Kent Sepkowitz, The Daily Beast
Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts
Monday, 24 December 2012
Why Christmas Is So Deadly
Kent Sepkowitz, The Daily Beast
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
The Best and Worst Jobs for 2012
By Cindy Perman | CNBC
The job market has begun a decidedly ungraceful recovery: Jobs have been added to the economy for 18 straight months and several gauges are back at pre-recession levels, including jobless claims and wage growth. But the job growth isn’t always as robust as many hope for and projections suggest it will likely take until at least 2014 to regain the millions of jobs lost during the recession.
If it’s one thing the recession has taught us it’s that not all job prospects are created equal. Job search portal CareerCast is out with their Best and Worst Jobs for 2012 and the jobs that have the best prospects — and those that have the worst — are a direct reflection of what’s going on in the economy.
If it’s one thing the recession has taught us it’s that not all job prospects are created equal. Job search portal CareerCast is out with their Best and Worst Jobs for 2012 and the jobs that have the best prospects — and those that have the worst — are a direct reflection of what’s going on in the economy.
[Related: Careers That Could Pay Six Figures]
“The jobs that continue to fare very well are those that fare the best in a tough economy – primarily information technology and health care,” said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast’s 2012 Jobs Rated Report.
Interestingly, all the reports of shortages of skilled workers in these two fields hasn’t spurred more people to pursue them – in fact, it’s the opposite.
“The shortages are getting more acute!” Lee said.
For that reason, there’s also been an increase in demand for human resources – you need good HR people to find those skilled workers! HR Manager is new to the list this year, as is online advertising manager, reflecting the changing demands in the economy. And you need to offer incentives for those skilled employees to stay: Of the eight jobs that returned to the list again this year, all showed a pay increase compared to 2011.
So what makes a job one of the “best” jobs?
“The top-rated jobs have few physical demands, minimal stress, a good working environment and a strong hiring outlook,” Lee said.
But with the good comes the bad, hence the Worst Jobs for 2012. So what makes a job one of the worst?
High stress, high physical demands, and a tough or dangerous work environment, according to CareerCast. Several of the worst jobs in America involve working “in physically demanding, precarious, low-paying professions with a weak hiring outlook,” said Lee. While many college graduates remain unemployed, causing many to question the value of a college degree, the value is reflected in the lists: Nearly all of the “best” jobs require a college degree and many of the “worst” don’t even require a high-school diploma.
[Related: Survival Skills for a Job You Detest]
The food-service industry always ranks pretty low, given the tough working conditions and low pay, but the industry was even harder hit by the recession, when many people cut back on going out to eat.
The one new job that made the worst list this year was Enlisted Military Personnel for obvious reasons — a high-stress job in often dangerous conditions.
Here's the list of the top 5 Best Jobs for 2012.
Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images1. Software Engineer
2012 pay: $88,142
2011 pay: $87,140
Change in pay: +1.1%
Software engineer has been the No. 1 job for two years running. You can sum that up in two words, Lee said: “Technology revolution.”
Software engineers are the “creative minds behind computer programs,” according to the BLS.
“Every day new demand for new software is not being fulfilled,” Lee said. “Someone right now is in a garage somewhere dreaming up the next big thing and they’re going to need to find 100 programmers to make it happen.”
Photo: Stewart Cohen | Digital Vision | Getty Images2. Actuary
2012 pay: $88,202
2011 pay: $87,204
Change in pay: +1.1%
Actuaries analyze the financial costs of risk and uncertainty, using mathematics, statistics and financial theory to assess the risk that a particular event will occur, according to the BLS.
There is always demand for risk analysts across all industries – actuary has made the top 10 for four years running -- but the uncertainty that came with the financial crisis, and economic havoc it wreaked on companies, juiced demand for this profession even more.
Add to that the fact that most people who have an accounting background tend to pursue work as accountants because the pay is better and you’ve got strong demand. Employment growth in this profession is expected to jump 27 percent between 2010 and 2020, according to the BLS.
“The spotlight has risen on this profession,” Lee said. “More actuaries are needed. Demand far outstrips supply.”
