Tag Archives: Successful Retirement

5 Essentials to the Best Retirement

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Essentials to the Best RetirementSometimes you do not get a choice in whether you retire or not. Your company may lay you off or offer incentives that cause you to retire earlier than planned. Whatever the reason, it is never too late to start thinking about the essentials to the best retirement plan you can have. Planning now before you retire or are forced out will ensure that your retirement years are much better than they might have been otherwise. Defining your own schedule will provide you with independence and freedom to make your own decisions on your terms.

Essentials to the Best Retirement

Take the time to address the following 5 questions. Your best answers will be the immediate ones that come to mind, however revisiting them from time to time as you near retirement or events in your life trigger changes. If you can answer these questions you are well on your way to planning the best retirement.

Why Do I Want to Retire – tired of your job, looking for a change, company initiated, health reasons are just some of the reasons that might push you into retirement

What Should I Accomplish before Retirement – are there major achievements that you want to accomplish before you retire – major projects at work, pay off the house and mortgage, save for a trip, pay off all loans, downsize, major upgrades or renovations to your home, retrain for another job are just a few of the things you might consider.

Important things to Accomplish After Retirement – what is your plan after retirement – you cannot just sit and watch TV or play golf. Will you find a part time job, go back to full time work, volunteer, look after the grandkids, take up hobbies that you have put off for a long time?

Define Perfect Days in Retirement – what would be the perfect day in retirement? This is very personal and will depend on the answers to the above questions. For some it will be a perfect round at golf, while others will be achieving a major objective that you have set for your self.

Impact on My Spouse – this is one of the most important issues to consider. Will your spouse retire at the same time? What will he or she do during retirement? Do they share the same or at least complimentary goals and objectives.

Money Moves for a Happier Retirement

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Money Moves for a Happier RetirementMixed messages about retirement are everywhere. Most people are confused about what they will do in retirement. They just float along through life and hope for the best. The message here is that you can love retirement, have a great time, and be fulfilled and satisfied while living comfortably. All you need to do is do a little planning and preparation before you retire to have the type of lifestyle that you really want to have. We cover a few Money Moves for a Happier Retirement in this post that is based on experience as well as many years of research.

Some people ask, “What will I do with my time?”. Will I be bored, will I keep working and what about all of the people from work, who will be missed? Some people are so ready to get away from work that they really don’t care what they will do. The sad reality is that they may end up being bored to death, literally! Then there is the big elephant in the room! Do I have enough money to live my life in retirement the way that I want to? If you do not do a little planning and saving, then you probably will not live a happy retirement and certainly not in the manner you expected.

Money Moves for a Happier Retirement – Start Planning

Start planning for retirement! When will you retire? What debts will you have when you retire? What will you do in retirement? Travel, work, babysit the grandkids, or just take up the hobbies you never had time to do? There are some basic things you can do to begin answering these questions.

The first step is to hire a financial planner who can walk you through the financial side of things. You may want to meet with several in order to get several opinions. They should be reviewing your income in retirement, your expected savings at retirement, your lifestyle plans while retired, and your overall health relative to how much money you will need while retired. This will take several iterations before you settle on a final plan since there really is a lot to think about.

Visualize what you will do in retirement since this is a really big issue for many people. Even if you are an avid golfer, you cannot golf all the time. What hobbies will you take up? What will you do with all of that time?

How much money is available from your employer’s retirement fund? This is probably a first step. Find this out and then figure out how much more you will need to live the lifestyle that you really want to have while retired. The earlier you begin planning and taking action, the better off you will be in retirement!

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Secrets of successful retirement savers

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successful retirement saversIf you’re thinking about retirement in your early 40s 50s or even in your 60s you’re probably wondering what does it take to have a happy and successful retirement. Recently several authors did a study and surveyed over 510 people to learn the magic behind retirement and successful retirement savers.

The following are some of the comments that came out of the study. One of the most significant items regarding retirement is the focus on living within their means. They had a savings plan for retirement. They have calculated how much they would need when retired and began saving for that eventuality.

Over 60% of the people surveyed we’re saving between six and 20% of their income every year. Of course there were some people who are saving more. Some people are saving less but the majority have savings plan in place which was in conjunction with any pension that they might be receiving.

Many of those people up to 44%, said they were comfortably retired. They had less than $500,000 in assets. This was a huge surprise to the authors preparing this report. It really means coming to terms with what they want out of retirement. Also how much money they will need during retirement. If you follow the 4% rule then someone with $500,000 in assets could expect to have $20,000 in income from theirr savings plus pension income. This may be sufficient for many however for many others they would require much more in savings.

Successful Retirement Savers

Another important point about successful retirees is that they are prudent with her funds. Some people would’ve thought them as being frugal. But only 35% of the people consider themselves to be frugal. The rest said that they would spend enough to live comfortably. Obviously it is a question of managing income and expenses to everyone satisfaction.

many people also used financial advisors, up to 62% of the people surveyed used advisors. And they felt that the financial advisor helped them with their savings.

For their retirement, many people felt they made big mistakes. While they were saving for their retirement was not getting into the stock market soon enough or getting out too late. Another concern was substantial healthcare costs. Over 25% are concerned about maintaining their standard of living while dealing with inflation, lifespan increasing and healthcare costs.

Many people have a car that is over two years old and have their homes paid for. They avoid carrying credit card balances and avoid borrowing money. They have a monthly budget and they stick to it and they have discipline as investors.

Time management for a satisfied retirement

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satisfied retirementMany people approach retirement in a variety of ways. For example, some people will not schedule anything at all during the retirement spare time. The other extreme of course is the type A personality who has to have every 15-minute interval scheduled. These are to-do list items, things to do around the house, and even naps in the afternoon. In addition, they include meetings with colleagues and friends. This person may as well be still at work since they really are not enjoying their retirement but it provides them with a satisfied retirement.

Time management for a satisfied retirement – Strike a Balance

Studies have shown that the best way is to strike a mid-range of planning for your retirement. The most satisfied people during their retirement appear to be those people who have lots to do. Activities are scheduled for them. But they are not unsatisfied or upset when something has to be moved from one day to the next. There is no rigid schedule in their plan for the day.

When people are first retired, there is a tendency to schedule their days in the same manner that they would if they were at work. This leads to frustration and rigidity in their schedule. Some are generally being unsatisfied when they can’t complete all of the things that they have scheduled for themselves to do during the day. If they cannot fill their day they are frustrated and bored. It takes a few months to make an adjustment to being retired.

Those people who have a list of things and are prepared to work on their items as time permits. They also frequently insert new spontaneous things into their schedule and appear to be the most satisfied in their retirement.

Adjusting to Retirement

It will take many consumers several months or perhaps even a year or two before people are satisfied with retirement. They have figured out what is best for them. They develop new hobbies, go to various locations to volunteer, or take on projects that they have put off all of their lives. There’s always something for retired persons to do.

It is important to figure this out and then proceeds in a manner that provides the most satisfying results for you. You may in fact want to try various approaches and then shift as you get results and decide that you like what you’re doing or are unsatisfied with what you’re currently doing. Trial and experiment will lead to a satisfying retirement.

The biggest challenge in retirement for many is figuring out what to do with all of the additional free time that they now have since they are not commuting and going to work every day. That can be as much as 50 hours a week to fill in with new things and challenges.