How Do You Know When It’s Time to Retire?

Some people analyze every detail of their financial and personal lives down to the last detail, and have already established a firm date that they expect to retire. But those people are in the minority. For the rest of us, setting a retirement date feels like a complicated puzzle with quite a bit of emotion attached.

How do you know when it’s time to retire? What if it’s a mistake? How do you plan for the unexpected? Use these strategies to help determine the right time for your retirement.

Ask yourself how you view retirement. Does it sound restful and relaxing, or maybe exhilarating? Those are good signs. If you can’t picture retirement yet, or it sounds boring, you might not be ready to give up your career.

And of course, if you picture yourself rationing electricity and eating Ramen noodles in your retirement years, you’re definitely not ready!

Think back to your last vacation. How often did you think about work? Did you feel glad to leave it behind, or were you distracted by thoughts of getting back to the office? This exercise can tell you if you’re ready to leave your career in the past, or if it still serves as a central part of your identity and sense of purpose.

Make your “bucket list”. What are some things you wish to do with the rest of your life? Do you have time? Can you afford them?

Think about your average week in retirement. What kinds of activities do you plan on doing? Where will you eat? What kinds of social activities will you enjoy?

If you can’t even picture this part of your life yet, you might not be ready for it.

Create a detailed budget. What expenditures are necessary, which ones are a part of your retirement goals, and what is optional? Can you afford your ideal retirement, or at least something acceptable to you? Or does crunching the numbers bring up concerns?

Meet with us. We can help you analyze your budget, estimate your Social Security benefits, check in on the status of your retirement accounts, and help you determine whether you’re ready to retire. Then together we will set a date for your retirement.

But remember, if you don’t feel ready, there’s no pressure! We can always adjust your plans as things change. The important thing is to start planning now, so you will know what to expect.

About the Author: Mark Roberts

In addition to managing clients’ money and giving investment and diversification advice, Mark offers something that “the other guys” don’t - a unique approach to Retirement Tax Strategies and distribution. Time and time again, Mark meets with new clients who tell him they have a great relationship with their financial advisor but have never been offered information on this kind of approach to securing their financial futures. Mark has taken this feedback to heart and works tirelessly to ensure that his strategies focus on taxes and distribution. Mark started selling insurance for a major insurance company right out of high school to help put himself through college. After graduating with a degree in finance, he dove into estate planning on the financial side to set himself apart from other financial advisors. However, as changes were made to estate tax laws over time, Mark shifted his focus to income tax strategies. Mark’s philosophy is “the blue prints are more important than the wall paper or carpet.” The wall paper and carpet represent products like investments and insurance policies, whereas the blue prints represent the strategies. Once strategies that truly fit the client’s needs are put in place, our focus can shift to providing you with the right products. According to Mark, “It doesn’t matter what carpet we use if the walls are not in the right place.” Our approach to money management is designed to generate the largest alpha (quality) with the lowest standard deviation and beta (risk). By doing this, we help provide clients with the highest return on the lowest risk. Generating income for our retirees is also very important. Because withdrawing money from your portfolio hurts the account rather than helping it, our goal is to design income strategies to harm the portfolio the least making the money last longer.

How Do You Know When It’s Time to Retire?

How Do You Know When It’s Time to Retire?

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About the Author: Mark Roberts