Photo: Stockbyte | Getty Images3. Human Resources Manager
2012 pay: $99,102
New to the list for 2012
At first glance, HR manager being the No. 3 job was the biggest surprise of the best list, but when you think about employment trends, it makes sense: There are some high-skilled jobs in high-demand fields like health care and information technology that are in demand and there aren’t enough skilled workers to fill them, Lee said.
Add to that the fact that a lot of skilled HR managers are retiring and fewer young people pursue human resources as a career and you’ve got a perfect storm for one of the best jobs in America this year.
And, because it requires a qualified HR person to be able to spot and hire these skilled workers, HR managers get paid, on average, just shy of six figures.
Photo: John Moore | Getty Images4. Dental Hygienist
2012 pay: $68,109
2011 pay: $67,107
Change in pay: +1.5%
Dental hygienists clean teeth and examine patients for oral diseases such as gingivitis. They are increasingly doing more of the dentist’s work. To be a dental hygienist typically requires an associate’s degree in dental hygiene.
Perhaps a reflection of our declining dental hygiene as a society or the fact that fewer people are pursuing work as a dental hygienist – or both – employment in this field is expected to grow by 38 percent between 2010 and 2020, according to the BLS.
“It’s a lot like computer programmers – there’s demand and not enough supply,” Lee said.
Photo: Susan Trigg | Photodisc | Getty Images5. Financial Planner
2012 pay: $104,161
2011 pay: $101,164
Change in pay: +3%
As Baby Boomers get older, they not only need health care – they need financial advice for retirement. And with the stock-market gyrations that resulted from the financial crisis, that demand is even greater.
“People are realizing that they haven’t made the investments they need to make,” Lee said. “Even the savviest investors got hosed. It was a bit of a warning call that they need someone to help them with their investments.”
Not only is there demand for financial planners, but there are fewer people going into this profession than the demand is requiring, Lee said.
Click here to see the full list of America’s Best Jobs.
Here's the list of the top 5 Worst Jobs for 2012.
Photo: AP1. Lumberjack
2012 pay: $32,144
2011 pay: $32,109
Change in pay: flat
Lumberjack has always been one of the worst jobs — like dairy farmers, you’re working outside whatever the weather, in dangerous conditions, with low pay in an industry that took a huge hit during the recession (hello housing bust) and is increasingly being automated.
That being said, you’ll find a lot of lumberjacks who say they do it for their love of the outdoors and that they take great pride in their work.
“I talked to one lumberjack who said, ‘I love my job! I’m outdoors,’” Lee explained. “I said, ‘But isn’t it dangerous?’ He replied: ‘Oh sure, I’ve broken my leg twice, my collar bone and lost my pinky finger. But it’s no big deal. Just part of the job,’” Lee said.
“How many of us would give up our pinky finger for our job?” Lee quipped.
Photo: Getty Images2. Dairy Farmer
2012 pay: $33,119
2011 pay: $32,114
Change in pay: flat
Dairy farmers weren’t in the 10 worst last year so they not only shot into the bottom 10 but they debuted at No. 2.
First, it’s a low-paying job. Second, it’s very dangerous working with large animals such as cows. “Moving the animals, [farmers] could get their feet crushed,” Lee explained. “And there are more fatalities in dairy farming than ever before.”
Plus, the working conditions are tough — not only the obvious manure issue (though talk to a dairy farmer and he’ll tell you he doesn’t even smell it anymore) but also the fact that you have to get out there whether it’s 10 degrees or 100 degrees.
And the job outlook is tough: Dairy farming is increasingly becoming a corporate business, which is squeezing the little guys, Lee said.
Photo: Mario Tama | AFP | Getty Images3. Enlisted Military Personnel
2012 pay: $36,261
New to the list for 2012
Enlisted military personnel is new to the list but not because it suddenly became a tough job. It was hard to get solid data on the profession, according to CareerCast.
“It’s incredibly dangerous. You’re on the front lines and you’re responsible for others. The stress level is extremely high,” Lee said.
Plus, the hiring outlook is now weaker than it was at the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Photo: Tim Matsui | Getty Images4. Oil Rig Worker
2012 pay: $32,132
2011 pay: $32,143
Change in pay: flat
You might be surprised to find any job in the booming oil industry on a “worst” list but these guys are the entry-level spot on the oil totem pole. Their jobs are dangerous: working on oil rigs, often far away from home or offshore, in bad weather and dangerous working conditions. And they don’t share in the wealth of the industry because they are typically paid very low.
