Just like how you date a person before you commit to them in a relationship, it’s not a bad idea to “date” your retirement plans before you commit to a retirement lifestyle. By testing out your retirement plans, especially while you’re still working, you can alter your plans if you discover that you don’t love what you had originally planned for – so that you haven’t committed to a retirement that may not be what you really want.
Do A Trial Retirement Budget
If you have an idea of how much you’re spending each month, but think that you’ll likely cut down on what you’re spending in retirement – see if you can really live off of that right now. Test out your potential retirement budget while you’re still working, so that you can make adjustments to what you’re saving if you need to while you still have an income coming in. If you are able to live off of your proposed retirement budget, make sure that you’re saving that excess cash in the meantime.
Test Out Where You Want To Live
Where you’re living now may not be where you want to settle during your retirement. Perhaps you don’t want to deal with snow and cold, or maybe you’d like to live closer to your family. When you’re no longer married to where you live thanks to your employment, you may want to move around – so now is a good time to figure out where you might like to land. While you might not want to move right now, you can test the waters by taking vacations and living like a local instead of living like a tourist.
Hone Your Hobbies And Passions
You might be so busy with your current life that you’ve let your hobbies and passions slide – and that’s alright. Once you retire, you’ll have plenty of time to focus on your passions and hobbies though, so it’s a good idea to take some time and understand what you enjoy doing so that by the time you retire, you’re retiring to something and not just away from something. You’ll especially want to test out any hobbies that might be expensive or require an investment (boating, etc.) so that you can plan accordingly for these.
Think Through Your Lifestyle
Without the structured routine of work, you may find that you like to sleep in, or watch more television. Or, you may find that you like to wake up early and exercise more. Your spouse may also be thinking through how their lifestyle may change in retirement. Talk through your current lifestyle, and potential retirement lifestyle, together. Think about how you prefer to spend time on vacations or extended period where you’re not working, as that may translate to your retirement life. Now is also a good time for you to think about what activities in your life bring you the most fulfillment, so that you can focus your time in retirement on what brings you the most joy in your life.
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