Skip to main content

Tips for Retirement

 

Tips for Retirement

You’re going to retire, plan to retire, or you are retired.  What to do? First, I’m retired and seem to be doing ok, so far. I’d like to offer a few tips – generally from my working plan.

 

1.       Know yourself, and especially the little tricks you play on yourself.

2.       Save money. Build your nest egg while you’re still working. This takes years of discipline, self-denial, and self-limitations. Examples: Limit new car purchases and fancy vacations.

3.       To have any level of comfort, you’ll probably need at least a million stashed in some funds that earn interest. Assume about 3% annual inflation long into the future. Plan to live on the interest and hopefully dividends. Try not to draw down the principal. Finally, living only on Social Security cannot be fun.

4.       Plan activities. You’ll need them foremost. You are less likely to take up some activity you don’t do already, no matter how much you like the idea. Develop several plans. You never know what will “click” after retirement. For example, one of my plans was to watch old movies. This did not work. They get boring very fast. Another was to return to my art hobby, but that hasn’t happened – yet.

5.       Limit those monthly subscriptions of all kinds. They add up to serious money. Do it now and add them up; you’ll see.

6.       Get ready for assorted aches and pains. It’s normal.

7.       Appreciate that others have less than you, and help them out as best you can.

8.       Insurance costs do not go down. If anything, they go up. As well, taxes continue, maybe with a small break for seniors on the home. Home maintenance continues, and you’ll probably like it less and less. Rents continue to rise.

9.       Get daily exercise, before and after you retire. You may find recovery time is longer. It’s normal.

10.   Get your vitamins, through a daily multivitamin. A healthy diet is very important. Get lots of vitamin C. It’s good for the skin and general healing.

11.   Your mind is critical. Do something to use it every single day. I like Sudoku, but crosswords are also excellent. Reading a lot is very good. Arguing a lot may not be good. Maybe don’t get wrapped up in politics, or you’re bound to be upset.

12.   Appreciate retirement when you have it. Maybe you’re not still in the game, but you’re still there. You’ll enjoy that morning coffee more than ever. Learn to be more understanding. Keep in touch with the world. Here the Internet helps.

13.   Try to be positive. Don’t whine too much; no one likes to hear it. Indeed, don’t whine even now. Appreciate those you love. Stay in touch. With my family, we keep a text message group working almost every day. Don’t give too much advice – my failing.

14.   Be adaptable. If one plan is not working, adjust. Have in mind alternatives – long beforehand. Keep moving. Keep adjusting. Rigidity is bad, though having a fundamental moral foundation is important.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Please Comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Accepting Fake Information

Every day, we are all bombarded with information, especially on news channels.  One group claims it's false; another calls it the truth. How can we know when to accept it or alternatively how can we know it's false? There are several factors which influence acceptance of fake or false information. Here are the big four.  Some just don’t have the knowledge to discern fact/truth from fiction/fact/false*. Some fake information is cleverly disguised and simply appears to be correct. Some fake information is accepted because the person wants to believe it. Some fake information is accepted because there is no other information to the contrary. However, the acceptance of  information  of any kind become a kind of  truth , and this is a well studied topic. In the link below is an essay on “The Truth About Truth.” This shows simply that what is your point of view, different types of information are generally accepted, fake or not.   https://www.linkedin.com/posts/g-donald-allen-420b03
Post a Comment
Read more

Problem-Solving - Obsession

Problem-Solving - Obsession Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "Economy," 1854.   Introduction . Many facets of problem-solving are well-known and understood. They range from vast knowledge to critical thinking, to intuition, to insight, and to experience. Today, we add a characteristic, though an important ingredient. It’s more like a condiment-to-food, or a sauce to a delicacy. It’s needed though sometimes not essential. It is mostly helpful with big problems, difficult problems, or imossible problems. It is the quality of obsession. Each of us has experienced obsession in one form or another and is often relieved when the problem is solved. One literally leaves oneself becoming an engine driven to resolve the matter. Obsession is an all-consuming state of mind, possessive, jealous of distractions, and impervious to interruptions. T
Post a Comment
Read more

Your Brain Within Your Brain

  Your Bicameral Brain by Don Allen Have you ever gone to another room to get something, but when you got there you forgot what you were after? Have you ever experienced a flash of insight, but when you went to look it up online, you couldn’t even remember the keyword? You think you forgot it completely. How can it happen so fast? You worry your memory is failing. Are you merely absent-minded? You try to be amused. But maybe you didn’t forget.   Just maybe that flash of insight, clear and present for an instant, was never given in the verbal form, but another type of intelligence you possess, that you use, and that communicates only to you. We are trained to live in a verbal world, where words matter most. Aside from emotions, we are unable to conjure up other, nonverbal, forms of intelligence we primitively, pre-verbally, possess but don’t know how to use. Alas, we live in a world of words, stewing in the alphabet, sleeping under pages of paragraphs, almost ignoring one of
Post a Comment
Read more