Today’s Prep:
Let’s plan the vacation of your dreams: retirement. More than simply a week away, you want to spend the right amount of time and energy thinking about this major season in life.
Equipping Points:
It’s often said that people spend more time planning a vacation than they do planning their retirement. Let’s pretend we’re planning a vacation today…your retirement vacation. As you plan summer trips, think about the parallels of what you need to consider in retirement.
Where will you stay? Eric recently took a trip to Napa and had to pick their lodging. In retirement, will you stay in your current home? Will you downsize or find a ranch level home? Will you stay in Iowa or retire somewhere else? Some choose to move to somewhere better for the weather or leisure activities, whereas others stay for family or tax purposes. What kind of maintenance or amenities will you have where you live?
When you travel you may find some interesting restaurants to try. In retirement, will you eat out more or spend a lot of time cooking? Maybe you’ll get into cooking shows and trying new recipes at home. Are you taking your grandkids out to dinner with you? All of these decisions may play into what your budget might be in retirement.
Are you prepared for the unexpected? On vacation you may encounter things you don’t plan for or you forget something you need. Emergency funds are there for the unexpected. Maybe you’ll need a new vehicle or something breaks in your home.
Finally, when you’re gone, who is going to cover for you? For vacation, you might need someone to cover at work or pick up your mail at home. In retirement, you need to consider what happens after one of you passes away. Unfortunately, it’s something we need to plan for.
Listen to the entire episode or skip ahead to the segment of retirement “vacation” planning you are ready to take on.
1:08 – Where will you stay?
3:03 – Where are you going to eat?
6:10 – Unexpected things may happen.
8:34 – Who will cover for you?
Today’s Takeaway:
I’m not here to tell you not to do stuff, I’m here to see if your plan works when you do that.
-Eric Peterson
Related Resources:
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