Are You Ready to Retire?

So, here’s the million dollar question… are you ready to retire?

Following are six tasks you’ll need to complete in order to confidently answer this question.

With so many variables to consider, ensuring you’re ready to retire can easily begin to feel overwhelming. If you’re trying to decide whether or not you’re ready to retire, start with checking to see if you’ve completed the following six tasks as they can help you retire with peace of mind:

1. Calculate how much you need. Before retiring, you’ll need to ensure you have enough money. The challenge is that planning for retirement requires trying to figure out what your life will look like decades from now. A comprehensive financial plan can help make sure you’re financially prepared no matter the circumstances.
2. Figure out your income sources. Once you know how much you’ll need, next you need to figure out how much you can expect from fixed income sources – Social Security, pensions, etc. The gap between how much you’ll need in retirement and the fixed income you have is the amount you’ll need to have saved before you retire.
3. Eliminate Debt. When you live on a fixed income, any debt subtracts from money you have to live off of. In order to make the most of your retirement, you’ll ideally want to pay off all debt, or at least eliminate as much as possible.
4. Consider the cost of Healthcare. Medical expenses are one of the leading causes of financial setbacks for retirees and the costs often go underestimated. You may also want to look into long-term care insurance, which can help cover costs associated with long-term care that many health insurance plans fail to cover.
5. Create a Contingency Plan. Before retiring, you’ll want to create a contingency plan that prepares you and your loved ones for any unexpected events or emergencies, such as a health crisis or a financial setback. You may feel like creating a plan for these events is premature, but that’s exactly why you should create one now. A plan is useless if you don’t have it before the event occurs.
6. Discover Your Purpose. Retirement readiness is not just about the financials and paperwork. Before you retire, you’ll want to discover what your purpose in retirement is going to be. Many retirees struggle with the transition to retirement so do some soul searching here.

Retirement is not a one size fits all plan. What works for one person may not work for another, but all retirement requires planning and preparation. For questions about your specific retirement needs call us at 732-224-9900.