After slaving away for decades making ends meet, we tend to look at retirement through rose-tinted glasses.
We think there’ll be an easy transition into a life where you can look back on all your hard work.
Until we actually enter retirement and the glass shatters. It’s not as easy as they make it seem.
I’ve helped and spoken to hundreds and hundreds of successful retirees, and I’ve decided to combine their success stories and create a simple checklist for you to leap into that retirement you’ve been dreaming of.
I’ll start off with this simple piece of advice:
One of the biggest downfalls in terms of retirement planning is being unrealistic.
Now that’s not to say that aspiring retirees are being unrealistic purposefully, it’s just extremely difficult for people to accurately plan out each step of their retirement, and know every single cent they’ll need to save up to survive.
So, don’t worry—I’m not about to tell you that you need to dedicate some serious time and effort and come up with an all-inclusive plan of how you’ll tackle retirement.
What I’m suggesting is infinitely easier than all that, because at the end of the day, you’ve worked hard your whole life, and you deserve a retirement that rewards that work.
To ensure you’re situated for the retirement of your dreams, follow this simple checklist:
- Figure out how long your retirement will last.
Now, this can be an uncomfortable task as it forces you to look seriously and critically at your own longevity.
While it can feel easier to ignore this task as a whole, it is the first thing you need to address when planning for retirement.
When thinking about this question, keep in mind that most people preparing for retirement underestimate how long they’ll spend in retirement.
Living longer is a great thing, but you need to be prepared to live that long and have finances to see you through until the end.
- Ask yourself if you’re ready to retire. If not now, then when?
In a perfect world, we might wish we could retire now and move to some secluded beach house to live the remainder of our days in paradise.
Realistically, though, a time frame for when we’re ready to retire is based on far more than our desire to leave work and relax.
The things you need to think about to determine when you’ll be ready to retire are the things that will be changing the most, such as not going to work every day.
There may be days where you hate your job, but deciding to leave the workforce for good is still a big decision and takes some consideration.
- Make a list of what you plan on doing in retirement.
You may feel inclined to create a list with all the things you’ve been dreaming of doing as soon as you no longer have to clock in to a 9-to-5.
But you need to get tough with yourself and think about what your day-to-day will look like.
You also need to get realistic about what your expenses will be.
You should develop a personalized spending estimate that’s based on all the things you want to do in retirement, including your personal interests, vacations, and planned activities.
Also, ask yourself what kind of retirement lifestyle you want to live, including what city (or cities) you want to live in, as well as what kind of residence you want (be it a house, condo, etc.).
Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, but I’m here to make it easier.
Breaking it down into smaller, workable steps will do wonders, as well as having an actual written plan.
Surveys have shown that those retirees who started with written plans were more satisfied in retirement than those who didn’t.
The best thing you can do to ensure you live the retirement of your dreams is to start planning early, be realistic, and write everything down.
Follow this simple checklist and you’ll put yourself miles ahead of your peers.
