Each year, over a million people migrate from colder regions of the United States and Canada to sunny locations in Florida, Arizona, and other Sunbelt states. To these snowbirds, seasonal migration offers the best of both worlds – an opportunity to maintain ties to family, friends, and familiar places, while also enjoying a change of…
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After you retire, you may believe that you no longer need to manage your time. Perhaps you regard time management as something you get to leave behind when you end your working career. After all, you have been a slave to your work schedule for decades. If you are not retired yet, you may envision…
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One of the greatest benefits that retirement provides is the opportunity to choose where you want to live. Once you no longer have your job tying you to a particular area, there’s no reason not to relocate to a place that’s more to your liking. Perhaps you want to move someplace warmer, closer to the…
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Are you single? If so, you probably have some concerns about your retirement that people with partners are less likely to experience. If you’re married (or otherwise partnered), don’t click away! Consider that, unless you and your spouse pass away at the same time, one of you will experience being single at some point. Later in…
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Hopefully, you have at least a general idea of how you hope your life will unfold in the years to come. You probably have some ideas (whether vague or specific) about where you’d really like to live, where you hope to travel, when you hope to retire, and an assortment of dreams and “bucket list”…
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Are you uncertain about what retirement holds for you? Are you worried that your days will be dull, boring, and empty? Some people continue to work because they truly enjoy their jobs. Some people continue to work because they haven’t saved enough money to retire. But you would be surprised at how many people continue…
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How many things are you putting off until you retire? Sure, your life is busy. There never seems to be enough time to do the things you really want to do. It’s easy to think, “When I’m retired, I’ll have all the time I want for <insert activity here>.” To an extent, you’re right. You…
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Years ago, knowing when to retire was easy. Back then, you probably would have taken it for granted that you would retire when you turned 65. Or, if you worked for the same employer your entire career (which was much more common in decades past) you would retire when you had worked enough years to…
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Your retirement presents you with the opportunity to truly live your life on your own terms. You are no longer bound by the constraints of your job. You are now free to do the things you have wanted to do for years, limited only by your available resources and your mobility. It would be unfortunate…
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For over 60 years, millions of retirees have chosen to move to age-restricted active adult communities where they can live out their remaining years surrounded by golf courses, swimming pools, organized activities and – perhaps most important – other retirees. Many people are drawn by the appeal of living in a safe, leisure-focused environment that…
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Among the most popular features of retirement websites are the articles and lists of top places to retire, domestically and internationally, which tempt you with new possibilities for exciting, exotic, yet affordable places you can live after you retire. While it’s fun to imagine what living in those places would be like, most people don’t…
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The number of senior citizens who are single, isolated, and who lack a support system to help them deal with health issues and day-to-day living activities has been increasing, prompting the geriatric care industry to coin the term “Elder Orphan.” Many factors contribute to the increase in Elder Orphans. People are living longer. Marriage rates…
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The internet is awash with advice from retirement planning experts. Interestingly, many people who write retirement advice haven’t retired yet or are relatively recent retirees (like me). Plus, much of the advice you read comes from financial planners. That’s important, of course, but as you know, there’s more to a happy retirement than simply saving…
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After you retire, your daily life will change in more ways that you probably imagine. There are many changes you won’t realize until you experience them, but forming a clearer picture of your values and how you want to live your life after you retire will help you make better plans and adapt more easily…
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[Editor’s note: A lengthier version of this article appears here.] During your working years, you may have rarely thought about your retirement. When you did, you probably had only a vague, general notion of what your retirement would be like. For many years your retirement probably seemed so far off that you could easily postpone…
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If you’re still five, ten, or even twenty years away from retiring, then what you will do after you retire might be the farthest thing from your mind. You’re busy and have your career to focus on. If you still have kids at home, it’s all you can do to keep track of all their…
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Do you have a bucket list? Hopefully, you have envisioned your retirement as a time to try new things, travel to places you have always wanted to go, and do the things you didn’t have time for during your working years. But will you actually get around to doing any of those things on your…
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[Editor’s note: A lengthier version of this article is available here.] One of the nicest rites of passage when someone wraps up their working career and transitions to retirement is the retirement party. If you have been given the opportunity to help plan a retirement party, here are some suggestions to create a send-off that…
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How much money do you need to retire? This is probably one of the most significant questions facing workers approaching retirement age, and it’s not simple to answer. Some experts will tell you that you will need 80 percent, 85 percent or even 100 percent of your pre-retirement income to live comfortably during retirement. Other…
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Do you have a bucket list? Is your bucket list just a vague, ever-changing set of ideas in your head, or do you actually have yours written down? As you look forward to all the things you might do to make your retirement fun and memorable, actually writing a list of things you want to…
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“Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?” You’ve probably heard this question many times during job interviews throughout your career – especially from interviewers who weren’t very skillful at conducting job interviews. One of the biggest problems with this question is that you have no way of knowing what opportunities may be…
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People have a lot of misperceptions about retirement. I’ve heard a lot of them over the years, and I’ve become especially aware of them since I started reading and researching extensively in order to produce content for this web site. Where do these misperceptions come from? Generally, misperceptions thrive wherever there is a lack of…
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Do you dream of retiring early? If you can make just a few small changes in your day-to-day life, you can. Are you concerned that you won’t have enough money saved to retire at all, or that you won’t be able to enjoy the kind of retirement you would like? If you can make just…
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Do you sometimes find yourself imagining how you’ll fill your days once you no longer have to work? During those times when you seem so busy there never seems to be time to do what you want, do you say to yourself, “When I retire, I’ll have lots of time to do this!” On the…
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Back in January, 1980, when I started my first job out of college, I was pretty naïve. I had no idea how to advance my career, navigate office politics, or even dress well. I can laugh now at how clueless I was back then and marvel that somehow things worked out and I enjoyed a…
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Prior to December, 2013, I can’t recall that I have ever attended a retirement party held in the workplace. In fact, the only retirement party I can recall was a party for the father of one of my college buddies that took place soon after I graduated, and that one took place in their home.…
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This question is usually first and foremost on people’s minds when they contemplate when they can retire and what sort of lifestyle they will be able to enjoy in retirement. And it’s an important question – but one that’s not simple to answer. Most important, there are a lot of other questions you need to ask…
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Stay-at-Home Orders Offer You a Chance to Preview Your Retirement
This article was written on April 2, 2020, about three months into the global COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, most state governors have issued stay-at-home orders. Everyone except essential workers is urged to stay home and only venture forth to procure necessities, maintaining a distance of at least six feet from others. Soon, we…
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