Friday, April 30, 2010

Home Made Retirement Gifts That Get You Laughing

Home Made Is Economical

On the process of choosing what gift to give on a retiree's special day, you may have finally decided to give him something that you think is quite special in a way that you are the one who is going to make it. You may be thinking that by making such a funny home made retirement gift, you would be able to bring a little bit of laughter to the ideally sad retirement event and at the same time save yourself a bit of cash. You may also put the idea of home made in a perspective of a utilitarian and consider the act itself as geared toward the greater good, which is in this context both of you for benefiting.

Home Made Is Personal

What is good about a retirement gift as being home made is that it becomes more personal than anything bought off the common marketplace or online. Having to create a personal work of progress shows more value and effort put into such a retirement gift. For a recipient who values the aesthetic value as well as the sentimental value of things, he will be able to appreciate a home made retirement gift more than those which were commercially made. Having a retirement gift as personally crafted also becomes an expression of the giver's concern and love for the creation of the item itself. With an added concept of being laced with humor, a funny home made retirement gift becomes an extension of the creator's sense of humor itself.

Home Made Is Unique

For example, if the creator wishes to create a funny retirement gift such as a knitted shirt with a slogan "RETIRING to bed tonight" to be given and worn by the retiree during the retirement event would definitely catch a few chuckles from the guests, perhaps even from the boss. By doing so, not only have you advertised your sense of creativity and good nature to everyone else other than the recipient of your gift, you also have made it known among them that you have creativity and a sense of value for uniqueness.

Home Made Is Perfect For The Home

One distinguishing idea in creating a funny home made retirement gift is that it is lighthearted in its own value since it wishes to bring out a smile with the retiree and whoever gets to see the gift. Also bear in mind that whatever you are going to create for the retiree, it has to adhere to the notion that there wouldn’t be any issues, especially sensitive ones which will be violated because of an incorrectly placed joke or remark on the gift. A home made retirement gift is safe to create with the idea that it would be for home use.

Home Made Is Priceless

Another good thing about a funny home made retirement gift is that its uniqueness is its own value, which is definitely priceless. Like any work of art, any retirement gift that has been hand crafted and given to another person is similar to giving a part of the person to another as a parting gift and to be part of the new person's life. The idea of giving a part of one's self to another through self expression of concern, acknowledgement, and love makes not just any retirement gift but any gift priceless.

Two things to bear in mind when giving funny home made retirement gifts: self humor and creativity.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Retirement Gifts for YOU!

From day one, everyone looks forward to retirement, that day where they can finally let go of the stresses of the daily grind and spend their leisurely days traveling, reading and basically having fun. As compared to previous generations, we have longer life spans so we all expect our golden years to be fulfilling and rewarding.

Instead of waiting for people to help you plan your retirement, you should do it yourself. Although retirement planning is probably one of the most draining activities where one spends loads of time perusing over financial and brokerage statements, benefits brochures and insurance policies. One does this in terms of the benefits of long term planning: if one retires earlier, he/she will think and anticipate less on government-funded plans which only gives a pittance of a pension and focus more on the beauty of life.

Why Retirement Planning is Necessary

Obviously, retirement planning isn’t all about numerous hours of stress by chugging down numbers and analyzing mutual funds: it’s about fixing and deciding how you will live the final years of your life. If one can balance financially and plan fully on a retirement plan, rest assured that your future is secure.

But remember that retirement planning isn’t a singular activity. It is something that stretches forth to decades, spanning your 30s, 40s and 50s. In every decade, one must rethink their strategies since you are inching closer and closer to retirement, thus one must forgo risky investments and go to bonds and reliable mutual funds as the years pass by.

Build the Right Retirement Plan

A retirement plan must be suited to your risk tolerance and apparent need for cash when retirement comes. If you prefer a general 401(k) that has a good balance of everything, you may go for equal amounts of low-risk bonds and riskier stocks or you may also opt for an assortment of mutual funds that both have high-risk and low-risk funds.

Generally, risk tolerance is congruent to one’s age. If you are on your 20s or early 30s, you may opt for a more stock-saturated mutual fund in the hope of getting a good return because of the added risk stocks give. If ever the worst comes and you face some declines in the stock market, you still have a good 20 to 30 years to compensate for the losses.

