The New Year is a Great Time to Get Started on Your Pre-retirement Checklist!
It’s not uncommon for people to get anxious as the prospect of retirement gets closer. There’s usually a mixture of emotions—excitement they’re close to the ultimate reward for all their years of hard work, but nervousness they may not be ready to take this next major step in life. Similar to making a checklist before going on a long trip to make sure you don’t forget anything, it can be helpful to make a retirement checklist before the big day arrives. No one wants to travel to the beach and forget their bathing suit, and you definitely don’t want to arrive at your retirement date and realize you forgot something really important. Here are a few pre-retirement checklists to help you get ready for your long retirement trip.
5 YEARS OUT
- Start running the numbers- begin to estimate your spending needs and sources of income to help determine what your lifestyle in retirement may look like.
- Consider multiple scenarios- no one knows exactly what the future will be, so look at several potential scenarios, including: retirement dates, lifestyle, and spending, inflation and investment returns, etc.
- Review and start tracking your investment asset allocation to make sure it’s consistent with your goals and risk tolerance.
- Think about whether you want to be a ‘do-it-yourself’ investor/financial planner in retirement. If not, this is a good time to kick the tires on a financial advisor to see if they’ll be a good fit for you in retirement.
3 YEARS OUT
- Start to imagine what retirement means and will look like for you- will you work part-time, where you will live, what’s going to make you happy, etc.?
- Track your spending closely and consider living on your projected income for 1-2 years prior to retirement as a “trial-run”.
- Start organizing and considering financial needs- insurance, health coverage, how to protect your spouse, estimates for social security, tax projections, etc.
1 YEAR OUT
- Decide when/how you’ll notify your employer of your retirement date, create your transition strategy and maximize all your employer benefits.
- If you haven’t already, check on your health insurance options and review Medicare decisions.
- Develop your investment strategy and create a plan for spending assets in retirement.
- Start focusing on your life “outside” of work in preparation for full-time retirement living—create your retirement bucket list and decide how and with whom you will spend your time!
The above checklists are abbreviated, but should give you a head-start on creating a great retirement!
Written by: Steve Giacobbe, CFA, CFP®, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Accredited Wealth Management
