How prepared are you to meet the older you?

We often hear about planning for retirement in financial terms, but how often do we talk about what are we going to do when we retire? What sort of retirement do you see yourself in 20 or 30 years time? How do you want the transition to be like from having to work full time to having no or little work? What do you desire to do in your autumn years?

As much as the importance of financial planning for our retirement, it is also important that we find a purpose for our retirement. Without a purpose, retirement life can be akin to a compass without the needle, don't you think?

On the other hand, finding a purpose or something to do during your autumn years will require us to be financially independent as well. Afterall, we do not want to burden our family members and putting a strain on their finances due to our inability to plan for our "future" when we were younger.

Retirement planning done well will allow us to have the freedom of choice to do whatever we like during retirement without the constraint of money. There are also fixed expenses which we will need to pay such as our medical insurance, which will only be more expensive as we aged.

A misconception that retirement planning should be a topic that should be discussed much later or plan during the 2nd half of our life journey. However, we all do know the effects of compounding interest and how it can work towards our favour if we start earlier. It can be daunting to decide how much is enough for retirement, regardless the amount, it is always better to start working on it than not at all.

In my personal opinion, retirement planning needs to be look at in 2 pillars - Purpose and Financial. For me, I have been thinking of what I can do during my retirement when I was 35, I know I want to foster children when i reached my 50s and with that goal in mind, I have also started planning my retirement finances.

So when do we start planning especially the financial side of things? I should say if you are reading this post, it is NOW.

Do not let your boat set sail without you on it.

Opinion(s) expressed are solely in my personal capacity and do not express the views or opinions of Prudential and does not represent any professional advice in the capacity as a PACS representative.

296/02Jun21

#financialplanningtips #retirementplanning #saynotosandwichgeneration