Good Planning!
The most important aspect of adjusting to retirement is good planning for a smooth transition. The authors of Retiring on Your Own Terms suggest a “retirement rehearsal.” Consider their rehearsal plan:
1. Practice living on your estimated retirement income, after business expenses.
2. Start developing some of the retirement activities you think will interest you. There are contacts to make and research to do, whether you have in mind volunteer work, further education, or a second career.
3. If you plan to move, learn everything you can about your prospective new home. It’s not likely that you will be able to move repeatedly, nor would you want to, so spend time, if you can, in the new community, during the off-season if there is one. Talk to people who live there; keep looking for disadvantages. You already know the advantages because they’re what attracted you in the first place.
4. Strengthen relationships outside the business environment — with family, friends, and neighbors.
5. Check how long it takes you to do various activities around the house or yard that you look forward to doing in retirement. You may think there are enough chores to keep you busy forever, but you’ll probably zip right through them in a few weeks and then have to start looking for something else to keep you occupied.
6. As important as working out a viable financial future is the planning you and your spouse can do in anticipation of your retirement. Couples who have lived together in the evenings, on weekends, and during vacations for virtually all their married lives don’t necessarily find it easy, especially at first, to be together all day, every day. You and your spouse might want to talk together about seemingly minor potential irritants.
* Source: Wis. Assoc. of Homes and Services for the Aging, Madison, WI
