The following is a guest post from Marie at Family Money Values.
You've no doubt read a lot of Free Money Finance's advice on planning for retirement – and hopefully are implementing those parts of it that make sense in your lives. Sometimes it helps to hear the story of those that have gone before you so today I share a few of our retirement experiences. I'm 62 and I've been retired for 1 1/2 years. Hubby is also 62 and has been retired for 4 years.
As I was preparing to join my spouse in retirement, I eagerly read everything I could on the subject. I wanted to know what it is like to be retired. What do people do, how do they feel, what changes happen in their lives and marriages, how does their money hold up and did their planning actually work for them?
Although I found a lot of material on planning and preparing for retirement, I didn't find much on actually being in retirement. To help all of you future retiree's out there, here are 5 surprises I have found in retirement and some suggestions for you on each.
I now know why there wasn't much material from people already retired – retirees are super busy!
Surprise #1: Retirees are too busy to talk about being retired.
While I was working, in those scarce moments when I had time to reflect on it, I pictured my retirement as being one long unscheduled vacation – during which I had all the time in the world to do anything I wanted to do.
In reality, I am busier now than while I worked at a salaried job, and so is hubby. We are each actualizing dreams that we had for years.
He loves to work outside, but was stuck in an office job for 30+ years. For the past 4 years he has pursued a vision of how he wants our acreage to look and works towards it every day. He is more active and healthy than ever.
I have always enjoyed learning new things, doing research and writing. Since my retirement, I have developed 3 websites – designing and implementing them as well as writing content for them. It is such a thrill to see my work published and to hope that it is helping someone else out in the cyber world. I've also implemented a 'Grandma Money Camp' for my two grandchildren – a week each year to make sure they learn good personal finance hygiene.
Retirement prep action item: Be realistic in the goals you hope to achieve in retirement – make sure you plan out how you want to spend your time to get the maximum benefit for YOU.
Surprise # 2: Your marriage doesn't have to suffer during retirement.
Some of the retirement planning reading I did prior to taking the plunge indicated that marriages could be terribly stressed when two people - not used to hanging around each other all the time - are suddenly together 24/7.
I was pretty worried about this one. He's a morning person. I'm not. He has some pretty strong opinions with which I don't always agree. I am more detail oriented than he. I like to travel more than he does. We both like time to ourselves. Plus, he was used to being home by himself – having been retired already for a couple of years while I continued to work.
To handle this, we talked about it before I retired. It helps that he likes to work outside and I spend a lot of time inside. We both try to give each other time and space alone. We don't go everywhere together. If one wants to watch a favorite program on TV that the other hates, then the other does something else for awhile. We accommodate each other. We've also grown to know one another better. Each morning we sip coffee together and philosophize about how things were, are and should be.
Retirement prep action item: Talk to your spouse and other people in your household prior to retirement. Discuss how you envision the day going and figure out what you all need to do to adjust to the new situation. Don't forget to consider how other people's expectations of you might change.
Surprise #3: It helps to keep a routine.
Most folks hate the work week routine. Get up, shut off that alarm, grab a cup of coffee, get the kids to school, out the door to work and then home again. Who would think you would want a routine in retirement? I was really surprised to find that I did.
Routines help me get things done. I knew that I wanted to continue my morning routine of exercise post retirement. After all, I've been doing it with good consistency for more than 30 years and have stayed pretty healthy. Now that I'm finally on my own, I have even more incentive to stay healthy! Routines help me get through the boring stuff – like dusting, flossing and grocery shopping – and yes exercising.
Retirement prep action item: Plan to match your retirement goals with the routine(s) that will help you achieve them.
Surprise #4: A simple retirement can bring contentment.
Most of us dream of travel to unseen and exotic locations, living more luxuriously and satisfying new desires in our retirement. I have found that I am content to keep most of my current possessions; to travel only occasionally; to stay home most of the week; and to spend time enjoying what I do have. Simple pleasures, like drinking a single glass of red wine at dusk while I watch the sun set through our wooded hills, are satisfying. I don't need (or want) to move to Florida, buy a new house, travel overseas or spend a lot of money to be content.
Retirement prep action item: Consider what kind of retirement will bring you the most pleasure and satisfaction and plan for that. If your wants and needs are simple, you may be able to retire earlier than you think. If they aren't, plan for the retirement you want.
Surprise #5: You don't have to miss the paycheck.
Prior to retirement I earned more than 90% of folks in the US. I really thought we would miss that paycheck. The reason we don't is the result of years of work, effort and planning.
Hubby stuck with his office job for 30+ years. It wasn't very exciting and it didn't pay in the top 10% - but it had a golden pension – which we now enjoy.
We have always lived off his salary and invested mine, even when my salary amount overtook his. We lived within his means and invested the rest.
We have always kept our debt under control. We have never paid one penny in credit card interest. We've been car loan free for 20+ years and mortgage free since 1993.
Before I retired, I spent two years doing what if scenarios and keeping spreadsheets and charts to ensure that we would be able to have the retirement we wanted financially. We socked away two years of my salary into very liquid investments so we wouldn't have to dip into investments for years.
So today, we live off his pension check, interest and dividends. We have a huge liquid position to do the things we want to do in the next few years before we start drawing Social Security at normal retirement age and taking required minimum distributions at 70 ½. We don't miss my salary.
Retirement prep action item: Save NOW for retirement. Understand what your desired retirement will cost and chart a path to generate the income to support it. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail!
Does my experience surprise you? How do you envision your retirement?
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