Last But Not Least

Not only will we have more time, but our interests and tastes evolve into different genres as well. We're more interested in seeing what's going on out there. If you find that retirement is freeing up some free time for you, maybe you'd be interested in starting a film club.

Hollywood produced over 700 movies last year - how many of them did you see? Add to that number all of the foreign films that came out, and all of the classic films shown in revival houses, and the number of movies you could have viewed this year is up to several a day! And that's before ever visiting your local video store, or turning on a cable station! If you are interested in catching up with the newest trends in film, forming a movie club is a great idea.

Baby boomers have really driven the film industry over the past several years. It is no longer true that an actress over the age of 50 can't land a film role. As our population ages, so do the directors, actors and writers. Movies aren't just about the young and the beautiful any more; they reflect all walks of life.

It is similar to a book club, with movie clubs involve members getting together to watch movies, and then discuss them. Some people get pretty serious about their film going! Some groups may view this activity as more of a time to get out, watch a movie, and then have dinner, coffee or a drink afterwards. Discussing what they have seen is secondary to the social aspect of the get-together.

Other groups take their films very seriously. Perhaps they see only documentaries, or foreign films. Discussing camera angles and lighting choices may end up taking precedence over storylines.

You may want to try a small film festival in your own living room. How about a month of Jack Nicholson? Or all of Francois Truffaut's films, in chronological order? Whether you are actually driving to the theater or watching from your favorite easy chair, the possibilities are endless.

One great thing about a movie club is how inexpensive it can be. If you are able to go to matines, you'll pay a lot less than full price. And most theaters have a discount for those of us Over55! Lights, camera, enjoy.

Kerry Anne Finch is an accomplished marketer, with proven successes in corporate and NFP PR, event management and hugely successful product launch programs.

Kerry has founded a new website Over55s specifically for the Baby Boomer/55+ age group, with features that include Travel, Hobbies, Health and Sport (http://www.over55s.com). Contributions from members are not only welcome, but are encouraged.

Currently Kerry divides her time between launching and managing her new website, her internet writing business, and gathering material through her role as an international tour director.

AP - Home prices tumbled by the steepest rate ever in May, according to a closely watched housing index released Tuesday, as the housing slump deepened nationwide.

Is this what you have to expect from your life, you start work at 20 and you willingly expect to work until you are 60 and now it's time to collect from your 401K or IRA. We all know better than to expect that we might be able to count 100% on being able to receive Social Security Income. So if we do not succeed at our proposed savings then what?

This should be a question that everyone ask themselves on a daily basis, why you might ask, because there aren't any sure things anymore. The old adage of you following a proven path to success has eroded very quickly. I know more engineers, IT professionals, Doctors that have followed the supposedly sure thing and trust me it is not working anymore. The safe route as we were told about during our informative years while we were in high school is a bunch of bull. Education is important, but what's more important in these trying times are entrepreneurial skills. These are skills not taught in our classrooms, why I'd rather not get into that right now, but I
would like to explore more into why having entrepreneurial skills are more important than ever. Today we are in the information age, things are changing very rapidly, the information you learned a year ago might be outdated by the time you actually use it.

Be very afraid of being ordinary in today's society, in the past you could survive quite well being ordinary, not taking a chance, playing it safe, but today if you do you will get left behind and probably out in the cold. The world is changing into two distinct tracts, those that have, the rich, and well to do families and the poor, the middle class is changing as we speak. The price of gas alone is can almost cripple the average middle class family, the rise in gas prices are well above the average middle class families rise or increase in income, think about this, before the rise of oil and gas we were having record losses in the stock market, the sub-prime credit crunch has devastated an entire industry. Look at the auto industry, Ford, Chrysler and GM has lost there most profitable models do to rising fuel cost. Now with the escalating prices of gas what do you think will happen?

I recently had a conversation with a very successful individual that really crystallized the need to become financially independent, I commented about the price of gas and he looked at me and stated, as I have never heard anyone say, stop worrying about things you can't control, instead of worrying about the rise in gas prices, worry about how you can make more money, the gas prices you can't do anything about, but the amount of money you make truly is dictated and controlled by you.

Let me not digress to far from the point I am trying to make, we are too comfortable with the status quo of 40 hours for 40 years and now you hopefully can live off your 401k or IRA savings. Let me be frank if we have to depend totally on your ability to save that "magical 1 million dollars" all financial planners say you need to have to live comfortably in retirement it might not happen with the way the stock market has been going. Why wait and let someone else control your well being, dictate to you when and how you can retire. Let's take some chances with our life, so what if you fail, it happens from the day we come out of our mothers womb, we fall then we get up, that is the same attitude I implore you to have. Stop worrying about the negatives, the what-if's of the world, they will be there whether you take a chance or not.

They did a study of 100 men all retirement age and out of the 100 only 3-5% of them were financially sound at age 65, what is even worse is the over 80% of them could not even write a check $500.00 if their life depended on it. The reason I mention this is that the 80% has been following the system that we have been sold a bill of goods on. Today there are more millionaires than ever and it is growing rapidly. Most of the millionaires I have read about have been risk takers, albeit calculated risk. The Power to Be Free has been created to assist as many individuals as possible to take calculated risk with a tangible product like Real Estate. Real Estate has been a very big part of my life for the past 12 years and I know that if you are willing to devote some time and energy into developing new habits, in a short period of time the status quo of 40 hours for 40 years and now I can retire will be a thing of the past.

Darrick H Scruggs
CEO
The Power to Be Free
http://www.ThePowertobeFree.com

AFP - The families of a newly-wed Welsh doctor who was killed on her honeymoon and her husband who was shot and critically injured, have expressed their devastation over the vicious attack which took place on a Caribbean island.