Are baby boomers ready to retire? That really depends on a number of factors the most prevalent being one’s current financial status. 
As I mentioned in previous posts, called The Baby Boomer Retirement Crisis, for people fifty-five (55) and over twenty-six (26%) percent of people have less than fifty thousand (50,000) dollars saved, and thirty (30%) actually have no savings at all.
Are Baby Boomers Ready To Retire? — Not A Very Inspiring Outlook
For many people, this does not present a very pleasant picture at all. These folks are simply not ready to retire at all. Without an adequate pension or well-funded retirement accounts, it is very challenging to live on social security alone.
Now we can review all the reasons why, but they do vary per individual based on choices made over the years. Many people were limited in their choices because of a lack of adequate knowledge and the true nature of the financial game.
Obviously, our school systems do not have a general curriculum that prepares people for the realities of life. Some people don’t even possess basic math skills by the time they graduate high school; knowing how to balance a checkbook and bank statements are considered a major achievement. 
We value athletic prowess much more than basic education and critical thinking. Knowing “how” to think is much more valuable than learning “what” to think.
This reminds me of a very dear friend of mine who taught Political Science at several major colleges across the country during his teaching career. At one university he had four (4) students who were starters on the varsity basketball team in his class. None of them could read or write. These were all scholarship students.
This is not only amazing to me but very sad. We put more value on the monetary value of athletics to a given school, than we do to preparing our kids with basic skills to enter the workforce.
I digressed a bit from my main topic, but it does not take much thought to figure out why people, in general, are not properly prepared to manage their financial affairs in a way that produces a secure and prosperous future.
Critical Thinking Is The Key
It’s never too late to improve our critical thinking skills by beginning from wherever we are and creating a viable plan of action to get us where we desire to go, one small step at a time. And I might add, enjoy the process as well.
The first step in the critical thinking process is to evaluate our present circumstances and accept them as they are. We now have a starting point. 
Then the next step is to pause and reflect on where we want to go. What is our desired outcome? This will obviously be unique to each person as to the specifics, but if money is the issue, it will obviously be to create more through viable channels.
Next, we want to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses and emphasize our strengths and work around our weaknesses as we move forward.
Finally, as we move forward we must know this is possible, and ignore any doubts or failures along the way.
Are Baby Boomers Ready To Retire? — Many Alternatives
As I mentioned in one of my other posts, Make Money After Retiring, there are many ways to create additional income based on your interests and prior experience. Take some time to reflect on this, be honest with yourself, and decide on a plan of action that inspires you, and one which you will enjoy implementing.
“I see retirement as just another of these reinventions, another chance to do new things and be a new version of myself.”
Especially today with all the information available on the internet, you do not have to be tech-savvy at all to access what you need to create the life you desire. The major challenge for most will being able to know and able to define exacting what they want. 
Here are a few examples from people whom I know who changed their careers late in life.
* I have a friend who left a traditional education job in order to start a bodywork career.
* A former neighbor who is a doctor had an accident which left him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. He started an online business offering advice and products related to his medical specialty.
* A very good friend and his wife sold all their possessions and bought a property in Belize where the cost of living is much lower than in the USA. They built a home there and established an organic farm for additional income.
* Another person I know started a business serving the needs of the elderly with a variety of services.
* A person who enjoys golf started an online golf newsletter where he offers various products and services and has had this going for over ten (10) years now.
These are just a few examples from people whom I know who took their interests and skills and produced a viable income source. Once you do your homework, you will discover there are numerous ways in which to increase your income while enjoying yourselves.
For some other insights into what is possible in creating additional streams of income, take a look at my article called Baby Boomers and Marketing.
The Power of Our Minds
The only thing holding us back from finding ways to supplement our incomes at any point in our lives is ourselves. Our minds are so powerful, but they need to be controlled so that they produce what we want, rather than creating results by accident.
We possess this most powerful tool, but it did not come with a training manual. We were left to figure this out for ourselves. Unfortunately, many do not even know that they can gain control of this tool in order to create the life they desire.
The easiest way to train ourselves to manage our minds is by Presence and Observation. We do our best to remain focused in the Now and observe our thoughts, emotions, and reactions.
This is not easy because of our currents habits, and inertia easily kicks in as well as resistance to doing something new. So be patient with yourselves and take it one small step at a time.
This is well worth the effort because once you manage to create enough presence you will automatically make other choices that take you in the desired direction, rather than random choices which have you going around in circles.
Retired or Unretired — A Matter of Choice
No matter what you may now believe or what others around you say, you have the power to create your desired lifestyle. It will take some diligent work and persistence, but the truth is that it is most definitely possible.
When you truly understand this and begin to make a few choices in the direction you want to go, you will feel a new vibrancy about life. The heavy load of worry and stress will begin to dissipate, and you will feel lighter and happier.
This is something that you cannot force. It’s a moment-to-moment process to create the change you desire. The resistance to doing this will dissolve over time. So are baby boomers ready to retire?
It truly is a matter of choice. When we are aware of all of our alternatives we can make a decision based on how we desire to be engaged on a daily basis.
Whether we desire to improve our current financial situation and retire in comfort, or just create an additional income stream to stay engaged in what we enjoy doing, we will be empowered to make that decision with confidence and joy.
All the very Best,
Joseph William
About the power of the mind do you believe that was just my thoughts before I read your post? I was thinking about how success all starts in the mind and that our progress is limited only by our thoughts. We can only go as far as our minds will take us, therefore, we must take the limits of and believe that success is possible it is within our reach but we must first believe that with our minds. Awesome post you have written.
Thanks so much for your comment Norman.
I completely agree with what you write here, Joseph. It’s really shocking in some ways that we went to school or we are sending our kids to school, and school is not even helping with what is really needed to make it through life. I think some important points, you already mentioned, with being taught HOW to think instead of WHAT to think, but one big aspect that is missing from curriculums, is how to manage money.
Aside from health, Money is the most important part of our lives. Without money, you can do NOTHING. And it shocks me to find that we were not taught how to manage it, and neither are our kids taught to manage it.
Very good point about finances Reyhana.