Retire or Not ?

By Brian French
Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Today's retirees are much different than retirees of past. Years ago we thought of retirement as the end of the line. Nothing much planned other than to kick back and wait for our maker. Certainly, retirees look much different in today's world. Most of them have a plan and don't take the plunge until they are ready to fulfill new dreams, goals, and activities. People are much more active and involved in staying healthy and pursuing options that will lengthen their time on this earth. It seems quite odd for people to just retire for the sake of retiring without some type of post midlife option for fullfillment. I applaude those individuals that take that approach and it gives me great optimism that I too will want to live my life this way. But let's not put the cart before the horse. My reccommendation is to get your financial house in order and develop a plan. Test the plan whether it be renting a condo in an area where you might want to live in the future, or start up a small business on the side to see if it is really what you think it might be full time if having your own business is one of your goals. Live today like it is your last day, but save and invest for the future. If you do this, retirement might be everything you hoped it would be.