And don’t say ASAP…

If you are like most people, you would like to retire as soon as possible. Or at least as soon as you can and still be able to sustain a reasonable lifestyle, right? The thing is, we are all a little different – with different backgrounds, careers, and different genetic makeup as well. If you have an unfortunate instance of cancer that runs in your family, you may look at the odds of surviving realistically beyond your sixties or seventies, and try to retire a bit earlier in order to enjoy a more satisfying life instead of just working nearly until you cannot work any longer. It happens all the time, people plan for their big retirement only to pass away only 10 years later! This is a tragedy, most certainly. On the other hand, if longevity and good health run in your family, you should probably plan on a long stretch after you quit working and make certain you have enough investments to last you for another 20-30 years. Maybe you aren’t really sure how long you might live; the odds are none of us know for sure. But part of planning for your retirement years is going with the greatest odds, based on the information you have. Get a complete physical as well as this will help you make sure you have no large issues with your health right now and this will help ease your mind about how long you can plan ahead for that day.

There are no guarantees of course, but if you are very healthy and continue to take good care of yourself, by all means work until you get to a point where you feel comfortable with the investments and finances you have made. I personally think that paying off my house was the wisest thing I did before retiring, but some people don’t seem to mind carrying a mortgage on their house into their seventies or beyond. It’s a personal choice of course, I was not feeling confident enough to pay that much every month but if you are sitting on a large pension or have other investments such as rental properties that bring in a nice cash flow, then you may be more than confident it will be enough for you to get by on.

Planning your retirement – nobody else is going to do it for you!

Yes, you could say that getting old kind of “sneaks up on you”. But really? Most of us are just too busy or lazy to plan for it until it’s almost too late! If you ask most people, they would say they don’t want to plan for something like retirement until they get closer to the age they think they are going to retire – but how do you really know when that will happen? Life can take a turn for the worse, or even a turn for the better, at any time. Let’s say you get laid off from your job when you are in your fifties. What do you do then? With nearly no substantial retirement savings to speak of, most people simply panic and try to desperately find another job. That’s great if you have a career that allows you to do that, but what if you are in a position making a lot of money and your family depends on that money just to get by? This type of situation happens all of the time, and usually doesn’t end well. I myself was laid off unexpectedly in my early 40’s and was able to weather that storm, however it took me just over a year to find another job and I had to liquidate my savings just to avoid losing my home! Talk about scary moments, it was a lesson I had to learn the hard way, which is to plan ahead for the unseen financial downturns in life. Had I been saving more money I would not have been desperate to find a job, and the outcome could have been much better.

For more tips on not only when to retire, but also what to do once you retire, check my book here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3S2V9VM

Happy retirement planning!