Many people plan their vacations with more detail than their retirement. But deciding to retire without planning can put a successful transition and a satisfying retirement at risk. Start your planning early!
Detailed planning for retirement should begin five to ten years before you retire. If that’s where you are, consider the questions below taken from the most recent edition of Ready or Not: Your Retirement Planning Guide. The guide walks you through common retirement questions and offers ideas on how to figure out the answers.
If you are thinking about retirement, consider the following questions.
- Why do you want to retire? Retire to what? Do you have a new life waiting for you? Do you have a new job waiting for you?
- Are you really ready for all the leisure you’ll have? Can you fill your time with community service, educational opportunities, hobbies, travel, sports, cards, etc.? It sounds easy to do, but the transition isn’t easy for many retirees.
- Do you have something definite you want to do after retirement? Is there something you have always wanted to do that you can undertake at retirement age?
- Is your pension or savings enough to bridge the gap between your retirement and the time you’ll start receiving Social Security payments?
- Have you factored in inflation? If inflation averages 4%, $1,000 in today’s money will be worth $375 in 25 years.
- Have you planned sufficiently for retirement with your spouse and other members of your family? Will retirement make you, your spouse and family happier?
- Are major debts paid off or under control?
- How will you maintain health insurance between the time you leave your job and its group health plan and when you will become eligible for Medicare? Have you looked into insurance to supplement Medicare after you become eligible?
- Have you planned for unexpected developments like becoming widowed or divorced, developing health problems or taking care of aging parents?
- Have you talked to other retirees? How are they doing? If people you know are living the retirement life you want, have you learned how they did it?
Ready or Not: Your Retirement Planning Guide
Now through January 31, purchase the new edition of Ready or Not: Your Retirement Planning Guide at 2019 prices! This new edition of Ready or Not will guide your employees through the full spectrum of the retirement process. We have kept the friendly format and readability that make the book a trusted resource and given it a fresh, colorful look. Content has been enhanced and fully updated.
Quantity discounts available. Save by buying multiple copies for your employees.
Jenny Lucey, CEBS
Manager, Reference/Research Services at the International Foundation
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