How Do I Know When It’s Time to Retire?

“After years of hard work, you are certainly entitled to a happy retirement. You may have already started daydreaming about it, at least a little. Will you travel the world, volunteer for your favorite charity, go fishing every day, or just spend more time with the grandkids? The post-retirement possibilities are practically endless.”

Many senior workers are actually a little afraid of retirement, because they’ve heard too many horror stories about people who retire too soon and wind up outliving their nest eggs. This is reflected in a 2016 survey from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, which found that 51% of American workers say their top retirement worry is outliving their investments and savings.

Here are the key indicators that you’re probably ready to retire, according to this recent article from Investopedia’s, “6 Signs That You Are OK to Retire.”

1. Hit Your Full Retirement Age. If you were born between 1943 and 1954, your full retirement age is 66. If you were born after 1959, it’s 67. You can start claiming Social Security benefits as early as 62, but your benefits will be much higher, if you wait until your full retirement age.
2. Retire Debt-Free. If you have a ton of credit card debt or still owe a lot on your home or car, you may want to wait to retire because when you’re on a fixed income, a big mortgage or car payment can put a major dent in your finances. Before you retire, pay off all your debts, if possible, and get on a budget.
3. Not Financially Supporting Your Kids (or Parents). If your kids still live with you–or you’re paying for their college education–you probably should wait with your retirement plans. Likewise, it might be smart to delay retirement, if you’re financially responsible for your elderly parents. If that’s you, retirement probably isn’t an option until your situation changes.
4. Make a Retirement Budget. Prior to retiring, calculate whether you can live comfortably on your post-retirement income. Add up your mandatory monthly costs, like a mortgage or rent, groceries and utilities. Next, add in your ‘wants,’ like travel, entertainment shopping and eating out. You can then determine whether you’ll have enough retirement savings to cover all of this. Add your Social Security payments, pension, retirement account distributions and any other sources of income. Your retirement budget (if you retire in your mid-60s) shouldn’t be more than 4% of your investments, plus Social Security and pension payments.
5. Review Your Portfolio. You’re going to depend a lot on your investment portfolio in retirement. If you haven’t had a portfolio review in a while, do it soon. Reassess your portfolio and determine if you need to make any modifications. As you get close to retirement, you may want to move to lower-risk investment strategies to protect your wealth.
6. Plan with Your Spouse. Unless you live alone, retirement will have a major effect on your spouse or partner. Retirement should be reviewed together. Look at how the reduction in income will affect your lifestyle and future care needs. Consider what changes may need to occur to make it enjoyable for you both.

These are just the basic elements to determine when you’re ready for retirement. You should also think about how you’ll spend your days, where you want to live and whether most of your friends will still be working. All of these things could have a big effect on your general enjoyment of retirement.

Reference: Investopedia (June 1, 2018) “6 Signs That You Are OK to Retire”