“It’s clearly the most dangerous job in the industry,” Lee said. “The fatality rate is very high.”
One bright spot is this category climbed up three notches on the list, after being the absolute worst job in America for two years running.
“With the surge in the energy industry, the hiring outlook improved enough to nudge them higher,” Lee explained.
“It’s dangerous and doesn’t pay well but many people thought, ‘Well, at least it’s a career where I can retire young,’” Lee said. “Now, you can’t even guarantee that you’ll maintain your job, nevermind retire from it,” Lee said.
Photo: Spencer Grant | Photo Researchers | Getty Images5. Newspaper Reporter
2012 pay: $35,275
2011 pay: $34,275
Change in pay: +3%
Newspaper reporter has always been a high-stress, low-pay job, but add to that the explosion of online and mobile news and newspaper reporters make a hard landing on the “worst” list.
“The newspaper industry is going through a full retrenchment. There are mergers, bankruptcies and layoffs everywhere,” Lee said. “Point to a newspaper that hasn’t had layoffs – not in this country!” he said.
With the move to digital, the pressures have mounted on newspaper reporters. “They are now required to tweet and do video as well as write articles,” Lee said. “They’re asked to do much more for less — and the pay is not good.”
Click here to see the full list of America’s Worst Jobs.
Note: Pay levels are “midlevel income”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-best-and-worst-jobs-for-2012.html
“The jobs that continue to fare very well are those that fare the best in a tough economy – primarily information technology and health care,” said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast’s 2012 Jobs Rated Report.
Interestingly, all the reports of shortages of skilled workers in these two fields hasn’t spurred more people to pursue them – in fact, it’s the opposite.
“The shortages are getting more acute!” Lee said.
For that reason, there’s also been an increase in demand for human resources – you need good HR people to find those skilled workers! HR Manager is new to the list this year, as is online advertising manager, reflecting the changing demands in the economy. And you need to offer incentives for those skilled employees to stay: Of the eight jobs that returned to the list again this year, all showed a pay increase compared to 2011.
So what makes a job one of the “best” jobs?
“The top-rated jobs have few physical demands, minimal stress, a good working environment and a strong hiring outlook,” Lee said.
But with the good comes the bad, hence the Worst Jobs for 2012. So what makes a job one of the worst?
High stress, high physical demands, and a tough or dangerous work environment, according to CareerCast. Several of the worst jobs in America involve working “in physically demanding, precarious, low-paying professions with a weak hiring outlook,” said Lee. While many college graduates remain unemployed, causing many to question the value of a college degree, the value is reflected in the lists: Nearly all of the “best” jobs require a college degree and many of the “worst” don’t even require a high-school diploma.
[Related: Survival Skills for a Job You Detest]
The food-service industry always ranks pretty low, given the tough working conditions and low pay, but the industry was even harder hit by the recession, when many people cut back on going out to eat.
The one new job that made the worst list this year was Enlisted Military Personnel for obvious reasons — a high-stress job in often dangerous conditions.
Here's the list of the top 5 Best Jobs for 2012.
Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images1. Software Engineer2012 pay: $88,142
2011 pay: $87,140
Change in pay: +1.1%
Software engineer has been the No. 1 job for two years running. You can sum that up in two words, Lee said: “Technology revolution.”
Software engineers are the “creative minds behind computer programs,” according to the BLS.
“Every day new demand for new software is not being fulfilled,” Lee said. “Someone right now is in a garage somewhere dreaming up the next big thing and they’re going to need to find 100 programmers to make it happen.”
Photo: Stewart Cohen | Digital Vision | Getty Images2. Actuary2012 pay: $88,202
2011 pay: $87,204
Change in pay: +1.1%
Actuaries analyze the financial costs of risk and uncertainty, using mathematics, statistics and financial theory to assess the risk that a particular event will occur, according to the BLS.
There is always demand for risk analysts across all industries – actuary has made the top 10 for four years running -- but the uncertainty that came with the financial crisis, and economic havoc it wreaked on companies, juiced demand for this profession even more.
Add to that the fact that most people who have an accounting background tend to pursue work as accountants because the pay is better and you’ve got strong demand. Employment growth in this profession is expected to jump 27 percent between 2010 and 2020, according to the BLS.
