Posted on 10/22/2014 2:53:18 PM PDT by A Cyrenian
Any Freepers preparing to retire in the next 5 to 10 years?
What are you plans?
What are you doing to get ready to enter the next level of your life?
I'm considering retiring in 3 - 5 years and I feel like I don't have all my ducks in a row.
Know what I mean? I'm not asking about financial advise, but would like to know what one should do to be ready to sleep in the first day of retirement.
Retirement? What’s that?
Find a hobby!
Whiloe work “forces” you to get up in the morning....if you do not have a reason to get up in the morning when you retire, your life will very quickly begin to suck!
I think you are looking for the prepper ping list.
To be happy in retirement, you need to have some kind of schedule, and some kind of regular activity. If you plop on the sofa and do nothing, you will be dead in 3 years.
Nobody says you have to wake up at 5am and have a highly regimented day, but maybe a morning walk, read the paper, eat some breakfast, some sort of religious activity/devotional, and then do what you want.
A second word of caution, new retirees spend most of their money in the first 5 years. If you know when you want to retire, start curtailing your spending so you will be used to living on less income, and be better disciplined in spending.
Get on a written budget and stick to it. With 3-5 years you will see and be prepared for all the nuances, from practice.
After you ‘settle in’ to it, you will find your time usually full, because you create ways to make it that way.
Find things you enjoy doing — inside and/or outside.
I am interested in replies to this question. I will reach retirement age in less the 10 years, and have wondered what comes next. I’m set financially for retirement but not sure what I will do with so much unstructured time.
IMHO, I think our tax code, this country’s crony financial system, zero interest rates, massive money printing, and the need to fund massive government debt have basically made the middle/working class an extreme underdog in long-term financial planning.
Buy Scotch now so it will not cut into your retirement spending later.
You didn’t want financial advice but you mentioned wanting to be able to sleep. A major step is to detail out your expected expenses over the rest of your life to estimate how much money you need. It is the most critical element. You can only do so much in saving more money in 5 years but you can control how much you will spend. My goal is to maintain exact lifestyle in a retirement which will happen soon for me. But if that is not an option you can figure out what you can cut back on to make it.
To sleep you need to have all the info you can get. The worst thing would be finding out you are in big trouble after you retired and there will be no more money coming in. Getting another job may sound good to some but is not easy in this economy for an older person. Just my thoughts.
I thought about retiring for a bit. And then I got up and went to work as usual. That is right for me.
Be debt-free and stay active, and you can live comfortably on a modest amount.
I am envious of people who were clever enough to work a civil service type job for decades and can now retire with a pension and health insurance to fund the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, I cannot even imagine retiring and I am not all that far off the usual age people start retiring. I do daydream about what I would do if I could retire, but that is about it- daydreams.
If your job is halfway tolerable, and you’re healthy, don’t retire!!
I sold my company at the end of 2012 and I have regreted it ever since.
Take your time "despacio" if you get all the stuff completed in a few weeks you will be board in a month.
If you do everything today you will have nothing to do tomorrow.
Relax, you now have the time to do things the right way and not the just get it done way.
It took me all of 15 minuets to settle into retirement. Above all enjoy your retirement you earned it.
I almost forgot at least 1.5 hours on FR daily is a requirement for long life.
For those of you who want to ask, what is social security, what is retirement, please keep your thoughts to yourselves. You're no better than someone posting graffiti with your posts. Grow up.
For those that can contribute to this thread, I thank you.
I always think of Bear Bryant dropping dead a few months after retiring.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.