On the other hand, if one is teetering on the 40s or 50s, it is necessary that one must go low-risk in his/her investments. One’s mutual funds must now be concentrated more on low-risk government bonds, which virtually assure no losses and minimum gain, if there will be no huge political crisis, of course.

If one follows this general age/risk rule, then one has better chance that one has an ample amount of cash to spend on the pleasures of life when retirement age finally comes.

Conclusion

One has always dreamt of traveling the world, playing golf all day and enjoying the best life can give. But one cannot do all that while working away in the office. Therefore one must give importance to the rising necessity of building a retirement plan.

It is probably as stressful as work itself, but if you can carry all that heap of information and mix it into the delicacy that is a finely tailored retirement plan, then rest assured that your dream of tasting and relishing the best of life is definitely reachable by 65.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Retirement Gag Gifts

Retiring does not mean that a person has to end the fun times, pun intended with what he has come to live by in his everyday existence. It also does not have to be a moment of sadness because of the formal ceasing of work. A retiring event can be as much fun as any other celebrated occasion. One way to make sure that such a retirement incident is kept fun and retains its fun is to make sure that all aspects of the retirement process are serviced with a smile or a funny and heartwarming cause. Retirement gag gifts may be utilized in this manner to provide an added pun and fun for both the retiree and the guests celebrating his retirement.

Pranks For Less Stress

Associated with work throughout the years are the different stressors which have made the work experience complete but tiring nonetheless. A well themed retirement gag gift would definitely relieve those bad moments in the retiree's career. Furthermore, the retirement gag gift would be a lighter alternative of implicating a farewell gift for the person from his work.

More Work, More Pranks

It is a good idea to counter the stress garnered from a retirement by placing a theme which openly and blatantly speaks of his work and gives a clean ridicule or laugh about it. This way, the retiree could think of his work experience as something to look back to and have a chuckle or two about it. This would give a sense of accomplishment to the individual and would therefore help him in moving on, ending a career chapter in his life and starting a new life as a beneficiary of his life's work.

Pranks in these manner may be indicated on the different items and memorabilia which may be placed on them. For example, a retiree coming off from years of police service may be given a token of a gag gift in the form of a customized water gun which looks like a replica of the service pistol firearm that he had during service. Another could be a rocking chair with a slogan saying "Too young to rock this chair". What ever the retirement gag gift may be, what is important is the message behind the item that would be funny.

Life Begins After Retirement

Probably you have heard of the saying "Life begins at 40". Some other similar slogans would indicate a different age. What better way to start this "Life" as they call it with a hearty laugh or a glowing disposition? Some of the retirement gag gifts which could be of use in relation to the types of activities that the retiree will be engaging in.

An avid golfer would have more time now to spend with his favorite sport, and retirement gag gifts may be part of his new experience in focused golfing by giving him a golf club designed specifically to cut grass so that even when he is just in his lawn maintaining his garden or the like, he could still have a few chuckles as he swings the gag gift at the grass.

The amount of laughs and gags are only limited by the imagination, and each person's idea of a gag is different. Just be careful though of not being too brutally mischievous in giving a person a retirement gag gift as it may hurt that person if not properly given or thought of.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Where To Search For Retirement Gifts

The Ask, The Task

The problem and the hassle of finding the right retirement gift haunt even the most capable of gift givers. For one, gifts for the retiree have to be appropriate. It also has to be timely and with meaning. It even gets more complicated if the one who will be giving does not have any idea on what to give in the first place. In addition to that, the place on where to get the item also pose a problem as to instances when the supply or the item is out of stock and nowhere to be found in the local neighborhood.

Actual Mall

The most common option for any retirement gift hunter is to head to the nearest boutique, novelty store, or have them both in a mall. The local mall is perhaps the most practical place to find stuff to be bought as retirement gifts. In a good sized mall, merchandise as well as shops for customization may be found. Furthermore, there is a good chance to find something worth buying as a retirement gift here due to the rate of merchants and sellers to actually sell their wares here because of the high volume of potential buyers.

Another good thing about a mall is that one gets to have the convenience of walking around the well ventilated and air conditioned construct. Also, the mall is a secure place to wander about without worrying about bad elements.

Though a bazaar is also a good place to find for gifts, the inconvenience of shopping in an open setting and hotter environment may be of concern.