“The spotlight has risen on this profession,” Lee said. “More actuaries are needed. Demand far outstrips supply.”
Photo: Stockbyte | Getty Images3. Human Resources Manager2012 pay: $99,102
New to the list for 2012
At first glance, HR manager being the No. 3 job was the biggest surprise of the best list, but when you think about employment trends, it makes sense: There are some high-skilled jobs in high-demand fields like health care and information technology that are in demand and there aren’t enough skilled workers to fill them, Lee said.
Add to that the fact that a lot of skilled HR managers are retiring and fewer young people pursue human resources as a career and you’ve got a perfect storm for one of the best jobs in America this year.
And, because it requires a qualified HR person to be able to spot and hire these skilled workers, HR managers get paid, on average, just shy of six figures.
Photo: John Moore | Getty Images4. Dental Hygienist2012 pay: $68,109
2011 pay: $67,107
Change in pay: +1.5%
Dental hygienists clean teeth and examine patients for oral diseases such as gingivitis. They are increasingly doing more of the dentist’s work. To be a dental hygienist typically requires an associate’s degree in dental hygiene.
Perhaps a reflection of our declining dental hygiene as a society or the fact that fewer people are pursuing work as a dental hygienist – or both – employment in this field is expected to grow by 38 percent between 2010 and 2020, according to the BLS.
“It’s a lot like computer programmers – there’s demand and not enough supply,” Lee said.
Photo: Susan Trigg | Photodisc | Getty Images5. Financial Planner2012 pay: $104,161
2011 pay: $101,164
Change in pay: +3%
As Baby Boomers get older, they not only need health care – they need financial advice for retirement. And with the stock-market gyrations that resulted from the financial crisis, that demand is even greater.
“People are realizing that they haven’t made the investments they need to make,” Lee said. “Even the savviest investors got hosed. It was a bit of a warning call that they need someone to help them with their investments.”
Not only is there demand for financial planners, but there are fewer people going into this profession than the demand is requiring, Lee said.
Click here to see the full list of America’s Best Jobs.
Here's the list of the top 5 Worst Jobs for 2012.
Photo: AP1. Lumberjack2012 pay: $32,144
2011 pay: $32,109
Change in pay: flat
Lumberjack has always been one of the worst jobs — like dairy farmers, you’re working outside whatever the weather, in dangerous conditions, with low pay in an industry that took a huge hit during the recession (hello housing bust) and is increasingly being automated.
That being said, you’ll find a lot of lumberjacks who say they do it for their love of the outdoors and that they take great pride in their work.
“I talked to one lumberjack who said, ‘I love my job! I’m outdoors,’” Lee explained. “I said, ‘But isn’t it dangerous?’ He replied: ‘Oh sure, I’ve broken my leg twice, my collar bone and lost my pinky finger. But it’s no big deal. Just part of the job,’” Lee said.
“How many of us would give up our pinky finger for our job?” Lee quipped.
Photo: Getty Images2. Dairy Farmer2012 pay: $33,119
2011 pay: $32,114
Change in pay: flat
Dairy farmers weren’t in the 10 worst last year so they not only shot into the bottom 10 but they debuted at No. 2.
First, it’s a low-paying job. Second, it’s very dangerous working with large animals such as cows. “Moving the animals, [farmers] could get their feet crushed,” Lee explained. “And there are more fatalities in dairy farming than ever before.”
Plus, the working conditions are tough — not only the obvious manure issue (though talk to a dairy farmer and he’ll tell you he doesn’t even smell it anymore) but also the fact that you have to get out there whether it’s 10 degrees or 100 degrees.
And the job outlook is tough: Dairy farming is increasingly becoming a corporate business, which is squeezing the little guys, Lee said.
Photo: Mario Tama | AFP | Getty Images3. Enlisted Military Personnel2012 pay: $36,261
New to the list for 2012
Enlisted military personnel is new to the list but not because it suddenly became a tough job. It was hard to get solid data on the profession, according to CareerCast.
“It’s incredibly dangerous. You’re on the front lines and you’re responsible for others. The stress level is extremely high,” Lee said.
