In Bermuda, as you approach your 65th birthday — the traditional age to retire, do you know if you are ready for this life-changing event? Or are you planning age-denying tactics to never retire in the old proverbial sense?

Whether you've decided to be a denier or a defier, but never a retirer, it may be your best proactive move yet. After all, if your family's genetic health resembles so many Bermudian families, you have another productive 35 percent of your life yet to live.

Think about it, 35 more years — this is completely possible. What is your plan to get on with it? Please don't tell me you are ready to give up, as one lady mentioned to me the other day. She just went 69, but was truly feeling the strife and stress of caring for others in a tough economic environment.

Yes, you may not have enough for the golden age that the media warns you constantly that you need. Of course, we know that, we aren't obtuse. We also know that if we put our mind to it, there is still time to accrue additional savings, while planning to live the most rewarding, productive, and challenging life.

You and only you can decide what those three words mean — a rewarding life. Hmm, your mind is now moving toward this thought — she is talking about homework, more work, planning and thinking about something I'd rather put off for now.

There is still plenty of time to figure out what I have to do. You are not alone in those thoughts. In spite of the recessionary environment that the US and its neighbours (Bermuda) are currently experiencing, in one recent survey, the fifth annual Retirement Fitness Survey from Wells Fargo & Company www.wellsfargo.com, found that 23 percent of pre-retirees are saving more for retirement than they were a year ago.

Most — 57 percent — are saving the same amount, and 20 percent are now saving less. 67 percent say their expectations for retirement have changed in the past year, and 56 percent now expect to work longer by an average of three additional years.

The survey conducted with more than 2,000 consumers by Richard Day Research provided some interesting answers. Overall, the survey concluded that the financial positions and savings habits of the group are insufficient to last for their expected 20-plus years of retirement:

• Pre-retirees have only saved 37.5 percent of the $800,000 they will need.

• Nor, have they assessed how long their savings will last in retirement.

• They expect to live nearly 21 years in retirement, and plan on spending nearly 10 percent of their savings every year in retirement. The industry recommendation is to withdraw no more than four percent annually.

• People have been overly optimistic about their investment returns, both pre-retirees and retirees expected the value of their investments to grow by 8.7 percent each year, on average. In fact, the compound annual growth rate of the S&P 500 from 1958 through 2008 was 6.6 percent.

• Only 35 percent of the pre-retirees have a written plan for retirement, and of this group, only 52 percent say they updated it in the past year during the market downturn.

• Less than half (40 percent) wish they had been more proactive about educating themselves about retirement preparation.

• Only 34 percent wish they had cut back more on their previous lifestyle and saved more for retirement.

Most stayed the course during the downturn.

l Among retirees, most have left their assets in the market in the past year, either maintaining their previous asset allocation (44 percent) or moving to more conservative equities/funds (30 percent).

• Only 15 percent took assets out of the market and placed them into more conservative investments (e.g. CDs, savings, fixed income/bonds).

• Half (49 percent) of pre-retirees hope to get back on track by leaving their assets in the market with no change in allocation strategy.

• Only one in ten have increased asset allocations to seek growth opportunities.

These are a few excerpts from the Retirement Fitness report. It can be viewed in its entirety online.

My perspective on the report was that pre-retirees were handling things pretty well. Even the point that the pre-retirees had only saved 38 percent of what they will need, can seem positive — at least they are saving!

Most appeared to be more comfortable with capital markets than in previous downturns, noted by the small number who reallocated. I interpreted that as optimism and confidence in the future that, even though their savings were lagging, there is still time to get to where they need to be.

Looking forward at any age should be enjoyed; opportunities presented should be taken; adventures, if offered, should be experienced. Life is for living.

More and more, I feel that the word Retirement should be banned. The Internet Thesaurus synonyms for the word 'retirement' are less than inspiring: withdrawal, retreat, regression, departure, abdication, abandonment, solitude, isolation. Is this how anyone wants to be labelled or, where anyone wants to be, at any age? I think not.

Where is the optimism in this depressing collection of nouns? Where are the proactive verbs, mobile, moving forward, engaging, communing, interacting — the ones that keep your social activity alive. The key to vigour and engagement of life at any age is to be challenged, productive and involved.

For those of you who are feeling discouraged, don't give up. It is not over until it is over. Never, never give up your joy of life. You don't need a lot of money to take every day to have joy while you are putting something aside for tomorrow.

For a small inspirational treat, go to the Internet and type: "Never underestimate an old broad" and watch as the 92-year-old lithe and supple lady dances the salsa with her 29-year-old great-grandson! Marvellous.

Next two in the Age of the Individual Series: Five things you need for a successful retirement, and How to calculate your spenddown.

Martha Harris Myron, CPA, CFP (US) TEP (UK) JP- Bermuda is an international Certified Financial Planner¿ practitioner. She specialises in independent fee-only cross-border planning, tax, estate, investment, and strategic retirement services for Bermuda residents with cross-border and multi-national connections, internationally mobile people and US citizens living abroad. For more information, contact martha.myron@gmail.com">martha.myron@gmail.com or 735-4720.