Retirement is serious business

By CHINKEE TAN

How do you imagine your retire­ment days would be? Traveling around the world? Reading a good book in your favorite cof­fee shop corner until sundown? Gardening the entire afternoon after binge-watching your favorite TV shows?

Thinking about retirement can be both exciting and scary espe­cially if you are still caught up in the everyday musings of work life. But it is salient to devote some time to think and plan about it and the earlier, the better.

Now while you’re at it, consider these five Ws of retirement:

Who?

Who are the people in your life that you consider the most important?

While retirement is about the things that you want, you also need to consider the future finan­cial needs of your loved ones as well as the roles they play in the fi­nancial goals that you have set for yourself. For instance, in consider­ing a life insurance, which loved ones should benefit from it?

The who’s in our life will help us decide what steps to take and what actions to implement when we en­ter the season of retirement.

When?

When do you plan to retire? At what age would you consider ideal to stop working?

Identifying the when will help you set a target range in terms of ensuring you get the savings that you aim for when you retire. Then when also provides the time frame that you set for accomplishing certain financial goals.

For instance: You look forward at retiring by age 55, you would want to have your retirement fund and investments mature by that time so you can fully enjoy your retirement years with no financial stress.

What?

What is the amount that you need in order for your to live the lifestyle that you want? What in­vestments, properties, and assets have you acquired over your work­ing years? What other potential sources of income can be helpful in the future? E.g. pensions, inheri­tance or government funds.

Identifying the what will give you an idea of the tools and the strategies that you can use to keep and grow your money when you retire. This is similarly very helpful in planning your next move when you retire – will you be needing other sources of income? Will you be needing more investment options?

Where?

Where are you going to source the funds that you need? Where do you want to spend your retire­ment? Do you want to retire in a provincial setting or in an urban location? Are you considering mov­ing to another location or country, perhaps?

Answering the where will subse­quently identify the other aspects of your retirement such as the amount of money you will need, the type of lifestyle you will adapt or the cost of living your retirement will require.

Why?

This is the most probing ques­tion among all the Ws. Why do you want to retire at this age? Why do you want to make sure you’ve saved enough for retire­ment? Why do you even prepare for retirement?

The why is the moving mo­tivation for your actions. It is important to answer this ques­tion so you will know the purpose and the very reason for all the preparations and planning you are doing.

Retirement can be gratifying, but planning for it is a serious business, it totally deserves our utmost attention. After all, it is our future we are talking about.

Do you want to prepare and plan to ensure an enjoyable retire­ment season?

If yes, I invite you this Saturday, 9 p.m., at my FB Live via private group. To know more how you can join, visit chinkeetan.com/retireat50.