10 things you need to start doing 5 years before you Retire-Odunze Reginald C

1 Good relationship with your family, the period of retirement is always a period of seclusion, therefore an intending retiree should be up and doing in having a good relationship with his or her family especially his spouse.

In an article in Yahoo Finance captioned “7 ways to Retire happy” Mandi Woodruff observed that “Happy retirees are more likely to be married” As common as divorce is in the U.S. today, the overwhelming majority of happy retirees were married (76%) and only 9% were divorced. Less than half of unhappy retirees were married, while one-quarter were divorced, Wes Moss found. This is right on par with what past research has shown about levels of satisfaction in married and unmarried people — over the long term, married couples are much happier. It’s fairly obvious why two may be better than one in this scenario — dual incomes can make a huge difference in a couple’s financial outlook. On the flip side, divorce not only reduces both parties’ income but is also expensive to go through. 

2 Build a house where you are retiring no matter how small it is: in an article on pension destinations, analysts are of the view that it is always good to have a house before retirement. The agony of retirees using their retirement money to build a house cannot be quantified. And in building a house it is always essential to consider her retirement destination. In an article in pensionsbenefit.blogspot.com ( PensionsBenefit.com ) Odunze :2014 noted that destination planning is an essential part of retirement planning, it is always pertinent to consider this in planning for retirement. I have seen retirees who build houses in some areas and later discovered that they could not stay in such areas.

3 Make sure you start offsetting your debt, Debt has been a part of some people life, especially in organized countries where they transact with credit cards, it’s imperative that  the intending retirees offset any debt that will affect his life or her during retirement.

4 Start kick starting a business or a vocation that will keep you busy during retirement; a recent Merrill Lynch survey found that nearly three out of four people over 50 said their ideal retirement would include working. Which is fine. Staying connected to the work world in some way can not only offer financial benefits, it can also keep retirees more active and socially engaged”  In kick starting a vocation it is always important to watch out for opportunities and according to Victor Hugo noted “that there is nothing than an idea whose time has come”

5 Start adjusting your life toward old age and start shedding harmful habits: Harmful habits are injurious to life, they include, a life of smoking, drinking and other related life pattern that affects ones health and life, it should be noted that one of the serious bills affecting senior citizen is increasing medical bills, as old age has with it issues pertaining to health and medical wellness.

6 Update your relevant information: information is key and it needs to be updated at every point in time, this will ease the retiree’s application when accessing his benefit.

7 Get a will; experience has shown that it takes up to six months to get a letter of Administration, added to the high cost of court and the legal charges of the lawyer facilitating it. But if there is will, it becomes increasingly easy to access the fund, where the contributor has joined his ancestors

8 Plan to increase your contribution, the main aim of additional voluntary contribution is to increase the pension pot as in the United States and Europe and Retirement Savings Account balances in Nigeria, reduces the tax burden and make retirement a safe haven for retirees.

9 Start having positive attitude towards life, even if you don’t feel it, Some people have that mindset that they will not live to see their pension and like the Biblical Job what they fear most always comes to them.

In my experience in talking to people about pension, some will always say will I    live to  have the pension? I always tell them, to maintain a positive attitude towards life.

Henry Ford said “Think you can, think you can’t, either way you will be right”

10 Develop a special relationship with your God: Nothing is more important than an existing good relationship with your maker, there is inner sense of joy and happiness when you are in tune with God.

Odunze Reginald is the Lead Consultant, Chareg Consulting, a management and marketing  consultant  a social media and social marketing consultant , you can visit our twitter anchor @regydunze, find us on Facebook @ Reginald odunze and reginaldodunze.com, at google+ @ Reginald Odunze and at Linkedin@reginald odunze.