Living expenses may be lower perhaps because you can substract child support and mortgage payments, because of a decrease in income tax payments or an end to your savings plan.
You may also drive a less expensive, older automobile. Why not? You need transportation, but you do not need to impress anyone and you are no longer as dependent on your automobile.
You can save by getting a smaller house or an apartment that will eliminate the upkeep that a home requires. Either way, moving into smaller quarters can save you money.
You will not have to go to work every day so your clothing costs will be lower.
Yet, as many retired people put it,"It is pointed out all to frequently, by those a score of years or more away from retirement, that "When you reach the age of retirement, you can live on less income." I am retiring next year and I ask, Who wants to?! Why should not a man or woman, after a lifetime of sacrifices, of hard work, of effort, of giving, want most to do and to have and least to do without and to have not?"
The argument that a retired couple does not have the same commuting, clothing, luncheon, education, etc., expenses is strong enough in some respects, but what if they want to visit their grandchildren?
Chances are that nowadays if they are living in Connecticut, the grandchildren are living in California, and if they are in California, the grandchildren are probably in Connecticut. What if they want to take gifts to their grandchildren? Or help their children? Or live in a favorable climate and return to their home base occasionally to see old friends? And what about travel? All of these desires - and there are many others - cost money. There are new expenses. There are retirement expenses. They can offset the other expenses that they no longer have.
Retirement, in the minds of many, is synonymous with loafing. This is the first idea that has to be adjusted when you begin to think about retirement. Don’t plan on heading for the rocking chair on the front porch the morning after the retirement banquet.
Loafing is of two varities - mental and physical. Mentally, retirement will mean that suddenly you won’t be faced with the daily problems that you had to cope with in the past. Unchallenged, the mind can gather dust in a hurry and true unhappiness is not far behind.
Physical loafing means that the body’s metabolism, geared to a busy pace, is confronted with a considerably changed pattern. The many little clock mechanism in the body find themselves out of phase. The clocks slow down, but they don’t stop. While sick people need rest to recover, unlimited rest for a healthy person will lead to rapid physical deterioration. Pace down your activities but don’t stop living when you stop working.
Recreational and intellectual security are important in retirement years. Once you have given up your job, you’ll have some 5,000 leisure hours a year to fill. What you decide to do with these leisure hours will spell the difference between a new fulfilling life and a tedious sinking into old age. Note: We said leisure, not vacation.
"Vacation" is that state of having nothing to do, i.e., vacant of occupation or purpose. Don’t confuse this with "leisure", which stems from a word meaning "to be permitted." To have leisure is to be permitted to do something, to be freed from other demands so that you may do something that you otherwise could not do. Begin early to cultivate outside interests that will carry over into retirement. Take up the hobby that you never had time for. Some people return to school. Many institutions offer the chance for continued study - and it doesn’t necessarily have to be study for a degree. Remember: "To learn what is new is to remain ever young."
When planning your retirement, plan to be active. Many psychologists recommend a second career. A second career can solve many of the problems that beset active retireees - not the least of which is loss of prestige.
Few realize how much we depend on our prestige. We are identified by the company we work for, the kind of work we do, and our position in the community. All of us need identification, recognition, and attention. Without it, we feel detached and useless.
It is difficult in your retirement years to imagine that much of the identification on which your prestige is based will begin to evaporate the day after you retire. This is one of the cruelest blows that retired people suffer. A second career can supply the needed recognition and make the retiree feel useful to society again.
If you choose not to take on a second career, you can solve the problem of loss of prestige by being prepared for it. When you know that it is coming, you can be ready to live with the situation.
But what kind of second career? How does one choose? The retired person has several positive factors and several negative factors affecting his or her plans for a second career. One positive factor is experience. Another is retirement income to lean on. The chief negative factor is age - which may exclude you from many positions.
However, many people are looking for experienced, mature people who can give the benefit of their knowledge and know-how. The work possibilities include salaries jobs, the opening of small businesses, part-time jobs, consulting services, and working with youth. Many retirees find a new direction, new friends, new usefulness.
During the next decade, overall housing demand is expected to run well ahead of supply. This means that housing prices will probably continue to increase. To get best housing for your money, you may want to consider one of the alternatives to buying a single family home on its own spacious lot that have become popular in recent years. Some of these alternatives are described below:
Moving to rural areas – Many people find that if they are willing and able to live 20 to 40 miles from their jobs, they can obtain housing at relatively reasonable prices. This is especially true around cities such as San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Small “no frill” houses – Some builders are selling houses that comprise about 1,000 square feet, have two bedrooms and one bath, and lack some of the standard conveniences such as a dishwasher and carpeting.
Cluster housing – In cluster housing, a small building might contain three to five individual tenant-owned units. The buyer might lease or own the land. Such an arrangement saves on land cost and heating and cooling costs and can mean a savings of $15,000 to $30,000 over standard new single-residency housing in the same area.
Condominiums – The most popular alternative, condominiums are dwelling units in a group-owned building or on group-owned land. Some people think that condos provide the best of home ownership and renting by giving the buyer ownership without exterior maintenance chores.
Rehabilitating inner-city housing – This alternatives is becoming increasingly popular in established cities. Inner-city buildings are often cheaper than similar buildings in the suburbs but taxes are often higher in the city.
Building your own – Many companies now sell kits that allow the buyer to construct the house. Other companies will do the majority of the construction (the foundation, exterior walls, basic plumbing, and electricity) and leave much of the interior work to the buyer.
Renting – Rentals are hard to find because of a near halt in construction, a very low vacancy rate, and conversions to condominiums. However, some one-family homes, especially in the city, are being divided into apartments.
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