Retirement is an exciting time in your life. It's what you've strived for since you entered the workforce.
But what is the quality of life you should expect when you finally reach retirement age? Will it be all relaxing and no stress? Or will the money run out sooner than you planned?
In this article, we'll take a look at how to set realistic retirement expectations, and how you can better plan for them right now.
Let's dive in.
Money Will Be a Bit Tighter
When you're in the workforce, you can do things to increase your income when you need it. Working extra hours, increasing commissions with better sales tactics, getting an overdue promotion or a second job can all add to your bottom line.
When you're retired, your money is supply is pretty much set. You don't want to out-live your savings.
Even if you know you have more than you can spend in your lifetime, you still want to be as frugal as possible with what you have so you can leave a substantial legacy to the people and things you care about most.
As a retiree, you'll pay closer attention to each dollar you spend than you did before you retired. If only we had lived that way when we were earning money.
Maybe that's something to think about now.
Time to Do What You Want
What are your passions? What are the things you wish you could do if you had more time? In retirement, you'll finally have that time. You can finally and fully explore your biggest passions.
Maybe you've always dreamed of being a painter. Perhaps you've wanted to explore yoga or Thai Chi. Retirement will give you all the time you need to discover the passions you've spent years putting off.
If you want to lay on the beach every day reading books, that's perfectly fine too.
You've worked your entire life for this. It's time to take advantage of the efforts you've put into getting there.
Leaving Your Legacy
Legacy planning is an important part of retirement. When your last day comes, you want to ensure you leave behind the message that you intend.
Where is your money going to go after you pass on? Of course you want to take care of your family members. But maybe you want to have a park bench with your name on it for decades to come. Perhaps you want a food pantry started with some of your funds. That's where legacy planning comes into play.
Legacy planning is all about what message and values you want to leave behind when you leave this world. It's never too early to start planning your legacy. Talk to your financial advisor about how to get started.
Retirement Is Beautiful
When you reach your golden years, all the work you've put in will finally pay off. With proper planning, the quality of life you'll experience during retirement will be worth all of the work.
Mahalo!