Plus, the hiring outlook is now weaker than it was at the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Photo: Tim Matsui | Getty Images4. Oil Rig Worker2012 pay: $32,132
2011 pay: $32,143
Change in pay: flat
You might be surprised to find any job in the booming oil industry on a “worst” list but these guys are the entry-level spot on the oil totem pole. Their jobs are dangerous: working on oil rigs, often far away from home or offshore, in bad weather and dangerous working conditions. And they don’t share in the wealth of the industry because they are typically paid very low.
“It’s clearly the most dangerous job in the industry,” Lee said. “The fatality rate is very high.”
One bright spot is this category climbed up three notches on the list, after being the absolute worst job in America for two years running.
“With the surge in the energy industry, the hiring outlook improved enough to nudge them higher,” Lee explained.
“It’s dangerous and doesn’t pay well but many people thought, ‘Well, at least it’s a career where I can retire young,’” Lee said. “Now, you can’t even guarantee that you’ll maintain your job, nevermind retire from it,” Lee said.
Photo: Spencer Grant | Photo Researchers | Getty Images5. Newspaper Reporter2012 pay: $35,275
2011 pay: $34,275
Change in pay: +3%
Newspaper reporter has always been a high-stress, low-pay job, but add to that the explosion of online and mobile news and newspaper reporters make a hard landing on the “worst” list.
“The newspaper industry is going through a full retrenchment. There are mergers, bankruptcies and layoffs everywhere,” Lee said. “Point to a newspaper that hasn’t had layoffs – not in this country!” he said.
With the move to digital, the pressures have mounted on newspaper reporters. “They are now required to tweet and do video as well as write articles,” Lee said. “They’re asked to do much more for less — and the pay is not good.”
Click here to see the full list of America’s Worst Jobs.
Note: Pay levels are “midlevel income”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-best-and-worst-jobs-for-2012.html
Sexuality and Breast Cancer
How Breast Cancer Can Affect Sexuality
By Cory Silverberg, About.com Guide
Updated September 28, 2010
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board
- Will breast cancer change the kind of sex I can have?
- Will it change how much I want sex, or how much I enjoy sex?
- Will it affect who I get to have sex with? Will people not want to have sex with me?
- Will sex feel different?
- Focus on individual and not social, cultural, environmental factors that affect sexuality can mistakenly lead people to think that they can solve every problem with the right medication or attitude.
- Breaking sexuality into its "functional" components can strip it of much of its meaning and limit opportunities for sexuality to be a source of strength and support.
- Medical models focus on heterosexual intercourse, ignoring the infinite possibilities for sexual pleasure (not to mention the fact that we don't all have heterosexual intercourse!), and eliminating the possibility that breast cancer can lead to positive personal exploration.
- Focus on the individual or couple also contributes to social isolation, reducing the opportunities to connect with others around shared challenges.
Below are links to information on some of the predictable ways that diagnosis of and treatment for breast cancer can affect your sexuality in general and your sex life in particular. As you're reading, remember that each of us experiences sex in our own way. Comparing yourself to what is written here or to others, may feel like the right thing to do, but in the end it's often not that helpful. More helpful in the long run is to start with yourself. Ask yourself what connections you're already aware of between what's happening with and to your body, and your sexuality. Know that you have the right to care as much about sex, or as little about sex, as you want. Along the way you'll have to pull partners and/or health care providers in for support and ideas, but ultimately you are the one that should be deciding the priorities, pace, and timing of conversations about sex, and having sex.
Sexuality and Breast Cancer Diagnosis
In what ways does a diagnosis of breast cancer immediately change the way you think about sex, the way you imagine your immediate and distant sexual future? If every message we get about sex is that it's for the young and healthy, what does it mean for your sexuality if you're now branded as "sick" or "diseased"? Here are some examples of obstacles people face when they are diagnosed with breast cancer, and tips on how to reduce the affect and increase your access to sexual health and pleasure following breast cancer diagnosis.
Sexuality and Breast Cancer Treatment
There are many different treatments for breast cancer and each of them can have multiple effects on sexuality. On the one hand it's important to get detailed information from health care providers about the effects of your treatment regimen. On the other, it may be time to broaden your definition of what sexuality includes, in order to find ways to be sexual during what can be a long and difficult process, physically, emotionally, and psychologically.
