Retirement is considered the final phase of a career journey and a new phase of a person’s life. How to prepare for this phase to be a “happy ending” for your next life?
Following is an article taken from one of the publications of Sun Life for your reading. This provides the short and precise points to be followed for leading a happy retired life. Very basic, mainly covering the financial aspect more predominantly. This is an Indonesian based retirement example. An informative read.
7 Steps to Living A Happy Retirement
Everyone certainly wants to enjoy his retirement with happiness and prosperity. However, the facts say otherwise: based on data from the Financial Services Authority (OJK), as many as 93% of formal workers in Indonesia do not have a retirement plan.
The data also states that as many as 93% of formal workers in this country have no idea how to plan when they retire. It means the majority of workers are not ready to face retirement.
In fact, after retirement, there is no significant decline in your life, and of course, there will be expenses to make. In addition, health risks also increase with as you aged and decrease in physical condition.
Instead of wanting to live a calm and happy life in old age, a person can suffer from financial problems due to not having a retirement plan. As a result, this powerlessness becomes a burden for the family.
Don’t want your retirement to end like this? Here are the steps you should follow right now to stay happy on your retirement:
1. Maintain health
Excellent health is essential to live a happy life. If you want to stay comfortable on your retirement, it’s time to start taking care of your health regularly, taking care of your diet, and maintaining a good sleep habit.
Even though you are in a good health condition, prevention is always better than curing. Therefore, always schedule regular health check-ups to see how your health condition is. Avoiding to know your health early, will be easier to overcome.
2. Start Doing a Hobby
What is your favorite activity or hobby? If you have any, do it regularly starting today. It will help you maintain your health, especially mental health.
When you enter your retirement period, you can continue doing your hobby to stay active, productive, and relieve stress. In addition to be prone for common disease for elderly, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and others, hobbies can help prevent depression and senile dementia.
3. Save money
While you are still active working and making income, you can consider your spending habits. Start a frugal living so you can have savings or plan for retirement funds early.
You can develop smart shopping to become a habit by reducing expenses without compromising your lifestyle. For example, don’t buy the latest smartphone as long as your smartphone can still be used properly.
4. Free Yourself from Debt
Even though you have prepared a retirement fund early on, don’t forget to pay your debt. Ideally, it would help if you filled retirement without having debt.
So, you can start paying off your debt, starting with the smallest. Make sure you don’t get tempted to add to your debt so that it doesn’t become your burden in retirement.
5. Prepare Funds for a Longer Term
You need to be well-prepared to ensure you will live a happy and wealthy retirement. In order to get there, you need to have enough funds for your retirement.
Experts think you need about 80% of your final pre-retirement salary. So, if you are currently earning IDR200 million per year, you will need a pension fund of at least IDR120 million per year to ensure a comfortable retirement.
6. Prepare your Source of Funds
Starting early to prepare your retirement fund is essential, in order for you to maintain your lifestyle even after you retire. Apart from doing side jobs, you can also start selecting other investment instruments such as mutual funds, stock markets, and others to build an hefty retirement fund.
Don’t forget to protect your retirement planning with insurance to help securing your future retirement, and protecting from various life risks.
7. Consult with the Experts
You can start consulting with a financial advisor to get insight on how to start your retirement planning. Professionally, a financial advisor can assess your current situation and condition and help develop your retirement planning based on your financial condition.