That may seem like an obvious thing to answer, like who doesn’t love the idea of not working any longer? But if you really give it some thought it’s not so obvious. Most people may not love their jobs (it’s been said that anywhere between 50-85% of people in the US are not satisfied with their job or careers) but we have to work. And even if we did somehow scratch together enough money to stop working, what would we do all day? That’s the real conundrum.
Oh sure, if you could travel the world non-stop and see every country without worrying about money, how cool would that be? Not to shatter your little dream, but that’s not realistic either for most of us ordinary people (non-multimillionaires). Not only would be immensely expensive, chances are you would get tired of doing that after a while too. Maybe not right away, but eventually at least. So what to do all day? That is the question – what will you do when you aren’t burdened by 40-50 hours of work every week? What would make you happy, or at least not miserable, I guess. That is the thing we all need to figure out for ourselves.
I think everybody needs something that fulfills them, makes them feel like they matter, in order to be truly happy in life. What makes you feel fulfilled? Is it helping other people in some way? Making a difference in someone else’s life is a huge positive for most people. For other people it’s solving problems that makes them happy, I guess that is the category I myself fit into as I spent my career in the computer industry figuring out problems and getting paid for it. But whatever it is that makes you feel good about yourself, it’s quite possible your job is not fulfilling your desires in that respect. If that’s the case, do some real soul-searching and find something that does make you happy so that when you can finally retire it won’t be just a big question mark. Or worse yet, sitting in front of the TV wondering what to watch next. Nobody wants that! At least nobody that I know, which isn’t saying a lot but most folks want to stay active in some way. Get out and enjoy life, isn’t that the point of being retired? Nobody to tell you what to do, when to do it, no alarm clock waking you up every day? Most of the people I have spoken to about retirement say pretty much the same thing, it is probably the most liberating feeling in the world just knowing you don’t have to spend 40 or more hours at work any longer.
There are many ways to plan for your retirement, and also many different ways to actually implement your plan as well. One of the things I have been doing to plan for my retirement is to speak with as many people as possible and pick their brains to find out what they are doing, not to copy their plan but to find out how they are dealing with different situations that arise in their plans.
There is an old saying that we make plans while God laughs – I’m sure you have heard it before. Basically, all it means is that you may think things are going to go your way because you made some plan, but many times the reality turns out much different. We love to think we are in control, right? Well at least a little bit anyway. So what can you gain from hearing other people’s plans? Quite a lot, it turns out! There are so many people retiring right now in the US that it’s probably a record. Not only are a record number of people over 60 starting to retire, the trend for younger people to retire early is gaining a lot of ground as well. With these numbers combined, adding up into the millions,
I’m sure you know at least a few people who are retiring right now, besides yourself or your spouse of course. And these people may have similar circumstances to yours which can help you to decide on possibly a better plan, or at least confirm your plan based on what you hear from others. Perhaps you know someone on Facebook that you knew in high school and they also are retiring very soon. They could possibly have just started their plans, but it could also turn out that they were super smart and retired 10 years ago, way ahead of you, even though you’re practically the same age! Well then, wouldn’t you be happy to hear their plans and find out any shortcuts they may have found to retire earlier? One thing I have done over the past few years is to find blogs on the subject and read them from top to bottom. You might be surprised how many great tips you can learn from a blogger! Not just financial tips, although there are quite a few of those around the internet.
There are also many on how to spend your time doing constructive things, such as donating your time to a good cause, joining a club of like-minded people such as yourself or maybe playing cards at the local rec room for your senior development. There are so many things to be learned from folks that are already retired it is truly amazing – believe me you will appreciate their input once you listen in for some time.
Planning for your retirement can be tricky, and there are questions you have like everyone else. If you want to learn and explore more ideas for yourself, check out my book here for more information:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3S2V9VM
Happy retirement planning!