If you were to ask ten people what they thought was the most important part of planning for retirement, at least nine of those ten people would say “money”. With our highly unstable economy, Ponzi schemes depleting retirement accounts, and just an overall fear of the future, that is not surprising. And while money is an absolute necessity to a good retirement, there are other critical factors to consider if you want to have an “awesome” retirement.
Retirement can be a highly rewarding and exciting time in life is you take time to properly prepare yourself and make plans for the life you want to live in your senior years. Here are some very important tips to making and getting the most of your retirement living:
Protect your finances. Having enough money to sustain you throughout your senior years is important and certainly cannot be overlooked. Don’t take risky chances with your money. Invest wisely and know where you stand and where you need to be to retire comfortably.
Have a plan. Knowing what you want to do and how you want to do it is very important to devising a strategy to get you there. Do you want to travel? You need to know where, when and how you plan to make that happen. Don’t wait, plan ahead.
Keep your mind sharp. Don’t spend all your time watching television. Read as much as you can about as many subjects as you can. Take classes in subjects that you find interesting. Learn how to paint, or take computer classes. The more you use your mind the sharper your mind will become.
Take care of yourself. Being healthy is a key to having a long, active life. Make sure you exercise and eat right. Take daily walks or go swimming. You’ll feel and look better when you take care of your body.
Make new friends. There are many people out there just like you who are enjoying life and would love to share some of that time with you. Having good friends to do things with can be lots of fun and give you greater vitality.
Connect with your spouse. This is a great time to discuss your plans and desires together. Do and discover things that you both can enjoy together. Then allow time for things that you may want to do separately. This makes for great conversation at the end of the day!
See retirement as a time to do all the things that you never had time to do when you were working. Never feel like you’re too old to do anything! Live life to the fullest.
Take time for romance. Now is a perfect time to rekindle your romance with your spouse or partner. If you’re single, why not try dating again? It might be better than you imagined!
Have fun. Above all, make the most of every day. Laugh as much as possible. Be spontaneous and silly when you feel like it. Make this the best time of your life.
Don’t let retirement be a time of regret and loneliness. Expect to have the time of your life and you will. Plan for the future. You have a lot of time to do a lot of things. So let’s get crackin’!
