Have You Made Your Retirement Checklist?

If you know you want to retire but haven’t made any concrete plans, you need to start thinking about how you will prepare. If you have questions about investing early or how to be sure you’re ready for retirement, keep reading.

How To Know When You’re Ready To Retire

Here’s a secret—it’s never too early to begin planning for retirement. In fact, the younger you are, the better. There’s a common misconception that retirement is only relevant after a specific age, but to be honest, the 20-something-year-old starting their career is in the best position to start saving. The longer you wait, the less of a cushion you have when you reach full retirement age.

But realistically, if you’re much further in your career, you might naturally be feeling more proactive about staying on top of your retirement savings. If you feel you’ve wasted a few years because you weren’t as attentive to your financial planning as you should’ve been, all hope is not lost. You can still invest in a retirement account and emotionally prepare for a sustainable future.

What Is the Advantage of Investing Early for Retirement?

Before you begin thinking about your post-retirement plans, you should ask yourself if you have everything you need to retire. Many people can give you a general idea about managing your retirement income but may be unaware of the finer details about eligibility.

Retirement is a bit of a catch-all term, but it simply refers to the period of time in which you’re able to sustainably take advantage of a livable income without having to work. Traditionally, many people bank on qualifying for Social Security benefits once they reach the average full retirement age of 66, but The Social Security Administration allows individuals to start taking advantage of their benefits as early as 62.

However, since Social Security’s trust fund for retirement benefits is expected to have depleted its reserves by 2034, many are turning to alternative methods for saving for retirement, like taking advantage of their employer’s 401(k) retirement plan or investing in a tax-free Roth IRA. Many people are also finding it more beneficial to retire earlier than the full retirement age.

Since there are multiple ways to go about finding long-term methods for retirement, your biggest priority is realistically budgeting how much you need to budget. If needed, you can seek the assistance of a certified financial planner who can keep you on track for your desired financial goals and help you determine how much you should have saved by a certain age.

Saving for retirement may seem like a daunting task now, but it’ll benefit you in the long run. See how we provide physicians with retirement planning services for the most success.

Visualizing Your Retirement Checklist

So you’ve thought about how you want to start investing in your retirement—that’s great! The retirement process can have a lot of moving parts. Let’s help you visualize what a great retirement checklist looks like.

Start Thinking About How You’d Like Your Retirement Lifestyle To Look

Do you want to avoid work for the rest of your life? Or do you see yourself becoming bored and restless at the prospect of not contributing to a workplace? This is your opportunity to consider how you best want to spend your time, whether that’s picking up a smaller job, vacationing, volunteering, living with family members, taking college courses, or taking up a hobby.

Observe Your Biggest Retirement Needs

If you’ve always planned to move out of state when you retire, or finally take care of those major home repair plans with the additional time you’ll have, you want to think about where your funds will be divided. A great option to consider for handling some of the smaller finances like utilities and taxes is moving into a retirement community.

Take a Look at Your Current Expenses and Create a Budget

Unfortunately, your expenses don’t end just because you’re retired. If you don’t have a good grasp on your expenses now, you need to sit down to track how much money leaves your account on a monthly basis and how often. Consider the possibility of a huge reduction in income when you retire. If you set an anticipated budget for yourself now, you won’t be caught off guard in the future.

Additionally, you should consider the outstanding debt you may have. If you are a physician with a large amount of medical student loan debt especially, you need to see about getting together a debt management strategy so you can enjoy retired living in peace.

Consider Your Health Care Needs

You should also seriously consider any health ailments you may have, and even if you’re fortunate enough not to have any now, you want to give yourself the financial flexibility to deal with any unexpected emergencies. You might be benefitting from the benefits of health insurance now, but this coverage typically doesn’t extend into retirement.

And while Medicare is available for people aged 65 and older, it won’t carry every possible health care expense. As an alternative, many elect to buy a “Medigap” insurance policy to cover those costs. Keep in mind, these premiums can range from $50 to $300 a month.

Explore Your Retirement Benefits

When you retire, you have a lot of benefits at your disposal, like Medicare. When it comes to your Social Security, you should know that retiring before your full retirement age will result in a reduction in your availability. Check out The Social Security Administration’s retirement age calculator to see your full retirement age.

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PRS Can Get You Started With Retirement Planning Services

At Physicians Resource Services, we pride ourselves on guiding medical professionals to sensible financial solutions. We’ll help get you mentally and emotionally ready to take control of your financial situation.

*This material is provided as a courtesy and for educational purposes only. Please consult your investment professional, legal or tax advisor for specific information pertaining to your situation.

Start planning for retirement now. If you’re in need of assistance getting started with your retirement planning services, reach out to us.

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Advisory services offered through PRS Investment Advisors, a Member of Advisory Services Network, LLC. Tax services and insurance products offered through Physician’s Resource Services. Advisory Services Network, LLC and Physician’s Resource Services are not affiliated.

Have You Made Your Retirement Checklist?

How To Know When You’re Ready To Retire

What Is the Advantage of Investing Early for Retirement?

Visualizing Your Retirement Checklist

Start Thinking About How You’d Like Your Retirement Lifestyle To Look

Observe Your Biggest Retirement Needs

Take a Look at Your Current Expenses and Create a Budget

Consider Your Health Care Needs

Explore Your Retirement Benefits

PRS Can Get You Started With Retirement Planning Services

Share This Post

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