Who?
Who do you want to be when you retire? What does retirement look like for yourself ? Who will you be enjoying your daily activities with?
Be proactive about your “Golden Years”! Before you retire build a picture of the true YOU and who you want to be! Be sure to write it down as this is what you have been working all these years for. More importantly stay focused on the new You!
Who will you be retiring with? You will be leaving behind all your colleagues at work and after work social events. Therefore, building a social network prior to retiring is essential. Connect with those who you have known but could not catch up with because you were to busy with work. More then likely they are in the same situation as you. They too, now find themselves having to rebuild their social part life back up. Who knows, your re-connecting will be a warm and re-energizing welcome. Also, before retiring become members of clubs and/or communities. Reaching out prior to retirement there is more of a likely hood that you will be successful at your own retirement!
What?
What defines exactly what retirement means to you? Irrespectively of how old you are, you probably have a vague idea of what retirement really means to you. Again, visualize exactly what you want your life to be so you will be able to plan carefully for it. What is the minimum income you will need to cover all your basic of expenses(medical, housing, travel, long-term care, insurance, lifestyle, etc)?
What activities will you do? What do you want to accomplish from your bucket list? What kind of lifestyle do you want? If you intend to travel the world in style, find out how much it would cost and multiply that by two just to make sure that you supersede your intended financial targets.
What kind of senior citizen do you want to be? Having a pre determined plan will help you to make this transition successful and exceeding all of your expectations into a wonderful retirement.
Where?
You have been tied to a job and you will be free to go anywhere. Where will you want to live? When you get there, what will it look like? Will it be in some retirement friendly location with warm weather? Its time to dream, but it is also time to get serious about where you see yourself. Successful retirement begins with a vision and ends with a plan.
Why?
Why do you want to retire? What motivating factors are influencing you to retire? If your retiring early, why? Why, is making a plan early so important?
Most importantly, make sure your “Why’s” are answered before you take any steps toward retirement.
Plan
Do not fall into the trap of thinking that you still have time, irrespectively of your age. That is a step toward failure to your senior years as it is also a recipe of disaster if the unexpected should happen.
Planning ahead makes it easier to make necessary adjustments if needed. Also planning ahead allows for time and inaccurate assumptions to be clarified. Start today!
Dreams turn into reality by taking proactive steps forward, however, small they might be its to achieve your desired end.