Do You Think You Are Ready to Retire?

Retirement is your key to easy street. Right? It's not unusual for people to believe that all they need to do when they start thinking about retirement in their 60's is to decide when they want to quit their job and then do it.  It sounds simple enough.  However, if you want to save yourself time, frustration and money, there are a few things you really need to figure out BEFORE you turn in that letter of resignation.

In fact in some cases, such as deciding when to collect your Social Security or where you are going to live, making a decision too hastily can cost you thousands of dollars.  While you can change your mind regarding some issues such as where you want to live, there are other decisions, such as those you make regarding Social Security, that are permanent.  Once you have begun collecting checks, you can't go back and say "I didn't know I could have chosen another option that would have paid me more."  You are stuck with the first decision you made.

Consequently, I recently wrote an article on Squidoo called, "What You Really Need to Know Before You Retire!"

This article gives you information about the decisions you need to make before you quit your job, and it also gives you links to the best books to help you get the detailed information that you will need in order make the smartest decisions for you and your family.

Even if you are already retired, you may still want to read this article because some of the information in it can help people even after they have retired, especially if they are thinking about moving to a new location or they are trying to determine how to invest their savings in order to maximize their income.

As the official "Retired and Loving It" Contributor for the online magazine Squidoo, I frequently write articles for them on topics that I believe will also interest my readers here at Baby-Boomer-Retirement.com.  As an added benefit for my blog followers, I post links here on this blog to interesting Squidoo articles that I or my fellow contributors have written regarding topics such as retirement, aging and health issues.

Here's another link to my Squidoo article:

http://www.squidoo.com/what-you-really-need-to-know-before-you-retire


You can also find additional retirement information by checking out the tabs at the top of this blog. They contain links to hundreds of articles about where to retire in the United States and overseas, medical issues for seniors, financial planning, family relationships and more.

You are reading from the blog: http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

Photo credit:  www.morguefile.com

What Will You Do After You Retire?

Like many recent retirees, I worried that I would get bored once I stopped working.  In fact, I have known many Baby Boomers who are nearing retirement age who have expressed this fear.

Frequently, they make statements such as, "I don't want to play golf every day," "I don't want to get roped into babysitting my grandkids too often," "I'm not the type to play bridge all the time," or "I hate just sitting around the house watching TV."

As I have mentioned before, I live in an over-55 retirement community with lots of activities ... more than any human being could possibly do.  Within weeks of retiring from my job, I had signed up for a circuit training class three days a week and a yoga class twice a week.  I also joined the Writer's Club and was pleasantly surprised by the number of published authors in my community.  Before retiring, I had already been involved in horseback riding and walking on the beach every weekend.  In other words, I quickly got involved in a wide variety of activities.

In addition, I also drive two of my grandchildren to school every morning during the school year.  While they could ride their bikes or walk to school, I actually enjoy having the freedom to pick up these two grandkids and spend that twenty minutes or so in the morning with them.  One day a week, when my granddaughter has a late start at school, I take her to Starbucks and we sit and chat for half an hour before I drop her off.  This extra time with my grandkids has been one of the perks of retirement.

I've also discovered that I like cooking again ... at least once in a while.  Let's face it, when you are a working wife and mother, it gets to the point where dinner is whatever you can put on the table.  In the past, I was most inclined to stop and pick up a pre-cooked chicken, order pizza or sushi, or do something easy that required the least cooking possible.  Now I'm preparing full meals that take a little more effort.  While I still fall back on my easy meal ideas a few times a week, I find that I am cooking more often than I have in years ... and actually enjoying it.

Of course, I also write this blog and provide content for a number of websites.   This not only is a creative outlet for me, but also provides additional retirement income, doing something I love.

However, this is my personal experience.  So, prior to writing this post, I also decided to canvas some of my friends who do not live in a retirement community and do not have grandkids that live nearby.  What surprised me is that they have no trouble filling up their free time, as well.

Some of them have signed up for classes from the local community college or senior center.  They also enjoy being able to engage in activities that they couldn't spend much time on before ... painting, writing books, hiking, reading and having lunch with friends.  They are cooking, gardening, spending time with grandkids, traveling, redecorating their homes, volunteering for charities, driving Meals on Wheels, and so much more.

While our level of activity will, of course, decline as we get older, I have discovered that Baby Boomers are finding a wide variety of ways to stay busy and enjoy their retirement.  In fact, one refrain that I heard over and over again is, "I'm so busy now, that I don't know how I found the time to work!"

So, if you are hesitant to retire because you believe you will be bored or you won't have enough to do, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.  Anyone who has the energy to work all day will be eager to find more enjoyable things to do after retirement!  Jump right in ... the water's fine!

You are reading from the blog:  http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

Public domain photo of an artist at work is courtesy of www.morguefile.com