Retirement may seem far away to some of you. It may be just around the corner for others. Knowing how to prepare for your retirement and beyond is a must to ensure you have an incredible experience full of possibilities. Click here for the latest information.
Finances: Building Up Passive Incomes
One of the most difficult aspects of retirement to get used to is the drop in your financial reserves. You never want to rely solely on government pensions or on your employer pensions alone. Building up passive incomes through a variety of means can help you safeguard your future and ensure you have an inheritance to pass on to your children and grandchildren.
Private Pensions
It is best to start saving for your retirement from the moment you get your first job. It will grow over time and allow you to enjoy a healthy savings fund of your own that grows purely through the increase in interest.
Digital Assets
If you can write a book, or create a webinar or online course, then you can continue to earn money off of this for years. Try to create these digital assets early, so you can build up a good repertoire to enjoy a passive income. Stock photography is a good example of a digital asset that can continue to earn you money for years after you put it up.
Rent
The one passive income that most will have access to is rent. So long as you own your own home you can rent it out instead to families and earn a healthy monthly income consistently, without doing anything more than hiring a management company.
Health: Safeguarding Your Future
It doesn’t matter how old you are right now, you must work to improve your diet and exercise levels. It will only get more difficult as you age, especially once your bone density begins to drop. You need to work hard now to improve your health so that you can enjoy your retirement by going out, enjoying life, and making new friends.
Healthy Eating
Getting your body functioning well through a healthy diet becomes more difficult as you age, which is why it’s important to start as early as possible. Cut down on fatty foods, try to cut out salt entirely (there are many great spices to use as an alternative), and generally try to focus more on nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables as your primary source of nutrition. Meats, fish, and carbohydrates play their role, but their portions should often be far smaller than what you are eating now.
Age-Appropriate Exercises
Your bone density deteriorates, which is why you will want to be gentle and change up how you exercise as you age. There are options that are even arthritis-friendly, such as swimming, so you have a huge range of options to stay fit as you age.
Living: Care at All Ages
The next consideration you will want to have solved before you retire is your living situation. Advanced healthcare needs, financial considerations, and even where you want to spend your retirement will all come into play.
Independently
You can absolutely live in your own home or apartment. As your needs advance you can bring on a carer to take care of you, or if your child is willing, the government will even pay them to take care of you on a full-time basis.
Independent Living in Senior Community
If you want a more structured environment that provides ample social opportunities and the additional support of emergency staff on hand, then independent living in a dedicated senior community is the best option.
Assisted Living in Senior Community
If your needs are advanced, however, then you want to be in an environment that allows you to be as independent as possible, while still covering all of your healthcare needs. There are some truly great assistant living programs out there that cover many of the more menial household chores and healthcare needs, so you can enjoy your retirement making new friends and trying new activities.
Advanced Care
If you have dementia or other very advanced healthcare concerns, then choosing the right care home is essential. The best ones do everything, from mimicking neighborhoods to having round-the-clock care from dementia specialists. You lose a lot of anonymity when age starts to break down your mind like that, so choosing a home to take care of you is one of the most important decisions you can make now.
Social: Enjoying Fulfillment
One aspect of life that many don’t expect when they retire is the potential for loneliness, which is one of the reasons that the social isolation rates were so high, even before the pandemic. The necessity of socially isolating from others, however, has tipped the scales beyond manageable levels. There are a massive lack of opportunities now to even go outside and enjoy the small social interactions available in the day.
With this need to isolate from others in mind, it’s important to look to new ways to connect with others:
Social Opportunities
There are so many ways that you can connect with others online. You can join social sites and start chatting to people who have the same interests as you. You could take advantage of the new social connection services that work to connect seniors with others through video or chat. You could help language students perfect their English while you get a nice conversation.
Learning Opportunities
Learn online and you can connect with others and learn a key skill. You can do this with free online courses that have chat options to connect with other students, or you can sign up for an official course and attend via Zoom. There are so many ways you can learn and connect, and in turn keep your mind sharp and fulfilled even during lockdown.
After the Pandemic
Once the pandemic settles and life returns to normal, however, there are so many ways to connect with others. You can volunteer, you can join morning walking groups, or you can even start your own community event. If you want to travel, but don’t want to do it alone, you can join a group trip and meet others along the way. There are so many ways you can get out there and enjoy your retirement, especially if you know your options beforehand.