There are a lot of retirement essentials that you need to look into before deciding to leave the corporate world and enjoy your golden years. You might be so tempted and looking forward to setting the alarm off permanently and not just for the weekends. You can’t wait to finally pack your office clothes and trade them for your house clothes.
Retirement can also mean that you get the time to finally put a lot more time for your hobby or things that you actually love to do. There are some consumers who cannot wait to get their camera gear out and take some landscape photos. While others are starting to clean out the cobwebs in their ovens and start looking for their recipe books to finally start baking and cooking fantastic meals for the family.
AOL.com shares that a recent survey of all 50 states revealed that the average retirement age of US consumers is now at about 63 years of age. Some consumers have been saving for a longer time who can retire earlier than that while there are some who are forced to work well beyond the average retirement age.
There are a number of retirement factors you need to keep in mind when you start to seriously consider life beyond your corporate or private work. There are also a number of retirement essentials that you have to remember to help make your transition as smooth sailing as possible. The last thing you need when you are about to reach retirement is dealing with completely avoidable stress.
Retirement essentials to remember
Here are some of the things you need to remember as you start to contemplate on retirement.
Retirement fund
Your number one concern at this point should be your retirement fund and you need to be constantly monitoring your fund level. As you near retirement, you need to make sure that you are on target and that you have enough to support more than just your basic needs when you retire. Try not to commit any mistakes with your retirement fund because it will be a lot harder to correct them especially at later stages in your career. Whenever possible, try to maximize your annual allowable contribution and catch-up as much as you can if you are running behind. You can also look at opportunities in making sure that your fund is earning while you are saving through compound interest. However, know how to manage risk and know that you need to prefer fund stability over high-risk high-return funds as you grow older.
Any plans of retiring elsewhere?
If you are one of those people who prefers to retire outside the country then you have a lot of work on your hands. You might have fallen in love with a place during one of your family vacations and you want to retire there. It can be a beachside property or even in Algarve, Portugal which is ranked by Huffingtonpost.com as one of the top retirement destinations in the world. It is one thing to be a tourist in your area of choice but it is another to be a resident. You need to visit the place at different times of the year and see places outside tourist spots.
One of the retirement essentials is to have a feel of how the local market, cuisine, entertainment, and even internet speed is because you will be living there. You need to familiarize yourself with the place as well such as knowing where the hospital is or even the police station. More importantly, understand how you can access your retirement money when you are outside the country.
House situation
Retirement is also the time you need to take a close look at how your housing situation will affect your decision to hang up your corporate jersey. If you took out a mortgage loan for your house then you need to be winding up on your payments prior to retirement. You cannot afford to keep paying mortgage well into retirement. If you are an empty nester and left with a big house then you can consider selling your property and buying smaller one. The excess amount from the sale could even be added to your retirement fund.
It will even be easier on your part as you will only maintain a smaller house and upkeep will not be too hard on your aging body which is one of the retirement essentials. There is also a big chance that taxes, as well as insurance premium payments, will be much lower than that of a big property.
Test out career options
There are a lot of people who choose to keep working even while in retirement for various reasons. The most obvious of which is that they need the money to augment whatever savings they have. There are also some retirees who wish to keep working because they cannot think of anything else to do. Some just can’t picture themselves staying in the house all day and needs to keep busy in retirement. Whatever the reason is, you need to test out that career. Have a dry run prior to committing to it in retirement. This is especially necessary if it is something you haven’t done before.
Establish your social network
As you get older, one of the retirement essentials you need to continuously work on is your social network. More than your family, you need to connect with other people who are in the same age range as you. Look for them in community events or even colleagues who will be retiring around the same time as you. You would need them in keeping your social life active and having people around who understands your situation is a big plus.
Have emergency numbers handy
Technology has come a long way and keeping important numbers is far easier today than it was in the past. However, if you simply put them in your smartphone, other people might have a hard time accessing those numbers in cases of emergencies. It is important to have a place at home where the important numbers are listed down such as the wall near your phone or on the fridge. It is also a good idea to carry a card with you that lists down all the people that can be called in cases of emergency. As you get older, you never know when you will need family and friends to be by your side.
Have a good time
One of the things you need to remember when in retirement is to have a good time. You might be trying too hard to make sure you have enough for your basic needs that you have forgotten how to entertain yourself. Watch a movie or visit family and friends while you can or pick up that hobby you have long forgotten. The point is to have a good time and enjoy retirement.
There are a number of retirement essentials that you have to keep in mind as you get older. This checklist gives you a rundown of things you have to focus on as you near your retirement age. It also puts you in a position of enjoying your golden years as you transition from a life in the corporate and working world to one that is a stress-free.