What Type of Retiree Do You Want to Be?

Here's an interesting piece from Yahoo that lists the six different transitions into retirement among people age 55 to 69. Their list:

• Early retirees.
• Work and play.
• Still working.
• Returnees.
• Spouses.
• Working and never plan to retire.

I'll get to my thoughts on these in a minute, but first let's include a couple other great points this piece makes:

This list can tell you two things. First, and it's probably pretty obvious to you, your financial preparations may determine which category you fall into, whether or not it's the one you might choose for yourself.

Second, if you know which category you'd like to be in, you can map your retirement savings path to meet that goal. If you want to end your working days in your 50s, ramp up that savings immediately. If you know you want to work forever, save enough so that it's a choice and not a necessity.

Personally, I hope to be in one of the top two categories. Ideally, I'd like to retire early and spend most of my time doing charitable work and volunteering for a number of non-profit organizations. That and cycling 20 miles a day. ;-)

If I had to "settle" for a different option, #2 wouldn't be bad. A combination of working some and still having a good amount of free time would be fine too.

I'm certainly saving with these goals in mind. I've set my retirement number and continue to save like a madman to reach the goal of early retirement. Much of my success will be determined by what happens in the stock market, but for as long as I can I plan to fuel the growth by maxing out my 401k and IRAs.

If you'd like some thoughts on making the most of retirement, see Best of Free Money Finance: Retirement Posts.

Comments

[Terry]

I expect retirement will never be an option for me, so I don't know whether that qualifies as #3 or #6, although #3 sounds more involuntary (my scenario) while #6 sounds more voluntary.