So, you want

to retire?

Then get your finances in order.

Of course, if  you’re soon going to hit that magic age to retire,

it may seem a bit late to worry about.  But, hopefully, you’ve learned to be a bit frugal along the way – put a little bit aside – learned not even to try to keep up with the Joneses (Like the pitiful guy on the television commercial who shows off his beautiful house, his big new car, the golf club membership and then admits “I’m up to my eyeballs in debt!” – poor guy – no – poor stupid guy.)

My husband, Dick, and I learned years ago it’s not how much money you bring in, it’s how wise you are using whatever that amount is.

So, clear up those credit card balances before you are ready to retire…

… and then make it a practice to always pay your credit card debt off each month.  We also feel you should try your very best to have your home paid off – no mortgage in otherwords.

Remember, you’ll most likely want to downsize when you retire - why worry about having to clean and care for a 4-bedroom home when you really just want to head out and get another round of golf in?  Hopefully you can sell that big money-drainer and get something easy to take care of and then, even put a good chunk of cash in your pocket.

I have a chart in my book , Retire in Luxury, that actually has the figures and compares living expenses where we then lived, with those expenses we would probably experience in Mexico, when we retire.   Actually, during the time Dick and I were exploring, in order to decide to where we would and spend these precious years, we had charts for everything – and we even had a chart about what we wanted in a house - what would be really important to us – what was necessary – and what we’d like but could do without– we really are detail folks, apparently!  Especially in retirement, it works for us!

Retire article by Barbie.