Retirement Checklist

8 Things You Must Do Before You Retire

Excerpt:

1. Dial back on stocks now
2. Raise cash
3. Set a realistic retirement budget
4. Play out Social Security scenarios
5. Figure out how you’ll pay for health care
6. Begin the rollover process
7. Sign up for Medicare
8. Get a running start

Comment: Link above is to a helpful article in Money magazine this month. As for us we are approximately 18 months out (one never knows - James 4:15, "instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."). But one has to plan and then commit oneself to the Lord.

What we are doing:

• This past month I completed a thorough insurance review and changed insurance carriers to a lower cost option with higher benefits (eg the house coverage goes up $ 33,000 and the umbrella coverage goes up another $ 1M)
• Later this month we will be having the wills redone. The last wills (one is needed for both husband and wife) were done with an CD based product about 15 years ago. And we have never had health care directives or powers of attorney set up.
• I've investigated our cash balance plan options and we made a decision about how to handle those (the options are either take annuities with guaranteed payouts or roll over the monies into IRAs)
• Also I have been researching Medicare. (this is complex)
• We have decided to postpone the planned move into a condominium for at least two years. Our house is in good shape. We agreed that if the snow plowing becomes onerous that we will hire that out. I am planning on plowing this winter and the plow will be put on the last Friday of this month
• We have older siblings who have tread this path before and they are resources for us with regard to medicare and investment options.