When employees come close to retirement, do them a favor: Remind them to do these seven things before calling it quits.
These are some pre-retirement activities suggested by U.S. News & World Report’s financial experts:
1. Develop a draw-down plan
A lot of folks retire without setting a plan for how and when they’ll draw down their retirement assets. Some just look at their six- or (hopefully) seven-figure savings and say, “Yeah, that’ll last me X amount of years,” without actually calculating how much — or how — little they can spend for it to last that long.
Developing a draw-down plan will help ensure retirees’ funds will last throughout all of their golden years.
2. Start living on your projected retirement income
So hopefully they create a draw-down plan. Then they should make sure it works. Will they be able to live on the amount of income they plan to receive on a weekly or monthly basis?
If not, it’s either time to reevaluate the draw-down plan or put in a few more years at the office.
3. Pick the right time to withdraw from Social Security
It pays to delay claiming a Social Security check. Payments increase for each year an individual delays claiming Social Security between the ages of 62 and 70.
Can the person afford to delay payment for a year or two post retirement.
4. Make home repairs
Home repairs are big-ticket items people tend to leave out of the retirement planning picture. If near-retirees think their house will need a new roof or heating/air conditioning system in the next few years, they may want take care of those things before they collect their last paychecks.
The same can be said for buying a car. If those approaching retirement think they’ll need one soon, it may be wise to get a couple years worth of payments out of the way before exiting the workforce.
5. Consider refinancing or loans now
Once a person quits their job, it becomes exponentially harder to qualify for a loan. So if someone needs to refinance their home or apply for a home equity line of credit, they’re probably better off doing it before they retire.
6. Get medical treatment
Medical procedures may be cheaper under your health plan. So employees may want to consider getting any necessary work done before they’re dropped from the plan.
7. Plan for what insurance will cost
Another big element of retirement planning some people forget out until it’s time to pay up: The cost of health insurance once they’re off their employer plan.
It’s smart to find out what it’ll cost and calculate that into their projected retirement expenses.
