Preparing for Retirement Series: The Final Months Until Retirement
Simplify your finances by getting organized. Maybe you have collected multiple bank, brokerage and retirement accounts over the years. This is the best time to start consolidating. By consolidating your accounts, you can make the account re balancing and future distribution processing less confusing and time consuming. This will help to protect you against one of the biggest risks you could encounter as a new retiree: being forced to sell securities that have fallen in value as you need income.
Simplifying your finances will allow you to weigh your income and expenses and mentally prepare a budget. It will also make it easier for someone else to step in to manage your affairs, if needed.
Phase into retirement. If your employer allows you, cut back on hours or switch to part time. Cutting back on hours will allow you to get a better handle on your retirement lifestyle and on a budget. Often times, going cold turkey on a 40 year routine can be tough, as new retirees struggle with finding a new hobby or purpose for their newfound time. Get your toes wet before making your big jump.
Congratulations! With proper planning & support, you can decide to walk out of your office with your head held high knowing that you have worked hard for this day and have the confidence to tackle your new life!
If you need any help making this transition, draw on our experience by scheduling a free appointment!
Our own Katie Junk wrote a fantastic describe where you should mentally be whether retirement is 40 years away or just 1. Each of those milestones has been posted as it’s own blog and posted right here on our website: SweeneyMichel.com/blog or read below on the road to retirement:
Check it out and let us know what you think!