16 Jul 7 Essential Truths for a Successful Retirement

Every worker looks forwards to retiring. The thought of retirement brings to light the ideology of resting from one’s hard labor to enjoy their hard earned retirement investments. To get to such a point where one will enjoy their retirement, there needs to be proper planning, with emphasis on saving as prudently and optimally as possible. To retire successfully, there are certain vital things that you must understand. Here are 7 of the most important truths about retirement.

Expect increased medical expenses

Most people retire at the age of about 60-70 years. This is the same age when their bodies tend to exhibit more health-related weaknesses. This consequently implies that a retiree may be required to incur increased costs during their retirement as compared to when they are relatively young. It is therefore highly advisable to have a special kitty or insurance cover meant to cover your medical expenses during retirement. Such a kitty or healthcare cover would ensure that the medical expenses that would be incurred at such a time would not eat into your retirement benefits and pension.

More money does not equal to happiness in retirement

Prospecting retirees always have the notion that having more money during retirement would equal to more happiness. This may be a fallacy to some extent. It is therefore important to plan your retirement life with what you have amassed in the course of your work. It is not necessary to get engaged in some expensive trips around the world, or play golf so as to be happy in retirement. One can still retire to their rural home to engage in some small scale farming and pet keeping and live with their relatives and still be highly contented. Therefore, it is not necessary to struggle living a luxurious life in retirement. You just need to be content and utilize what is available for you.

Retirement requires proper adjustments

Retiring from full-time work engagement ushers you to a life whereby you would have to live at home with no schedules or expectation of work. Most retirees may therefore find themselves unable to cope with the huge amount of time that they would suddenly have at their disposal. Some retirees therefore find themselves bored at home while others generally miss the time they were engaged in work and office activities. To cope with such feeling, it is good to plan for retirement activities and learn to live life at home. Whereas it may take some time to cope with the sudden change of schedules. The adjustments are necessary to ensure that the life in retirement is spent wisely.

The ‘ideal retirement’ mentality shifts over time

Most workers have an idea of what their retirement would be like. Such plans are often changed numerous times as time advances towards retirement and even during their life in retirement. Most of the wishes of the initial plans of retirement are normally wishful thinking which may be shifted in the course of time as the harsh reality of life sets in.

The desire to shift may set in after retirement

There are numerous areas that a retiree normally wishes to readjust in their life in retirement. One of these areas is their place of residence. Most people live and work in the urban areas. Upon retirement, as people tend to readjust to life after retirement, they always want to shift their place of residence and move to a more quiet area where disturbances are far less. Rural areas, in this regard, are most people’s preferences. The rural areas pose numerous advantages, especially given the fact that there are vast pieces of land where the hustle and bustle lifestyles of the city are replaced with a tranquil lifestyle.

Boredom may set in fast

Retirement adjustments normally include the type and frequency of friends that one gets. When working, one has an opportunity to work and interact with people of all walks of life. Upon retirement, the bubble of friends get burst and one gets new kinds of friends where meetings are not as often and frequent as they used to be. More time is also spent indoors doing monotonous and less challenging work. The retiree therefore gets too bored too often.

You need to invest even more

When retired, the volume of expenses tends to be much lower than necessary. It is also at this time that one gets more money than they thought. Rather than keeping spending on unnecessary items, it is important to invest more on areas such as the stock and bond markets as well as mutual funds where you can harvest in future. Most people tend to invest less because they think they would not live long. Casting your investment nets as wide and deep as possible ensures that you live comfortably and leave a legacy.