Virtual Mall

With the modern technological advancement in telecommunications and processing, browsing and windows shopping has been made possible with the internet. One may conveniently browse the different items that are available online without having to leave the house. Anyone can now go online and seek for any item that may have been conceived by anyone and marketed commercially and virtually.

This method of browsing and shopping online is a good alternative than manually wasting time driving to the mall and getting caught up in the long line at the atm machine, only to find out that the machine has just gone offline. Even if you have credit cards to use in the actual mall, these same pieces of plastic cards may be used in online transactions should you finally decide on what to get as a retirement gift.

Just be wary of keeping your credit card details secure by checking the credibility of the online store. Otherwise, you may end up throwing away good money for a non existent retirement gift.

Get Lost, Find More

For those who have all the time in the world to go out and explore what the world has to offer as exotic and unique gifts which may be customized and be made personal, one unorthodox method of finding gifts would be to just get lost in a neighboring town or city and check their wares there. Who knows what item you may stumble upon and find it interesting enough to give as a retirement gift. Furthermore, you may find some other useful stuff for yourself too.

The secret to find retirement gifts is a combination of luck, time, and a well placed order on something which you have set your eyes upon.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Retirement Gifts For The Corporate World

The Moment Of It All

Reaching a good age for retiring, an employee may he be of the common position or a higher management type of position would want to have something glamorous and worthy of safekeeping after his years of service with a corporation. Even before being assimilated into a corporation, the employee has been constantly acquiring gifts, rewards and benefits during certain years of rendered service or perhaps when the personnel has contributed something significant to the company's growth and stature.

One of the benefits which are given to any deserving employee at the end of his career is a hefty lump of cash from the different policies such as retirement, back tax, and other similar benefits. Another is a memento which signifies the person's affiliation with the company which gives prestige and honor.

Looking at a corporation as a big family of colleagues, each with an assigned task and designation to fully implement the tasks to efficiently keep the company's mode of operations at optimum, the retiree would want to have something he is able to feel proud of and be shown to others.

What Not

Of course it wouldn't be wise to give the retiree something that would be anything like the things he had during service that would suggest more work to be delegated. Some of these things may be referred to as a desk, a work chair, or a filing desk. Even if these are customized and made of the most expensive materials, it would not be that practical and wise since what you would want the retiree to feel is that he is now rewarded with a big sum of cash to spend on pure leisure and enjoyment. Well, unless these not-to items are to be given as prank gifts, then a good suggestion would be to refrain from it altogether.

Say It In Crystal

Corporate gifts usually would be best characterized in pristine and glamorous pieces of memorabilia. A good material to use is crystal. Crystal has been used ever since as a form of luxury and finesse.

A good idea to have is to present a corporate retirement gift in a crystal dining set, which would allow the retiree to dine in style with his loved ones, especially now that he will be spending most of the time with his beloved family.

Another crystal idea is to present a replica of the building as a form of figurine which would show the glamour and the majesty of the structure that the employee has rendered his skills and talent over the decades. Of course, one has to consider first if the real model of the building itself shows majesty and grandeur.

A safe idea would be to present the corporate retiree with crystal chess set, complete with personalized and handcrafted chess pieces. This would spark the royal thinking and strategic mind of the retiree even after he is off with battling stocks and corporate deals and assignments.

Say It In Brass

Other than crystal, a retiring employee may also want to be presented with items in brass. These brass items would be in the form of jewelry such as a company ring, or cufflinks which may be used in formal gatherings to add to the added formal recognition and affiliation with the company.

Whatever the preference of the retiree may be, corporate retirement gifts speak only of one thing: affiliation.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Unique Personal Retirement Gifts

Make It Personal

Retirement gifts are part of a global tradition for the different industries to acknowledge the service of any worker or personnel, a company official, employee, or perhaps even a trustee. It is a way of showing a career person his worth and acknowledging what he has done for the maintenance of the company. It is also an added bonus for employees to work hard to be able to stay in the company for a longer period of time.

Companies and colleagues alike give out retirement gifts as a final commemoration of someone's work portfolio. Nevertheless, the kind of retirement gifts is not limited by anything, but is instead flexible to be as unique as possible. Unique retirement gifts are anything but personally made or crafted.

Uniqueness Equals Non Conformity

For one, uniqueness of such a retirement gift should be considered as not commonly acquired in the commercial market, ordered from a third party manufacturing agency, or given to any other retiree from previous and even present retirement parties in an institution.