Sexuality and Surviving Breast Cancer
Surviving breast cancer doesn't mean that your sexuality or sex life will go back to the way it was. Just as your sex life when you're 30 won't ever be like it was when you were 20, your sex life after cancer won't be exactly the way it was before. We can't go back. Mind you for many of us the way it was may not have been so hot, and there are those who talk about how dealing with major illness, including breast cancer, has eventually led to them having better sex because they had to learn to ask for what they want and become more active participants in their sexual pleasure.
Sexuality and Terminal Diagnosis
Just as sexuality is a part of life and living, it's a part of dying too. No one has the right to tell you that you should or shouldn't care about sex or want sex to be a significant part of your life, at any time, and least of all at the end of your life. If your cancer diagnosis is terminal you may feel a silent pressure from those around you to put sex and sexuality way on the back burner. And if that's how you feel too, that's okay. But if sexuality is an important part of your life, know that it can be a part of the end of your life as well, it just takes advocacy, desire, creativity, and usually some humor.
gotquestions http://sexuality.about.com/od/Cancer-and-Sexuality/a/sexuality-and-breast-cancer.htm
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Doctor Of The Future - Thomas Edison
"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, But will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease." -Thomas Edison
http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com/2012/03/another-theory-about-honeybee-deaths.html
http://back2basichealth.blogspot.com/2012/03/another-theory-about-honeybee-deaths.html
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Pity the Retirement Hoarder
By Joe MontStaff Writer | TheStreet.com
BOSTON (MainStreet) -- Few days pass without some new study or survey reinforcing a dire message that Americans are not saving enough for a comfortable retirement.
For some, that message may actually be detrimental. While true that many -- perhaps most -- are dangerously behind with their savings timeline, even those with a suitable nest egg are prodded continually into saving more. Some run the risk of saving too much, of letting their lives be dictated by compulsive frugality. Think of them as the financial equivalent of hoarders. They're so dead set on accumulation that they find it psychological torture to spend anything.
 |
| Some retirees could never spend all of their money, given their frugality, but still worry about running out of money or not having an inheritance to leave their children. |
Ted Bovard, principal and financial consultant for Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh, says his firm has high net worth clients who fall into this category. Even though they could never spend all of their money, given their frugality, they still worry about running out of money in retirement or not having an inheritance to leave their children.
As an example, one client, despite having a $9 million nest egg, called to seek advice on whether she could afford to buy a new clothes dryer.
"We have clients who have $6 million to $7 million saved and they ask, 'We were thinking about giving money away to this school, or this charity, or the grandkid -- do you think we can do it?' Well, how much money are you thinking of giving away? 'Probably just the gifting limit for the grandkids, maybe $13,000 times three or four.' Well, I think with $7 million you are OK," Bovard says.
"There is nothing wrong with being careful, but you can overdo it, says Peter D'Arruda, president ofCapital Financial Advisory Group in Cary, N.C. "It's like the skinny squirrel who stores a bunch of nuts in a tree over and over again, but doesn't eat them. He just runs off looking for more nuts. Then termites get in there and when squirrel comes back the tree's not there anymore."
D'Arruda uses that fable-like example to explain that the fear of depleting assets doesn't just lead investors to take on an unhealthy degree of risk; they can also err on the side of perceived safety.
The fear of running out of money isn't always without merit, he says, pointing to the "biggest risk of all" -- the eventual need for long-term care. With these needs in mind, he urges clients to create an income stream and hedge against future expenses with various annuity and life insurance policies that include long-term care riders. What he doesn't advocate is relying on so-called "safe" investments -- including cash, CDs and other bank products -- to provide peace of mind.
"CD accounts are not earning anything," D'Arruda says. "I refer to it as losing money safely. Look at inflation right now. You can go to the grocery store now and see how expensive it is, and there are also rising fuel costs and increasingly expensive health care. You need to be keeping up with inflation if you want to make sure you have money for the future."
Bovard sees several reasons for why some people have a hard time accepting that their savings are, in fact, sufficient. Factors include a lifetime of frugality, over-reacting to market fluctuations and the intangibility of wealth that is in investments, not in physical cash, gold or even stock certificates.
"A lot of time, I think I, as their adviser, am the person who can help them relax," he adds. "For the folks we have had longer-term relationships with, they look to you to tell them what they can do and what they can't do. If we tell them they can do it, they are more comfortable."
