No matter what the retirement age will be that social security tells us we can retire at, planning is everything. We know retirement money from social security will be tight. I think retirement services should be free, but I dream of a perfect world. My husband and I are actually scoping out useful retailers that think about things before we do. Let's face it, the older we get the more that goes wrong physically. I'm one of those people who's all about statistics and spreadsheets. We tend to see our hearing and eyesight diminish. We will have a tendency toward diabetes, arthritis, plantar fasciitis, and thinning and graying hair. None of this is new news! I figure why not get a jump on it? We have one good thing going for us; we are not entering new territory! Billions of people came before us! The beginning of the baby boom is now on the verge of entering the retirement zone. Our biggest concern is retirement money. Our next big concern will be how we will be able to downsize comfortably.
I as I have since I was a kid I pay attention to other peoples life style, how they do it and what seems to make them happy. The unfortunate thing is few like to share what they did before they got there and how they changed their way of living after. All I can do is observe! And I do observe. I've heard from a couple of women that their husbands retired at least 6 years before they did and their husbands never touched a vacuum during their entire married life. This would be a definite stress factor for me. I would insist on all those cleaning robots and give the china and crystal to my kids. We'd be using a lot of paper plates but the laundry would always be waiting for me! "Sorry honey but a cleaning woman will be here once a week. Are you cooking tonight? It would not be pretty!
Too often reality hits us in the face. Taking charge of our future as we retire can make our transision much easier and keep more of our retirement money in our pocket.