If retirement feels less like a possibility and more like an oncoming certainty, then it is time to respond. This is the time to firmly decide whether you want to “age in place” in your current home or move. This is when you work on sustaining the friendships you have made in your career, while also figuring out how to move into new social circles. Two important questions need answers: what do you want to do next, and how can you begin doing it?
This is also the moment to crunch the numbers, with new focus. How much can you live on per month in retirement, and how do the costs of living break down in your budget? Recurring health care expenses must also be included. Can you erase any major debts before retiring? How cautiously do you need to invest now, given that it could take your retirement fund several years to recover from a bear market as you are drawing it down? These questions may seem dizzying, but they need to be addressed. You may have had conversations about them in the past, and those conversations are worth continuing today, strengthened by a new perspective. Those talks may help you to determine the best course of action for your IRAs and workplace retirement plan accounts and just when to claim Social Security retirement benefits (you may apply four months prior to when you want to start receiving your benefits or three months prior to when you turn 62).1
Need help sorting these challenging questions? We are here to help. Give us a call. We provide clarity, focus, and direction.
1 - ssa.gov/kc/kc_filing_ssb.htm [10/9/18]