Achieving the Ideal Retirement

Plan now, play later! Preparing yourself emotionally and psychologically for retirement because many of us are afraid of the word "retirement" and the possibility that it means the end of life.

It is important to tell yourself that if you don't want to stop working, you don't have to. You can choose to pursue a new work dream or volunteer doing something you've always wanted to do. Those of you who want to step working entirely will be most content if you give yourself the time and space to figure out what your next step is in your self-development. The more open you are to life's possibilities, the more fun this life planning process will be for you.

Plan now, play later! That's my mantra for retirement. A survey conducted by the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio found that 76 percent of those surveyed thought retirement planning should start before age 50, 34 percent thought it should start before age 35. I believe that retirement planning should start with your first job. Now, don't beat up on yourself if you haven't started; The financial part, however, should start as soon as you get your first W-2 and have to file a tax return. While you are accumulating the funds to provide a comfortable retirement, you need to be planning the rest as well.

The AAPR did a study and found that most people actually spent more time planning their summer vacation than they did their retirement. A summer vacation may last two weeks; you could be looking at spending about one third of your life retired, 25 years or more.