I want to retire, but can I?

Well, here we are. Approaching retirement and really, really nervous about it. Will we be able to deal with the everyday realities of life on a limited budget, in addition to the out of the ordinary expenses that we know will rear their ugly little heads from time to time. If we haven’t been able to plan for it thus far, then there is no time better than right now to get started.

If you are anything like me, you know financially what it will take to keep your lifestyle just the same as it is right now. You also know what areas of your daily living expenses you can cut and which ones you cannot do much about. But make that list, check it over and over and see what the bottom, bottom line is.

If you are not sure yet, contact Social Security and find out how much of your living expenses you can cover with whatever amount you will be receiving from them. If you have a pension or some other kind of retirement investment that you have set mentally aside strictly for retirement, check out what the advantages and disadvantages are of taking it out or drawing from it and how it will effect you tax-wise.

Plan to have a reasonable portion of your money in savings or money market accounts or mutual funds or the like so that you can access that money without out penalties or loosing earned interest if it should ever become necessary.

Not everyone who “retires” stops working completely. Check out alternative sources of income. Consider beginning a small part-time home business or put your skills to work for you with your art or music or woodworking or sewing or other crafts. There are a world of opportunities out there if you are resourceful.

At some point in time, and this is as good as any, it might be wise to consider the advantages of downsizing as far as your home is concerned. Perhaps selling your present home and moving into a smaller one would be a great move for you. Maybe you would consider a condo or villa or even a fifty-five plus community where the lawn maintenance and repairs are taken care of for you. I kind of like the idea of a golf cart community myself and think I should check that out.

If you retire before you can begin Medicare, you need to line yourself up right now with a health insurance program that will cover you sufficiently, including pre-existing conditions. It will not get any easier as years go by to find something suitable, nor will it get any less expensive.

Living independently as long as we possibly can is how we all want to try to retire. There are some things that cannot be changed financially for us, lottery winnings excluded. But there are little ways that we can make financial ends meet quite nicely if we can keep our options open. I for one, just cannot believe that reaching retirement age could sneak up on me so quickly! The world just must be spinning faster than it did when we were younger.