Retirement -

Planning for Your Retirement 

In this article, I delve into two important concerns you’ll face during retirement:  Vehicles and Finances.  

You’ve got to admit, those are two pretty important items.  I’ve even included a chart so you can get started realistically planning your retirement.

VEHICLES/TRANSPORTATION

You most likely will easily be able to do with only one car during retirement.  Now, don’t  sell your extra vehicle and make this decision immediately – it may take some getting used to. Try using just one car for a couple of months.  Keep one vehicle in the garage and locked up, so you’re not tempted to use it, and see if you can manage.  Wouldn’t you rather spend that insurance money you’d be paying for that second car on another little side trip? Try it – you may like it.

You will learn to schedule your comings and goings.  And remember, it’s not just a car payment you’ll save– it’s insurance, and all the upkeep.  If you’re lucky enough to live in a retirement  community or some such secure area, you’ll probably want to get a golf cart for getting around – they’re fun and oh so economical!  And don’t forget the wonderful exercise you’ll get if you decide to take your bicycle or even just  walk  to the nearest store for that loaf of bread.

FINANCIALLY

Realistically, it will be great if you have a decent amount of savings put back to supplement your Social Security.  Some people are lucky enough to even actually receive pensions from the companies they worked for.  But there are a lot of people who don’t have a pension coming in…we’re in that group. We always knew our retirement life-style would be contingent upon what we were able to put away during the working years.

There are people who make it in retirement, living only on their Social Security – perhaps due to big losses in the stock-market, their work-place going bankrupt, illness, etc.

I have a chart in my book, Retire In Luxury, that actually has the figures and compares living expenses where we lived just before retirement, with those expenses we would probably experience in Mexico, during retirement.

Actually, during the time Dick and I were exploring everyplace, in order to decide where we would spend these precious retirement 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, I guess…works for us.

So, anyway, here’s a sample of the chart – feel free to copy it and fill in the blanks with you own info – it’s a good way to start truly planning you upcoming retirement:

As you see, I didn’t list Car Payment nor House Payment – I’ve said over and over, get the car paid off – get rid of your credit card debt – try to get your mortgage paid off – if that means selling and buying a small home, so be it.  I’m sure everyone’s list will vary, but this is a pretty good one to use as a base – it’s a good way to get started planning for your retirement.

Retirement/Finances & Vehicles article by Barbie.