Retirement is the start of second innings of your life. This is the time that is supposed to give you all the freedom, time and resources to fully enjoy your life. Not all people can enjoy retirement life as they should, owing to financial difficulties, ill health and several other issues.
Retirement life can be a fun, enjoyable experience, if you have maintained an active lifestyle throughout your working years and you have set aside enough money to fund the travel packages you always wanted. Life after retirement can also become a bitter experience, if you don't have enough money to spend and if you are down by physical ailments of various kinds.
Your planning for life after retirement should start by the time you join the workforce. In fact, it is even better to have a well laid down retirement plan, before the first day you go to work. IRAs, 401k, Investments, Social Security, Taxes, etc all should be part of your retirement plan.
IRAs or Individual Retirement Accounts are for working professionals. Traditional IRA accounts are Roth IRAs are Tax-Free retirement savings, which offer tax-free growth. There are however contribution limits, income limitations and more. Roth IRAs are more suited to certain class of workers than for others. You can also find other investments, which provide good value growth over the years and provide financial cushion by the time you retire.
Planning insurance, signing up or withdrawing Social Security benefits, tax planning, etc are also part of your retirement planning.
All the above factors are directly linked to finances and money. However, money is not everything in life. The biggest thing is life itself and it matters how you live. If you have an active lifestyle, you are likely to continue it into your life after retirement. Good physical health is important. If you are tied to a bed, or to a clinical center, life after retirement is nothing better than life in hell.
Thus, it is important that you have a plan for your lifestyle, just as much you have plans to manage your finances for life after retirement. Your health is one significantly important investment you can make. You can't automatically start enjoying your life after retirement. Enjoying your life is just the continuation of what you have been doing all your life. You can't start an active lifestyle after leading a stagnant lifestyle for more than half a century.
Thus, investing financially for life after retirement is only half the story. Other half of investment is on yourself – your health, your body and your lifestyle. Without which, the great 50% senior citizen discount for the most exotic holiday will be of no use to you.
