Part of the retirement planning process is visualizing what you want your life to be like in the future. Keep in mind that you’re simply planning for the first chapter of retirement: traveling, pursuing hobbies, and spending more time with family and friends.
It’s crucial to know that you and your spouse may have different goals. A wife, for example, may like to travel more regularly to meet relatives, but a husband may be grateful that he no longer needs to go to work every day and would rather read or watch television. After a few months of retirement, some individuals find themselves falling into unhealthy habits, such as sleeping late, watching too much TV, not exercising, and not getting out of the house to visit others. To give your days more structure, you might want to try volunteering or taking up a part-time work. 1 It’s also not a terrible idea to make some additional money.
People slow down and don’t go out as much in the second stage of retirement, so they don’t spend as much money as they used to. Then there’s the last stage, when you’ll need more money than ever to cover things like huge medical bills and assisted living assistance. 2
As you can see, creating a retirement plan entails more than simply accumulating funds and then spending them over time. Consider diversifying your investments so that you can rely on numerous sources of income. If you or your spouse survive to a ripe old age, you might want to think about strategies to optimize your assets. Please contact us if you’d like to talk about other insurance choices for your retirement plan.
Social Security is one source of retirement income for most Americans, and it is guaranteed to continue until you die. Even this government-sponsored benefit, however, is subject to coercion. In recent months, there has been an emphasis on infrastructure bills and strategies to economically reconstruct the United States to pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, seniors just earned their largest cost-of-living rise in years in their Social Security payouts. The issue is that neither Congress nor pensioners (or those about to retire) are actively pushing to improve the present Social Security system. Starting in 2034, pensioners will experience a decrease of nearly 22% of their existing benefits if Congress fails to come up with a supplement plan. 3
Another aspect of retirement planning is having a backup plan in place in case things don’t go as planned. Consider getting long-term care insurance and making sure your beneficiaries are up to date on all of your accounts, that they have the information they need to access those accounts, and that they have contact information for your financial adviser or estate attorney. 4
Content prepared by Kara Stefan Communications.
1 Paul Schoenfeld. Herald Net. Feb. 20, 2022. “What are your plans for reaching retirement?” https://www.heraldnet.com. Accessed Feb. 21, 2022
2 Dan Hunt. Morgan Stanley. Jan. 11, 2022. “What kind of retiree do you want to be?” https://www.morganstanley.com. Accessed Feb. 21, 2022.
3 Trina Paul. CNBC. Feb. 10, 2022. “Will Social Security run out of money? Here’s what could happen to your benefits if Congress doesn’t act.” https://www.cnbc.com. Accessed Feb. 21, 2022.
4 Ameriprise. 2022. “Unexpected events.” https://www.ameriprise.com. Accessed Feb. 21, 2022.
