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Practicing Retirement Practice makes perfect, or so the saying goes. Of course, practice won’t make retirement perfect any more than it will your golf game, but it
can make retirement more fulfilling and less stressful. Ticker Tape Envisioning the kind of retirement life you want to live and then One way to test-drive this major change in your life is to ease into retirement through part-time work. Cut back to 20 hours a week or even 30 (especially if you’re used to putting in 60-hour weeks). Perhaps work a few weeks on a full-time schedule and then take a few weeks off. You might be able to do this in your current job, or you might want to change employers or even careers. However you do it, gradually reducing your work hours can make the transition smoother and less stressful. While you’re reducing your work hours, or even before then, practice living for one month on a budget that closely reflects the budget you’ll have when you fully retire. Add up your expected Social Security and military benefits, annuities, 401(k) income, and any other retirement income you expect to receive. You might have to fudge a bit because expenses are different while you’re still working, but it’ll give you a general idea of what to expect. If you find it difficult to live on your practice retirement budget, you might want to rethink your retirement date or consider continuing part-time work. Also, practice your retirement lifestyle to be sure that’s how you want to live. Thinking of selling your house, buying a recreational vehicle, and traveling the country? Rent an RV first, take as long a vacation in it as your current employment will allow, and see how it goes. You might find after three weeks that the open road gets pretty boring. Planning to move or buy a vacation home far from where you currently live? Spend as much time there as possible—in all seasons. Take the time to talk to local retirees and get a feel for the costs and amenities. It might turn out to be a better place to visit than to live. Use your preretirement time to get serious about hobbies that interest you. If you’ve never had hobbies, try out a few. Retirement can get boring if you spend all your time in front of the television. Look for stimulating and rewarding volunteer work and mentoring opportunities or make new friends. It’s also important to set aside some of your preretirement time to practice staying home with your spouse, if he or she also is retired. This can be as major an adjustment as quitting work. Most couples don’t spend 24 hours together day in and day out during their working years. Spend a week’s vacation together at home, getting up each day with no plan. Also discuss how each of you envisions retirement to be sure your ideas are reasonably compatible. If not, figure out what you might do to accommodate disparate visions. That way you’ll have more time to address contrasting views. What if one of you retires before the other? How will that affect each of you? With a little practice, both of you can get this retirement thing down pretty well before you launch into this new stage of life.
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