How Do I Plan For A Successful Retirement?
HOW DO I PLAN FOR A SUCCESSFUL RETIREMENT?
Have you given any thought to your retirement? Or, have you taken the first step toward planning your retirement, but you are either stuck on what to do next, or you cannot think of anything more to consider? Planning is nothing more than thinking about what you want in your retirement, writing those things down, discussing them with your spouse or partner, then creating a plan to accomplish what you want to do.
A successful retirement plan is made up of many elements. First, there is money. Without enough of it to cover daily expenses, you will be struggling just to stay comfortable. Then, regarding money and its amount, you want to consider trips, vacations, replacement costs for clothing, your automobiles, and your home. Of course, you want enough to cover additional things that will add to your retirement, like eating out, treats, gifting, and buying supplies to cover your hobbies. And you want to do all of this without worrying about where the next dollar comes from.
A few other things to consider for a successful retirement are as follows:
- What to do in retirement
- When to retire
- Where to retire
- What is your spouse’s plan?
So, let’s talk about those items in your plan.
Why do you want to retire? Are you tired of working, physically unable to do what is required, reaching the age of social security benefits, or just ready for a new chapter in your life? Whatever the reason, the ‘why’ of why you retire is an important place to start considering your retirement options.
If you are just tired of working, ask yourself if you are mentally and physically able to do something else besides going to work each day. Are you ‘up’ for a new challenge, and new adventure, or do you just need to rest and recoup from decades of working? Either way, how you feel mentally and physically will affect the first stage of your retirement.
For example, if you are physically and mentally tired, then it would not be wise to plan a cruise or another activity that requires a lot of decisions to make or steps to take. However, if you are ‘raring to go’ then you could plan on an adventure with a lot of activity.
Think carefully about why you want to retire and when you want to retire. You are considering the end of your lifelong career and you want to make sure that you mentally ready for this change, and your finances are strong enough to support the changes you plan to make for the next few decades.
If you are already in your forever home, then moving is not one of the questions that you need to consider. But if you have always wanted to live at or near the beach, or the mountains, or closer to family, or, if you want an active 55+ community to live in, then you need to begin planning on where and why you are moving.
Let’s say you move, and you are not happy with your move, it is not the end of the world. As long as you are in a position to sell one home and buy another, and have the money to pay for a move and the expenses related to the move, then you can move. When you are older it is a lot harder to pack-up and make any kind of long distance move, so consider your move very carefully.
You may be in a relationship where one person has made the majority of the decisions for the both of you. Many wives have sacrificed their dreams and desires to support their husbands during his career. But now that there is no career, it is time for both partners to have equal input into the retirement decisions. Make sure that your spouse or partner expresses their hopes and dreams for retirement and they are fully involved in the choices that you make.
And, for every plan that you make, you need to consider a back-up plan. Rarely does anything go as planned, so don’t be surprised, be prepared. For example, my wife and I have considered and looked at moving to a 55+ Community. We liked the idea of no yard work, living with a group of people with similar likes and needs as us, and having a built-in community for socialization. But some unexpected medical issues have delayed those plans so we are in a holding pattern, which for us was our Back-up Plan.
And speaking of plans, we began planning by writing everything down. We had notes on the computer, in notebooks, journals, legal pads and sticky notes. It wasn’t very organized or very efficient. Later on we found tools for retirement planning that provided us with organization, direction and prompts to help us plan. Those tools made the process so-o-o- much easier!
You May Be Interested In These Tools:
Written by Diana Fuller
Written by Diana Fuller
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