5 Things You Need to Do Before You Retire
Many people want to have a comfortable retirement but not everyone is doing all that they need to do to be properly prepared. Far too few people who are still working give as much thought to their retirement plans as they should. In fact, it really never is too early to begin planning for retirement. You may not need to talk to an attorney to help with estate planning when you get your first job but that is when people should start putting some money away.
The Orange County Breezeandnbsp;reported on this topic and gives the following steps that people should take when they are planning their retirement:
- Give some thought to what age you want to retire at. This is not a number that will be set in stone but is a good goal to work towards. You may find that as you approach that age, it is no longer the right time for a host of reasons. It could be that during your life, things happened that made it hard to save as much as you would like to have saved to be able to retire at the age you thought you would stop working. People who enjoy what they do find that they can put themselves into a much better position if they keep working past the age where they thought they wanted to stop working. Some people find that the are at at the age when qualifying for benefits such as social security is an option but that they delay getting those benefits to make the most of it.
- Look at how much it will cost to have the life you want in retirement. What do you think you will want to do with your retirement? Some people dream of leaving their day jobs to start a business. Others want to spend the rest of their time traveling. Maybe you have hobbies that you would like to pursue. Talk to a financial planner or a business attorney about what you want to do and work out how much that will cost. You should draft up your expenses and the other things you will have to pay for. This will give you a better idea of how much you will have to spend during retirement and how much you should save while you are still working.
- Find out what the rules are for your retirement accounts. There are different rules in place for different kinds of retirement plans. Many let people start withdrawing funds when they reach the age of 70.5 years old but before you start taking money out, you need to verify that with the managers of those accounts. There are a number of factors that can determine when and how much you can take out of these accounts.
- Decide what you will do about your health care. When Americans turn 65, they become eligible for the health plan run by the government that is known as Medicare. There are a number of things that are not covered by this plan and many people opt to get supplemental plans to cover what the government will not cover. In recent years, a supplemental plan was put together to cover things such as prescription drugs. Make sure you know what your options are and how much you may be expected to pay out of pocket. This may influence when you retire.
- Consider your options for long term care. This is something that is not covered by Medicare. You should include in your planning for long term care some other things that no one likes to think about. You should decide who would have power of attorney should that become needed. You should work with a will lawyer to help you write a will and a financial planner on how you can plan for the what you do if you need long term care. These are all very complicated issues that make it necessary to seek out the help of an attorney and to talk to your friends and family about what is best for everyone.
Planning for retirement is a complicated thing to do. It takes work, time and effort but it can be done.
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