What to do on the day you retire
Posted on 16 August 2010
By Mark Miller
Permanent URL of this article: http://retirementrevised.com/money/what-to-do-on-the-day-you-retire
What should you do on the day you retire? And, just as important–what shouldn’t you do?
Linda Stern offers a thoughtful post on the retirement process today at Reuters.com:
Many workers and financial companies talk about retirement as if it’s a day on which everything changes. The day you retire is the day you need X amount in the bank, an annuity, a Social Security check and an old person’s portfolio, they suggest. It’s the day you’re done: with work, with commuting, with consuming and more. But that’s far from the truth. For most people, retirement isn’t a day, it’s a process.
Stern goes on to discuss the specifics.
–Don’t pull all your holdings out of the stock market; you’ll need to keep a portion invested–conservatively–to meet long-term goals.
–Think carefully about all the areas of expense you’re likely to incur going forward.
–Filing for Social Security right away may not make sense.
–Plan ahead for health insurance costs if you haven’t reached Medicare eligibility yet (65).
–Resist the temptation to spend a great deal of money quickly. “The first year of retirement often is the most expensive,” she cautions.
Read the full post at Reuters.com.
Related posts:
- Your best remedy for retirement security: Don’t retire
- Joining Reuters.com as a weekly contributor
- 65 things to do when you retire: Advice from Jimmy Carter, Gloria Steinem and me
- Hard Times Guide: Will you ever be able to retire?
- Higher Social Security retirement age a benefit cut no matter when you retire
August 16th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
I use Quicken and ESPlanner to hold my financial plan (two different tools describing the same plan to provide perspective). The transition from working for a salary to not working for a salary was already reflected in the plan and had been for years. I had to then “update” it when I got laid off – but I immediately knew what the impact would be.
“Retiring” (I now hate that word) is a change and can be planned many years in advance, so when the event occurs, it is little more than a bump in a few new behaviors (and I got to test it out earlier than I expected).
I like to do my own research and planning. My wife, if it were not for my interest, would turn it all over to a financial planner. Either approach will work well, but just do it *now* (make a plan – update it regularly) and do away with the uncertainty for at least the parts we have control over.