Start Practicing Retirement Today

IT TAKES 10,000 HOURS TO MASTER SOMETHING. WHY NOT MASTER RETIREMENT?

We spend our working life dreaming and planning for retirement. But, really, shouldn’t we be practicing?

We are inundated with the practical side. If we want to have enough money to retire - without working at all - we need to start saving young. We need to have a plan to save regularly. We need to stay on course.

But why is it that most of us don’t put half as much thought or planning into what we are going to do once we retire? Most of us have thought and thought about what we need to do to save enough to actually retire. But, other than maybe planning on more travel, more free time, more golfing, I think we fall short on the big ideas. And those are really the ones that matter.

Having lived for years with a schedule packed with work, and often raising kids, we often forget about the meaning of those extra hours.

It’s all starts with defining what you love. Are you an accountant who loves playing the guitar? Or a physician who would like to be a part-time fly fishing instructor? Maybe you’re a teacher who wishes you had more time to volunteer with inner-city youth.

The key is preparing for what surely is a major life transition. And the best way to do that is to determine what it is you would do more of if you had the time.

It makes no difference if you’re a few years from retirement or decades.

The key is to begin thinking now.

Spend time “practicing retirement” to discover what it is you’d like to do more of. Check things off your “bucket list” while you’re at it - long weekend travel, kayaking, running, a cooking class.

Get out there and practice!