What does Retirement Success mean to you?
How do you measure retirement success? Does it mean continuing to live your working lifestyle (minus the work) in comfort without worrying about money through the rest of your life? Does it mean a new retirement lifestyle in a new place, doing things you always wanted to do? Is it somewhere in between? No matter what your ideal retirement lifestyle it is important to have the funds to support it comfortably. That is really the first test of retirement success – Did you accumulate the funds that will support your retirement in comfort and security.
Do you have the funds to support your ideal retirement lifestyle?
If you are already retired, you know the answer. If if is yes then good for you! For most people the answer is no because they had to make some compromises between what they would like and what they can afford. Those compromises might include a job to help with expenses. Sometimes they may include moving to a less expensive house or apartment or another state. It may mean that you can’t do the traveling you wanted to do or afford the toys that go with your lifestyle.
Are the changes you made in retirement good or bad?
Changes are good in retirement so long as they support the retirement lifestyle you choose. Selling the house may be a good idea if your ideal lifestyle is to own an RV and travel the country. If your dream retirement means having the kids and grandkids stay with you frequently, moving from the four bedroom house to a one bedroom apartment is not going to work.
Without some serious retirement planning during your working career, the odds are good that you won’t have enough money when you retire. Either you didn’t make the serious commitment to put enough funds aside and invest wisely or you didn’t think about what you really wanted to do in retirement and how much money you would need. So when retirement happens, you end up compromising to make your lifestyle fit your retirement income. That is what most people do. They compromise their lifestyle to fit their income. They wimp out.
Don’t shrink your dream retirement, grow your income.
There is another way to deal with this problem. You can Man Up (or Woman Up) and create more income. This might mean delaying the full implementation of your retirement lifestyle while you build an income stream but you have the time and the focus when you retire to learn the skills you need and make it happen. Is it easy? Is it guaranteed? No to both of those questions. Is it energizing? Is it fulfilling? Yes, emphatically.
But what do you mean?
What kind of business can I build and where can I get the help I need? You can find those answers at JobOptionalBlog.Com- your guide to developing second and retirement incomes. You can compromise your ideal retirement lifestyle to fit your retirement income or grow your retirement income to support your ideal retirement. Your choice. Will you Man Up or Wimp Out?
