Not long ago I sat down with a client who has a very robust financial portfolio and is planning to retire soon. I asked him, \u201cBy the way, John, what are you going to do on your first day of retirement?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me with a puzzled expression that seemed to say, \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d as if he hadn\u2019t given any real thought to how he might spend his time.<\/p>\n
Your plan for retirement is as important as whether you\u2019re financially ready to do so. As you gear up for it, you should examine as best you can your emotional and fiscal readiness for one of life\u2019s greatest milestones.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look first at your dream for retirement. It\u2019s something we all think about as we draw closer to our 60s. What do you see yourself actually doing? Is there a hobby you\u2019ve been wanting to devote more time to? What about travel, spending more time with family, or volunteering for a favorite charity or cause? More time for entertainment, reading, or exercise? These are some of the basics that could fill the time you used to spend working. The trick is finding something you enjoy doing as a reason to embrace each new day as a retiree.<\/p>\n
The status of your health is also a factor to consider, and whether your skills may be slipping. If you\u2019ve decided it\u2019s time to retire because your health is poor, then you may use that extra time in retirement dealing with your medical problems. On the flip side, you may want to retire because you\u2019re feeling fit and have a desire \u2014 and the financial wherewithal \u2014 to finally do what you feel like doing.<\/p>\n
As part of your self-examination, you may say to yourself: \u201cI\u2019ve been a dentist for 30 or 40 years, getting up weekdays to go into the office, interacting with my staff and patients, socializing with my peers. How will it feel when I\u2019m not doing that anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve known folks who seemed lost when they retired \u2014 as if their whole identity came from what they did professionally rather than who they are. It\u2019s easy to think of friends, family members or colleagues who\u2019ve retired and whose good health quickly seems to go south because they don\u2019t know what to do with themselves.<\/p>\n
The preceding article is a portion of a longer article that originally appeared in the MDA Journal, October 2013 issue, written by Gary Borucki, CPA, of the Rehmann Group. This article is presented as informational and should not be considered as financial advice from the MDA. The MDA recommends speaking with trusted financial advisers in planning your retirement or making other financial decisions. The full article is available in the MDA\u2019s e-book, After 55: Now What? A Guide for Members in Late Stage Practice. Download it free<\/a> at the MDA Web Store.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10246,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","protect_children":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10247","late_stage_articles","type-late_stage_articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michigandental.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/late_stage_articles\/10247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michigandental.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/late_stage_articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michigandental.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/late_stage_articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michigandental.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.michigandental.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.michigandental.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}