KINGS RANSOM ANTIQUES HOME

Being homeless is no laughing matter, especially if you are old, totally broke, and the worse thing is, 5 years ago you had a great home, a good paying job, and a decent income that allowed you to enjoy some of the finer things in life. Your biggest mistake was not preparing your retirement planning checklist. So let’s go 5 years back and prevent a situation like these from ever happening to you.

You’ve got five years to go before you retire. It’s time for you to finally get out your retirement planning checklist and prepare for your future as a senior citizen. First you have to think and decide what you will be doing then. Will you be staying in your home you are in now or will you be moving to another place? Will you be constantly traveling? This is essential information as the data you compile from these decisions will help determine if your retirement savings are enough along with other possible sources of funds, like your pension or social security.

For the next two years you will be taking care of a number of details like the necessary papers and other requirements which you will need when you apply for your benefits. The agencies and offices that you need to go to are the Social Security, Medicare, and other private and personal entities that you may have retirement benefits to claim. You should also start clearing and straightening your investment portfolio. Know what your options will be when you retire.

Three years to one year before you retire, make your finalization on your finances. Your retirement planning checklist should include a complete list of assets and debts. Know your obligations and clear them before retiring. This will allow you to determine with finality if you are indeed financially capable of retiring. Look at the areas where you can cut down on your expenses. If your company offers a health plan, see if you can have an executive medical checkup. This will allow you to plan for any medical conditions which may not be covered by your medical insurance when you retire.

Now it’s one year and counting. Only a mere 12 months away from your retirement, as you have already straightened out all your financial affairs and your other legal obligations and paperwork, you will need to review your retirement planning checklist for the last time to be certain they are indeed in order. Then you should now start preparing yourself. It’s difficult to retire after getting into a habit for the past 30 to 40 years of working. Gradually condition your mind and body for retirement. Plan some activities for you to do when you have all the time in the world.

People mostly fantasize about how wonderful retirement life is going to be. For many, there is the desire to retire early. Some people envision retirement starting in their forties or fifties. For some, a retirement dream consists of a gorgeous McMansion overlooking a lake or ocean that will provide a wonderful space for entertaining family and friends. Others would prefer to escape to a deserted island or visit exotic far away lands.

As retirement draws closer, there are fears that creep in, but rarely do people sit down and really think about the worst that could happen. Why, you ask, would someone want to think about all the horrors that can happen in old age? Whether you admit it or not, they exist in the back of your mind. They’re there, lurking preventing you to from living life to the fullest. It is only when you remove the shackles of denial that you can embrace life in whatever form it takes.

It was fall and my client felt lost in her new retirement experience. She retired from teaching and the first summer was filled with activities with her teacher friends. When they returned to the classroom, she felt alone. By the time she came to me, she was on anti-depressants, as well as anti-anxiety drugs. She and her husband had divorced a few years earlier, and she explained, “I never thought I’d enter retirement alone.”

Her vision of retirement had been one of shared walks on the beach, travel and leisure activities with her companion. She had never thought about any other retirement scenarios, so found she was completely unprepared for her retirement reality. With time, she accepted her new situation and was able to embrace new activities as a single.

I tend to be a bit of a Pollyanna about life. That doesn’t mean I’ve never thought about my death, getting an incurable disease or finding myself alone.

I’m a huge proponent of keeping a journal. If you don’t like writing, then just think about these situations and how you’d respond. Or better yet, talk to your partner or a friend.

Here are a few worst case scenarios for retirement life. As you envision the possibilities of this happening to you, imagine your feelings. Who do you have in your support system that would come to your aid? How would your life be worse, but also, how would it be better with this scenario? Are there actions you could take to help your situation?

Worst case scenarios in retirement life:

You find yourself alone, without a partner, either through death or divorce.

You don’t have as much money as you planned and will have to make major adjustments.

You become the full-time caretaker for a loved one.

You become ill with a terminal illness.