A unique retirement gift should be the first item of its kind in terms of tag, item type, occurrence of being given, or award. Furthermore, being unique in the simplest sense, the retirement gift should also exude some sort of distinguished prestige for a specific accomplishment of service. This would not only allow the retiree to personally claim that such a gift was meant for only one, but also raise self esteem for the self as well as others as they work hard to achieve such recognition.

In line with recognition, this is one of the most probable reasons for creating a unique retirement gift. A personally crafted gift makes it gain an identity that it has been crafted not by any commercial means but with the individual's effort and passion in going through the trouble of making one.

Most probably, it may not be as extravagant as a car or a golf club, or anything of that sort which would require such complex machinery and equipment to create, but personally crafted unique retirement gifts could be anything, given the proper resources. Ever wonder why limited-edition, and order-based cars are so expensive and valuable? It is because these cars were crafted not in the industrial assembly line but are custom built, which adds up to the aesthetic and face value.

Personal Touch

What makes unique retirement gifts nicer and more valuable than any other extravagant commercial gifts is the personal touch. Even a kid who has no idea of such extravagance and complexity of creating lavish gifts or even acquiring them could still create a simple gift, by his own means, and present it as a retirement gift.

It never is limited by the sole occasion alone. Retirement gifts are classified as such only because it speaks of an event of a worker that he is formally stepping down from work. The gift's essence in itself is pure and simple in the sense that it is a thing worth keeping. Nonetheless, unique retirement gifts is a combination of a pure intention to acknowledge someone's work service and the parting of something worth keeping.

Uniqueness is only limited by the imagination. Even still, once a person has started to think of an idea of what to give a retiree by heart has already started to imbibe a personal touch to the unique retirement gift.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Retirement Jokes

Most people approach retirement in a gloomy countenance. They approach it as if it is a surrender to the hands fate and debilitation of the body. So it is important that one will help them realize that it is something to be accepted since it is an inevitable stage in one’s life. But how can one do that? It’s simple: poke fun at retirement.

Retirement jokes, like ones said on speeches are popular. Speeches tend to become emotional that it hinges every one in the room in a state of gloom and sympathy. But one can raise the bar in retirement jokes (without insulting the retiree, of course).

Examples

In addition to talking about the wonderful moments the speaker has shared with the retiree, he/she can add something that will lighten up the atmosphere. One may give a stone slab, which has inscriptions on it, “in advance”. Friends may also joke and call the retiree “grandfather” whenever the latter tries to reprimand the former in a conversation can also help lighten the mood. But don’t overdo it, of course.

Other gags that might be of interest is a wig with an unusual color like pink or purple, a follow up item to the joke that he may need a wig in the future. If he, in an inexplicable moment, declines it, say: “okay, then wear a paper bag instead if you get bald”. Always be ready whenever jokes don’t succeed; so keep those backup jokes ready!

Believe it or not, some service providers also write and sell personalized retirement speeches with witty jokes after understanding the personality and interests of the retiree. These companies usually add jokes about the retiree’s profession.

If one cannot find enough retirement jokes, a little visit to the bookstore can help a great deal. There are joke books that cover a wide range of topics, one of which is retirement. A little scan here and there will help inspire the reader if he/she isn’t the natural comedian. These may also be good retirement gifts as well, helping the retiree have a good laugh in one of those boring Tuesday afternoons.

There are also a lot of websites available on the net that provide a lot of jokes and free retirement e-books like retirement-quotes.com. The e-books that they have range from the “200 best things said about retirement” to “retirement wisdom you won’t get from your financial advisor”.

Conclusion

There is a lot of leeway one has on inserting jokes in a retirement party. If you know someone who is coming near to retirement, you can send an email or two which has retirement quotes like “retirement is when everyday is Saturday” and “retirement: goodbye tension, hello pension!” It is a good gesture and gives off the sense that you know what the future retiree is going through. Again, keep the retiree (future or not) off tension as much as possible and make him/her anticipate retirement with smile and not with a sigh as much as possible.

And when the retirement party does come, keep the same lighthearted approach, inserting jokes here and there and probably some gags like the ones said above. Not only will the retiree will be less fussy about retirement, he/she will focus more about the people who kept him happy on that bittersweet day, especially the one who gave him that weird pink wig.