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(NC) You’re working roughly 2,000 hours a year right now – how will you spend that time when you retire? It might seem an obvious question, yet when an RBC survey asked working Canadians aged 50 plus* what their plans were for their retirement, three-quarters were unsure of their plans for filling this time.
Financial planner and retirement designer Bill Hill of RBC suggests that you should be thinking now about your lifestyle priorities, so you can design an overall plan that supports the retirement life you hope to enjoy.
“Personal priorities like family, travel, living arrangements and leaving a legacy must all be considered together, as part of designing your larger plan,” says Hill. “Planning your retirement should be a positive experience that gets you excited about your future and the things you may have been putting off.”
Bill Hill’s top tips for designing your retirement:
• Discuss your personal priorities together with your partner, so your retirement plan includes both of you. The RBC survey found couples who make retirement decisions together are almost twice as likely than those who make these decisions independently to feel excited about retirement planning.
• Do a test-run of your individual dream scenarios. Rent a property where you are considering living, book a short-term trip, visit at different times of the year to learn more about the year-round realities of the lifestyle you’re planning.
• If you hope to travel in retirement, consider where you want to go and for how long and what it will take to support your travel plans. Will you want to travel in luxury or economy, on your own, in a group, long-term or short-term? How will travel affect other retirement considerations like your living arrangements?
• Make sure your dream home in retirement takes into consideration access to family, friends, healthcare, shopping, as well as upkeep costs and any mobility needs – now and in future.
More options are available at www.retirementdesigners.ca.
*aged 50-75; $100,000-$999,999 in investable household assets