A challenge, he says, is getting clients to move past an all-encompassing drive to save and accumulate wealth and to focus as well on enjoying the fruit of their labor.
"People ask, 'How much do I need, do I have enough?' We don't really focus so much on the total number. We see how do you want to live and what it's going to cost," Bovard says. "If it is $500,000 a year, your $2 million isn't going to get you very far. If it is $50,000 a year then yes, you are probably going to be in very good shape."
A persistent voice warning that some are saving too much for retirement is Laurence Kotlikoff, an outspoken economics professor at Boston University.
In a past interview, Kotlikoff, who co-wrote the book Spend 'Til the End -- The Revolutionary Guide to Raising Your Living Standard, Today and When You Retire (Simon & Schuster, 2008) with Scott Burns, put much of the blame on the retirement calculators companies such as Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, Vanguard, Schwab and T. Rowe Price deploy on their Web sites.
"Financial advisers are giving bad advice using bad financial tools that aren't remotely capable of dealing with the question that they are trying to answer," he said, noting that advisers can profit from their inadequate assessments.
"The bottom line is that if you over-recommend products, you sell more," he said. "If you get compensated, either directly or indirectly, based on your sales, there is an incentive to make recommendations that are, on average, too high."
Kotlikoff, who has crafted his own retirement software tool, ESPlanner, estimates that about 20% of households are likely saving too much for retirement, compared with the 40% he believes are saving dangerously too little.
"I think under-saving is probably a bigger problem, but there is still a risk with over-saving," he said. "You could save like crazy and then you can drop dead when you hit 55. It is not only that you may die young, it is also that you can be induced into much riskier securities than you should be investing in because you think that this is the only way you can make your target. The whole focus is on making a target that is ridiculous to begin with."
Bovard says many retirees who have saved and invested appropriately throughout their life follow a similar pattern of financial realization.
They start out very nervous they don't have enough. That persists for the first seven years or so. Then they start to breathe a sigh of relief and get comfortable with the idea that they can enjoy life and spend down some of their assets. Later, they fully grasp that they have more money than they can ever spend and face regrets over what they wish they had done.
Bovard isn't surprised by the psychology at play among those who resist post-retirement spending.
"You spent 40 to 45 years accumulating this pot of money, and you did it by saving and saving and scrimping," he says.
In response, he tries to work with clients, especially during the early years of retirement, to "bump that expense level up a bit" and factor in the cost of various trips and activities they have expressed an interest in but haven't had the time to do until retirement.
"Sometimes part of our job is not just to be your financial adviser, but also a counselor," Bovard says. "It's all about striking a balance. If there are a couple of things you want to get done, lets figure out how to do them and still feel comfortable whether the markets are up or down or back and forth. While you still have the health and energy and desire, let's make these things you want to do happen."
"If you can't actually do that and relax, why retire? Maybe you are just tired of work, and that's fine, but if the idea is to retire because there are things you want to do and enjoy, then you are going to have to learn to relax a little bit," he adds. "It is a very different thought process for people when they've spent years pumping money in and now they turn around and have to take money out. Psychologically it is a huge transformation and if they are a workaholic, this can be a very difficult transition."
The balancing act between preserving financial security and enjoying your money differs from person to person, Bovard says. It is hardest for those he describes as "worrywarts."
"You have to deal with that personality differently, and they may never be comfortable," he says. "You say that they can afford to do something and they reply, 'Oh, I'd better not.' As soon as you go through the first downturn together -- and if you look at them long enough you are going to go through at least one or two or maybe three -- they are like, 'See, I knew it, I've got to pull back, I knew I shouldn't have gone on that trip.' What I have to say to them is that we've got the money set aside and life is going to move on whether the markets are up or down."
Bovard says having a solid financial plan in place helps investors learn to enjoy life in retirement. It also keeps them from taking on excessive risk in the name of returns.
"It's important to have the ability to stick to that plan through the good the bad and the ugly," he says. "It is not just when things are bad that people go off the reservation. When things are great, people believe they are much less risk averse. 'Oh look, everybody is making tons of money and I'm not making as much.' Well, remember that we have a balanced portfolio because when things are down you get really upset. We'll still get to the same place, we are just going to do it with less bumps."
--Written by Joe Mont in Boston.
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