You or your partner gets Alzheimer’s.

What is your worst fear about growing older? How will you cope? What will you do?

Have you asked yourself why you are considering retirement? I ask the question because I am wondering if you are running away from or toward something.

If your answer to the question about what is motivating you to retire is that you are trying to escape a job that you hate, you are much less likely to retire successfully. Please follow this logic – you are unhappy in your job so you take the first opportunity to retire. When you first retired, what are you thinking about? Most likely you are focused on how happy you are to leave your awful job. In fact, the first day of your retirement may be the happiest day that you have had in a long time. You have escaped! As time goes on, however, are you continuing to focus on those no good people at that awful job and how bad they treated you? Are you living in the now or in the past?

When you finally get over the injustice perpetrated against you in your old job, where are you? What are you focusing on? The answer is nothing. You are lost. You have no plan and the only reason you retired was to escape. What are you going to do now? This is the point that many people do the unthinkable… they go back to a job similar to the one that they left simply because that is where they are comfortable. It’s a vicious cycle. They take the job, they are unhappy, and they begin to plan their escape. Simply using retirement as an escape mechanism doesn’t make for an ideal life.

Folks on the flip side of the coin are actually happy in the jobs that they have and are choosing to retire because they want to do something new. These folks are focused on tomorrow and are often the ones that find themselves very busy in retirement (or as busy as they choose). The first day after retirement, a forward thinking retiree already has a framework of a plan; they know where they are going. It’s like being a skilled sailor in a sailboat on the water in a windy day. You are the master of your path; you make adjustments and changes on the path where you want to go but the entire time, you keep your focus on that destination. While the destination is important, the trip and the experiences that it provides are equally as important. Focus and the ability to adjust as needed are both characteristics of successfully retirees.

So, which are you? Are you backward or forward thinking? Take some time and ask yourself why you are retiring. You may be surprised at your answer.

Over the past few weeks, I talked with several acquaintances that were retired or qualified for it. I asked each one how they enjoyed their new status and what they do with their time. The answers are surprising as well as disappointing.

Two of the four men had done well in the business world and had solid pension plans. Both have been retired for two years. Both belonged to country clubs and played golf on an average of four times each week. And, both complained about being bored although one said he tried to spend time with his grandkids and the other had a couple of hobbies he dabbled in. However, it was apparent that each man missed their jobs and the camaraderie they had in the workplace.

Of the other two men, one had been eased into retirement and was looking for some kind of work to supplement his resources, which he admits were barely adequate. The other man was still working, although he was beyond retirement age. He needed the money and was completely unprepared for living on what he called meager savings. So he was fearful of getting sick or losing his job for any reason. Each had worked a lifetime without much to show for their efforts.

The situations were somewhat different for the two women with whom I spoke. One had a small business that she sold. And with the money she brought to the table along with her husband’s retirement fund, there was no financial pressure. However, in the year since she stopped working, she had not found a comfort zone in retirement. The other women and her husband work part-time jobs to help make payments on a major asset, their home. This was necessary, since refinancing for extra cash in the good times left them with a substantial monthly mortgage payment in retirement.

These situations are not necessarily projectable to the entire New Seniors population. But there are likely many of those 65+ that may identify with the boredom, financial insecurity and confusion of life when it should be a time of joy. The dream of freedom, time to do the important or fun things in life and being able to relax with a feeling of accomplishment for jobs well done have yet to materialize for many New Seniors.

Economic conditions in America and around the world have left even those believing they are secure to have concerns. However, New Seniors have added financial worries such as the fate of Medicare and Social Security – programs that could see major changes in the benefits they provide.

Probably the best advice for all these folks is to accept their situation. In fact, they should embrace it. Once they realize where they are on life’s path, maybe living in the moment will have more allure. And, with that fears lose power and life somehow seems better. Then, they’ll be free to help others that are less fortunate or have special needs. That’s when the real joy of living can be found.