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Discovering the Golden Years |
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This is the first sunrise of the New Millennium.
Planning for Retirement, Why??? Why plan for retirement? It seems so easy you just stop
commuting every day. You don’t get ordered around or assigned irrelevant
tasks by “the boss”. You can sleep in as late as you want. You can sleep
all day. You don’t have to shave if you don’t want to shave. You don’t have
to dress in even business casual. You can wear your PJs and Snoopy slippers
all day long if you happen to get up. You are free, free at last! You don’t
need a plan you’ll just figure out what you want to do each day, if you
want to do anything. A life governed by whim. You may become an ESPN couch
potato; watching sports all day. You can drink all day too if you want to;
its Miller time baby! You now have the time to develop some real first
class vices. If you need more money you can always buy a lottery ticket or
sell your blood. Is thinking of retirement just to scary? I think I just heard the door slam as your spouse ran
screaming from the house. Without planning your world will come crashing
down around you. The bills will still come in every month; you can rely on
it just like death and taxes. Will you be able to pay them now that you are
retired? And there will be emergencies do you have sufficient health
insurance? Maybe you have always been very healthy, never had to go to the
doctor, dentist or any kind of therapist. Will this continue as the decades
pass? Will you be the first human to live forever? I admit to being
neurotic about planning things. I probably over analyze almost everything.
This includes analyzing my analyzing! But… I really honestly think that everyone should give some careful
thought to the logistics of retirement. It is easy to postpone
indefinitely. Set aside a weekend to get started or a day or a half a day
or a few hours and make some plans. Write down your analysis in a special
notebook. Here are some critical questions? How much income do you have now
and how much do you estimate to have in retirement? It is best to work in
net dollars, what is left after deductions. You can get information from
the Social Security web sites and you employer’s retirement information
sources. Now you have an estimate of the difference between your present
income and your retirement income. The obvious question is can you pay your
monthly bills. Some costs might go down like commuting costs, work
clothing, and lunches, but others might rise like additional heating costs
to keep the house at a comfortable temperature during the daytime when you
previously were at work. You might join a gym or a golf club now that you
have more leisure time. Also all those home projects that your wife in mind
will cost something for materials and any professional assistance you might
need. One common experience is that your additional free time gives
you more time for spending. This might be a good time to finally cut up
those credit cards or lock them in your safety deposit box. Did you plan on
traveling? Do you plan to move? Do you plan to look for part time work?
Have you analyzed your health insurance? There is much to plan! Now that
you are started we will return to some of these subjects later.
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