The Essential Guide To Planning For Your Twilight Years

It doesn’t matter whether you are twenty-something or forty-something, it is never too early to start planning for your retirement. We like to think that our days of wrinkles, forgetfulness and grey hair are a long way off. However, speak to an older person over the age of sixty-five and they will tell you that life passes by in the blink of an eye. It’s crucial that you begin to plan for your financial, emotional, and physical health well in advance. There’s nothing worse than creeping closer to your retirement date only to have nothing in place for when you grow old.

As you leave your job and turn your laptop off for the last time, you will inevitably feel a loss. This can be difficult to comprehend when you are young, physically active, and have years of your working life left, but it will happen. It’s vital that you are prepared for this and can look after yourself and your dependents when it’s time to move into your twilight years. Take a look at this essential guide to make your retirement less of a stressful affair.

Photo by Monica Silvestre

 

When Should You Retire?

This is the million-dollar question for many individuals across the globe. You could wait until your state pension age or you could try and retire early. The thought of leaving your working life behind at an early age, say fifty-five or even before, is the stuff of dreams. To be free to travel and enjoy new experiences without the shackles of a job while you are still young doesn’t just happen. You need to be proactive and make sure that you have the financial acumen to empower early retirement.

If you have savings in the bank, you cannot simply keep topping them up every month in the hope that you’ll have a large enough nest egg come retirement day. You need to make your money work more aggressively for you as interest rates on savings accounts are woefully low. This is why you need to create an investment portfolio. You don’t need to take a foray into the heady world of high-risk investments such as bitcoin, and instead, you can focus on low to medium risk investments. These are the best type to ensure that you accrue money over the long term.

Property is seen as a sure-fire investment for those individuals looking to tie up their cash for a decade or more. Even if there was a housing market crash, you will be able to weather the storm because you are holding onto the bricks and mortar for such a long time. This means that you might become a landlord. The concept of being responsible for a pad while your tenants are living in it may fill you with dread. You might not want to be woken up at two AM in the morning because there is a massive leak in the dwelling. You might not have time to carry out inspections. And you might not know where to start when it comes to finding responsible tenants. If this is the case, you can pass this responsibility onto a lettings agency who will manage your property for you for a small fee. This can take the pressure off your shoulders.

When you look to purchase a pad to rent out, it’s vital that you do your sums. You want a humble abode that will pay for itself and not leave you out of pocket come the end of every month. Think about how much you need to repay every month for your home loan and check that the amount of rent that you can charge will cover this. If it does, then the property that you have your eye on is a sound investment. Look to purchase in a desirable area that is highly sought after. This way, there will be less of a gap between tenancies. Always be a decent landlord, charge a fair price, and provide references as required.

Hold onto your tenanted pad for a decade or until you have paid off the entire home loan and you will be left with an asset that holds a strong amount of equity – perfect to top up your retirement fund and leave you financially comfortable in your twilight years.

 

Thinking Of Others

It’s only natural to think of your nearest and dearest when you consider your twilight years. You might be eager to ensure that they are looked after when you are gone. While thinking about death is a morbid concept, we are confronted by our own mortality when we consider growing old. If you want to provide for your family when you die, you need to ensure that your wishes are carried out. To do this, consider a Canadian will & estate planning service to ensure that everyone you want to leave money or assets to receive them. This is crucial if you have a complicated family tree or if you want to leave assets to an individual outside of your family. Putting it down in writing and having it protected by a solicitor means that your money and assets go where you want them to.

Thinking of others as you near your twilight years is natural. But ensure that you don’t forget yourself in your retirement. You have worked hard, paid your dues, and it is time to enjoy the time that you have left on the planet.

 

Staying Active

The physical and emotional toll of retirement is something that is rarely spoken about. As you grow older, you naturally slow down a little. While you might have been running marathons in your youth, you might be more content when you are older with a stroll around the block. Those days of clubbing, staying out until the early hours, and consuming plenty of alcohol won’t appeal when you are older and frailer. You will inevitably prefer a quieter and more gentle type of nightlife. These are natural progressions in our psyche as we grow older.

When you retire and say goodbye to your work colleagues, you will be struck at how sudden and final it all feels. A long and happy chapter of your life will close and you will inevitably miss the office camaraderie, the company of others, and your pals. You will find yourself wondering what to do with your days and ponder how to spend the extra time that you now have on your hands. Try to plan this time early. Think about any hobbies or interests that you have or passions that you might want to explore when you are older. This will help plan your time out so you aren’t left with empty days where you feel lonely and your thoughts run away with you.

When you retire and grow old, many people are shocked at how isolated they feel. They aren’t ready for a pipe and slippers just yet, and they want to stay active. If you think that you will be one of these young at heart retirees, plan for your future now. Do you want to learn the piano? Have you always fancied learning a new language? Or do you want to explore the world of baking, fishing or gardening? These activities will give you a chance to get out of the house, learn new skills to keep your brain ticking over and meet new people. Being social and making new friends is a key part of getting older and enjoying your twilight years.

Many retirees and older people use their extra time to travel. If you have prepared financially, you can enjoy hot-footing it to far-flung destinations. You might want to trek the Inca Trail, do a spot of temple hopping in Japan, or walk the Great Wall in China. Whatever it is that you want to experience, you can do this when you are older. Immersing yourself in new cultures and seeing new vistas will help to keep you inspired and motivated to try new things.

 

Care

As we grow older, we will need to consider things like care and accommodations for assisted living. Now, you probably can’t even imagine needing care but you never know what the future might hold for you. As we grow older, our health will deteriorate but it just depends on how much. You might be fortunate to maintain your health, both physical and mental, until you’re a ripe old age. Living independently might be something that you are blessed with. However, if you begin to suffer from an age-related ailment like dementia or mobility issues, the ability to live on your own in your own home might diminish. The thought of having a carer or moving into a residential home is not one that we like to think about. However, by thinking about the provision that you can put in place now, you can ensure that you are cared for in the way that you want.

 

Growing old is not a concept that many of us care to think about too often. While we may be concerned about the extra grey hair we spot every so often or the wrinkles that keep building up around our eyes, there are more important aspects to ageing that you need to consider. Prepare yourself financially, emotionally, and physically for growing old, and you can be sure of having an enjoyable retirement.

 

 

markmunroe

markmunroe

Founder, CEO at ADDICTED Media Inc
Mark Munroe is the Creator and EIC of ADDICTED. He's ADDICTED to great travel, amazing food, better grooming & probably a whole lot more!
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