A retirement checklist makes it easier to ascertain your level of readiness for life when you retire. It helps you avoid mistakes, be more efficient, and reduce stress. While you might still need professional help, having a list makes it more manageable.
Having a checklist can be a seemingly enormous and daunting task, but we have helped simplify it for you here. The list is extensive, but here are a few items that are essentials on your list.
Take Account of Your Assets
Taking a record of your assets should be considered the first item on your checklist. Knowing how much you are currently worth is essential to planning your retirement. It will determine where you stand financially and your lifestyle generally during retirement.
Take note of every debt, liability, savings balance, income stream, insurance policy, properties, vehicles, valuable possessions, and pension plan you have. Use these items to evaluate your budget for retirement, keeping in mind that you won't be getting a paycheck once you retire.
Knowing how much you are currently worth is essential to planning your retirement.
Consider Your Retirement Date
Having a date is another essential item on the list. Your plan is hinged on a date in the future, so it's necessary to have an idea of your retirement date. However, be open to adjusting the date if the need arises based on some inevitable factors like health or layoff. In some cases, folks who thought they would retire early often ended up working longer than they estimated, while those who had anticipated delaying retirement didn't do so. Therefore, have a date but be flexible with it.
Determine Your Retirement Needs
Knowing how you want to spend your retirement is primary to whatever plans you have for your retirement. Do you want to travel around the world all year, or you want to retire to a country home with family? Whatever the plan is, you need to note them down now. How you want to spend it will determine how much you will need and any other considerations that come with it.
Have an Emergency Fund
An emergency fund is money set aside to cover the financial surprises life throws your way. Different persons have different opinions on how much emergency funds you should stock away for any eventuality. Some are of the idea that your emergency fund should be able to cater for your expenses at least three months in cases of layoff, while others believe it should cover as much as six months. Whatever you want to adopt, ensure you protect yourself against any such eventuality through your emergency fund.
This fund will help protect your other savings, especially those prepared for retirement when in a tight situation.
Do a Debt Assessment and Elimination
No matter how much you have saved for retirement, you are not making substantial progress towards having a financially secured retirement without a proper assessment of your debt and a concrete plan to pay them off. For instance, if you have five hundred thousand Naira in savings, but you owe seven hundred thousand Naira in debt, then your total asset is negative two hundred thousand Naira in debt.
You can come up with a different strategy to pay off your debt. One approach is by paying down debts with the smallest balance or obligations with the highest interest rates. If you can take the burden, we suggest starting with the highest-interest-rate debts. Whatever plan you adopt, ensure you stick with it. Note it on a calendar, track your progress and have an accountability partner you regard highly.
Explore Retirement Investments
It is not enough to have money saved somewhere for your retirement; you need to be able to multiply it as well. Come up with a plan on how you intend to grow your retirement funds. Being open to investments, mutual funds, government bonds, real estate, dividend income funds, etc. are good options for retirees. On the whole, it's usually advisable to go for low-risk investment vehicles.
It is not enough to have money saved somewhere for your retirement; you need to be able to multiply it as well.
In conclusion, regardless of how many items you ticked off on your list, ensure to be in touch with a professional advisor for more clarity on your retirement plans. Oak Pensions understands this aspect of your life's critical nature and has a unique service to attend to this need; Retirement Pensions Advisory Service. Through this product, we offer retirement advisory services to our various customers. You can reach our dedicated team of professionals via our multiple channels, which include but not limited to telephone helplines, written enquiries, website and face chats to offer the following services;
- Provide advisory services to clients on the implementation of Pension Reform Acts 2014.
- Organize sensitization and awareness programmes for the active workforce.
- Organize pre-retirement seminars.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ernest Ademola Ehigie is a Copywriter, Content Developer, Author, Brand Consultant, and Communications Manager with over 5 years in marketing communications. He has written several articles, policy documents, press releases, radio and TV adverts for businesses and organizations. He's the author of the book, "Why You Must Lead" and currently works as a content manager for Detail and Avedia, a leading retail and media consulting firm.