What to Do When Retirement is Closing In

The book The 10 Commandments of Money: Survive and Thrive in the New Economy lists what you should do as retirement approaches. They break it out into time-based groups -- what to do 20 years from retirement, 10 years from retirement, five years from retirement, and so on. The ten and five year plans are the ones that interest me most since they represent the closest options to when I hope to retire. Here's what each of them suggests:

Ten Years Out

• Think about where you'll live.
• Imagine what you'll do.
• Review your retirement contributions.
• Consider paying down your mortgage.
• Cut your risk (cut back on percentage invested in stocks.)

Five Years Out

• Find out what income you can expect.
• Think about health care and long-term care expenses.
• Create a tentative budget.
• Run your plans by your planner.

Here are my thoughts on each of these:

• Where to live -- Great question! The book says that most people "age in place" -- meaning they live in the same host post retirement that they lived in before retirement. It also suggests that some people could save money by moving to a lower cost-of-living community during retirement.

This is an issue my wife and I will need to discuss in detail. One factor we'll want to consider is where our kids end up. Another is what options we have in other (warmer) states and countries. We have friends here in Michigan, but no family, so we could move quite easily. Perhaps we'll downsize to a condo here (assuming our kids stay in the area), live here from April to November, and move somewhere warmer for December through March. That would be my best guess at this point, but it's anyone's guess what we'll eventually end up doing.

• Imagine what you'll do -- Another great question!!! What would I do all day if I didn't work? Volunteer? Hobbies? Work part-time? 7 am to 5 pm is a looooonnnnnnggggggg time to fill up every day if you have nothing to do.
• Review retirement contributions -- I review my finances in general every month and in detail once a year, so I have no issue with this.
• Pay down mortgage -- I've got this covered already. We paid off our mortgage roughly 15 years ago.
• Cut your risk -- Of course. There needs to be a movement from stocks to more "safe" investments over time, though stocks will likely be part of them mix throughout retirement.
• What income you can expect -- Now that I have my retirement savings/net worth estimate by year, I'll be tracking my progress annually.
• Health care and long-term care expenses -- Huge issues. Health care will especially be an issue since it's likely that I'll retire early. So I'll need to find coverage. Long-term care? That's something I need to begin investigating.
• Tentative budget -- As the time gets closer, I'll most certainly create a post-retirement budget. By then I'll have 20 years of data on Quicken, so I should have a decent estimate for many categories.
• Run plans by planner -- I will certainly get advice for others (successful friends, my CPA, perhaps my readers if I'm still blogging then and anyone is reading.) But as you know, I don't have/need/want a financial planner.

Any thoughts on these plans?

Comments

[Matt]

These are great ideas but plans need to be developed specificly for your situation.

My wifes plan as a teacher is she is elegible to retire in 7 years. She may or may not retire at that time. It all depends on alot of different factors but my feelings is she will be ready. I will need to work an additional 5 years just to get to 60. This should give us some time to test drive her retirement with her pension to see how we afford it. She has all ready said she would substitute teach or tutor for extra money but we will see.

Depending on how my wifes retirement goes will depend on my time frame of retirement. My goal is 60. Depending on my "number" that may change to 62 or 65 if we have some bad years of investing or rampant inflation or???

[Everyday Tips]

We are very similar in our plans. I am from Michigan too and I do not plan on enduring Michigan winters when I am older if I don't have to. If one of my kiddos end up in a warmer climate, we would probably look for a condo there. Like you said, a lot depends on where the kids go so location is hard to plan. I just know I want to have enough money to have the option for a second home. I have no hopes that all 3 of my kids will end up coming back to Metro Detroit. That would be a miracle.

[tmgbooks]

You know the wild card in all our plans is our health which will really be the single most definitive aspect of our life after retirement.

Well before long-term care is necessary, if ever, small aches and pains just pile up. Having a full life will help to face those issues, I think. That being the case, staying active and going into retirement with a plan to stay active is important.

More important than money? I saw a statistic that TV veiwing by men increases by 70% after retirement. And if money is not addressed by the time you are of retirement age, than you will probably not be able to retire, regardless. But, again, sometimes our health will prevent us from working for as long as we want or need to.

[Derrik Hubbard, CFP]

I believe that it is also important at every stage of the game to determine and monitor how much you've accumulated versus how much is "enough" to inform your savings and investment strategy.

Derrik Hubbard, CFP

[KaseyD]

I consider the "where to live" question to have two parts needing a short-term answer and a long-term answer.

First, is where will you live while you are still "young" and able to spend much of your time on physical activities? DH and I plan to winter in the South, and summer in the mid-West where we have family.

Second, is where will you live when you are older and unable to travel or get around much anymore? DH and I have family with long lifespans (90s plus), and we recognize that we will be needing at least some help with our daily livng activities. (E.g., no way will I cook three meals a day when I'm 90!!) Hence, we plan on moving into a senior complex in our early to mid-80s, most likely in the mid-West.

Our financial plan encompasses both phases of our retirement.

[Becky Phillips]

We live in northern Indiana. Hubby has already "retired" ... forcibly ... through the company closing. I will retire in a few months. But the idea of having "nothing to do" blows my mind. My 84 year old mother lives with us. We garden, can our food, and have started our own small business. But the idea of visiting Florida is abhorrent to me. I spent two summers there in college fighting bugs as big as doorknobs. There has got to be more to life than comfort and pleasure. Now is the time to continue prospering and being worthwhile. When that ends I intend to find a bridge.

[Old Limey]

We have been happily retired for 18 years.
Suggestions before you retire:
1) Get out of debt
2) Decide where you are going to live and estimate your relocation costs, if any.
3) Formulate plans for the kind of retirement lifestyle you want - Work from home - Travel a lot, etc. etc.
4) Estimate your annual expenses for future years, then compare them with your annual income from all sources. That will tell you whether or not retirement is a possibility at this time.
5) Don't forget your future regarding healthcare costs, since as you age the need for expensive healthcare will likely increase so you need to have good coverage particularly before 65.

We were fortunate. I did all the calculations and they looked good so we retired with confidence in 1992.
I immediately started to teach myself all I could find out about investing successfully and being very computer literate and experienced in Math and computer software I learned fast. Then, fortuitously between 1992 and March 2000 the stockmarket experienced the dot.com bubble which got me off to such a great start that our retirement has greatly exceeded even our most optimistic forecast.

[Ginger]

Thanks for the book link, I think I will check it out at the library. What I don't understand is why health care expenses should not be a part of your plan from the very beginning, not five years from retirement. What I have read, say that people retiring now should put aside $250,000 for health care, I assume 40 years from now I will need more like 1 million.