its preindustrial level 11,500 years ago as Earth entered the latest interglacial stage. A new story: the Industrial Revolution Until the 19th century, the story of atmospheric carbon and Earth’s climate was a story of geology, biology and evolution. That story changed sharply following the Industrial Revolution, when modern humans (Homo sapiens), who probably appeared <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6363/652">300,000 years ago</a>, began extracting and burning fossil fuels on a massive scale. By 1950, the addition of CO2 to the atmosphere through fossil-fuel combustion was already <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/122/3166/415.2">proven</a>, via the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_carbon">carbon isotopic signature</a> of CO2 molecules (known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suess_effect">“Suess” effect</a>). By the late 1970’s, climate scientists observed a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html">rapid drift toward warmer overall temperatures</a>. The IPCC, created in 1988, showed in 2012 that the average temperature had increased by 0.9°C <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/observations-atmosphere-and-surface/">since 1901</a>. That change might seem modest compared to the last deglaciation, when average temperature increased by about 6°C in 7,000 years, but it’s at least 10 times faster. The average temperature continues to climb, and natural parameters such as solar activity or volcanism can’t explain such a fast warming. The cause is unambiguously human addition of GHGs to the atmosphere, and <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.ATM.CO2E.PC?contextual=aggregate&end=2014&locations=XD-XM-XP-1W&name_desc=false&start=1960">high-income countries</a> emit the most CO2 per inhabitant. How will our story end? Industrial societies burnt about 25% of Earth’s fossil fuels within 160 years and abruptly inverted a natural flux storing carbon away from the atmosphere. This new human-generated flux is instead adding <a href="https://cdiac.ess-dive.lbl.gov/trends/emis/tre_glob_2014.html">28 Gt of CO₂ per year</a>, 50 times more than volcanoes. Natural geological sequestration cannot compensate and atmospheric CO2 keeps rising. The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/graphics/">consequences</a> are imminent, numerous and dire: extreme weather events, sea-level rise, glacier retreat, ocean acidification, ecosystem disruptions and extinctions. Earth itself has survived other catastrophes. Although current warming will outpace many species’ ability to adapt, life will continue. It is not the planet that is at stake. Instead, it is the future of human societies and the preservation of current ecosystems. While the Earth sciences cannot provide solutions to think about the necessary changes in our behaviour and consumption of fossil fuels, they can and must contribute to knowledge and collective awareness of the current global warming. We thank <a href="https://twitter.com/morganfahey">Morgan Fahey</a> for her invaluable help with the English text.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114021/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/guillaume-paris-669068">Guillaume Paris</a>, Géochimiste, chargé de recherche CNRS au Centre de recherches pétrographiques et géochimiques de Nancy, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/universite-de-lorraine-2158">Université de Lorraine</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/pierre-henri-blard-546145">Pierre-Henri Blard</a>, Géochronologue et paléoclimatologue, chargé de recherches CNRS - Centre de recherches pétrographiques et géochimiques (Nancy) et Laboratoire de glaciologie (Bruxelles), <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/universite-de-lorraine-2158">Université de Lorraine</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-humans-derailed-the-earths-climate-in-just-160-years-114021">original article</a>.

International Travel

Top 5 culprits derailing your diet

How would you describe your relationship to food? Are you controlled and strong-willed? Or do you give in to the first temptation that presents itself? Since we’re all so different when it comes to food and cravings, it makes sense to understand what’s going on in our brains before we get too caught up in what we’re putting in our mouths. That’s where the CSIRO’s new “Diet Type” quiz comes in. “For anyone who has found eating to lose weight difficult, your personal Diet Type, daily habits and lifestyle factors could provide the answer to why some weight loss methods haven’t worked for you in the past,” CSIRO Behavioural Scientist Dr Sinead Golley said. “If you’re frustrated by unsuccessful weight loss attempts, having a better understanding of your personal triggers and diet patterns can be the crucial piece of the puzzle.” Essentially, CSIRO researchers looked at five of the most common diet personality types among Australians in the hope that we can develop a healthier relationship with food. There’s the Foodie (generally healthier, loves trying new foods), the Craver (more prone to obesity, struggles to resist temptation), the Freewheeler (also prone to obesity thanks to their spontaneous, impulsive eating habits), the Socialiser (more common in older people, food and alcohol are a big part of their social life) and the Thinker (the most common type, especially among women, who over-analyse their progress and set unrealistic goals). Each “type” has their own strengths and downfalls, however. “One in five Cravers have tried to lose weight more than 25 times and they say that chocolate and confectionery are the biggest problem foods to resist,” explains Dr Golley. “On the other hand, people with the most common diet personality type – known as the ‘Thinker’ – tend to have high expectations and tend to be perfectionists, giving up when things get challenging.” There were also differences between the generations. “Baby boomers and the older, silent generation (aged 71 years and over) were more likely to be Socialisers and Foodies – suggesting lifestyle and social connections influence a person’s eating patterns at different stages of life – while millennials and Gen X were more likely to be Cravers, Thinkers and Freewheelers. “We also found younger people commonly used fitness trackers and apps to lose weight, while older generations turned to diet books and support groups.” Give it a try for yourself <a href="https://my.totalwellbeingdiet.com/diet-type" target="_blank">here</a> and tell us in the comments below, how accurately did it describe you?

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