Latest news with #lifechanges
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why the 5 Years Before You Retire Can Make or Break Your Retirement, According to Emily Guy Birken
When retirement is still ahead of you, it often looms with mythic power as an ideal, easy time when you no longer have to work or carry as much stress as during your working years. Find Out: Read Next: The closer you get, however, the more danger you're in for making financial mistakes (typically through a lack of planning), according to finance expert Emily Guy Birken, author of the book 'The 5 Years Before You Retire' and many others. 'Before you retire is the best time to think about retirement,' Birkin said on a podcast with CFP Jeremy Keil of Keil Financial. For a lot of people, retirement doesn't become real until this time window, if you're lucky, and for many others, not until after they already retire and discover their plans aren't foolproof. These five years before you retire are a crucial time because they allow you to 'road-test ideas' for retirement, Birkin told Keil. This is when you can actually practice living as you might after retirement, focusing on how you want to spend your time (in small doses), explore places where you want to live, lean into areas of interest and, of course, start to dial in your financial plans. The importance of these five years is that you still have time to pivot, she pointed out. 'It can be affirming to do this but people put it off because it feels overwhelming,' she said. If your plans don't seem like they'll be ideal, you can change them before the actual end date. Learn More: Birkin said in these five years prior to retirement you should be not just running on common assumptions about how much you need in retirement but actually crunching hard numbers so you don't come up surprised or short. It's important to be looking concretely at your typical 'day, week, month and year' expenditures and then being able to point to where you're saving money concretely, she said. It's also a time to start reducing expenses, or planning to reduce them by the time you retire, and thinking about how to enjoy life in different, or more affordable, ways. It's also important in this five-year window to figure out a 'Plan B,' she said. That means that if the first plan you strategize for is out of reach financially, you should ask yourself 'What is the least you need to be satisfied?' Once you know what that is, by adjusting your expectations, you can still feel like you've succeeded in retirement. Birkin also broke down many practical steps in her book, such as the following: Maximize your current investments: Make sure you're contributing as much as you can to the right types of investment accounts, getting employer matching and not making risky investments. Secure healthcare for the future: She emphasized that it's important to understand Medicare thoroughly before you need to take it and also invest in long-term care insurance if you can afford it to cover what Medicare doesn't. Also, if you plan to work for some time longer, get disability insurance to protect your earning power. Capitalize on pre-retirement opportunities: Generating as much additional income pre-retirement is important. From part-time or freelance gigs, additional revenue streams can beef up retirement savings. The people who are most successful at achieving a retirement of their dreams are the ones who are actively planning for it during this five-year window. More From GOBankingRates I'm a Retired Boomer: 6 Bills I Canceled This Year That Were a Waste of Money This article originally appeared on Why the 5 Years Before You Retire Can Make or Break Your Retirement, According to Emily Guy Birken
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Goodrich: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
Michael Keaton stars as a man re-engaging with life after his second wife suddenly leaves him 2024
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Why at 66 I will NEVER have sex again: LIZ JONES on why she's happily retiring from sex
Five months ago, I had sex for the last time. And when I say last, I mean final – I am never, ever having sex again. And happily so. Of course, I didn't realise it would be the grand finale at the time.
Daily Mail
02-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Have the baby. Travel alone. Never waste love - and don't forget this one life lesson... the 50 things I've learnt at 50: CLOVER STROUD
I've just turned 50 – a fact that feels completely insignificant and also, somehow, incredibly important. And I guess to me alone, it's both of those things. I keep walking around saying '50' to myself to see how it feels; it feels good, and normal, and huge, and nothing – all at the same time. I want to be able to hold the number in my hand somehow; to feel its weight and its shape.
Telegraph
20-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Dear Richard Madeley: ‘I'm always doing favours, but now I need some time for myself'
Dear Richard, I'm a retired woman and my husband left me in good financial shape after his death six years ago. Since the children grew up I've tended to fill my days with 'good works', helping out at charity shops, ferrying friends around and sitting as a magistrate. However, I've had a couple of minor health issues recently that put the fear of god into me. I've come out of the experience with the intense desire to live for myself a little – having a nice time with people I like, doing a bit more culture and travel – possibly even dating. The problem I am having is my commitments to other people and organisations that seem to have me on speed dial. I've experimented with saying no to a couple of these but I got a sense of guilt at letting them down. Even the children have been supportive in principle, but reacted to news that I wasn't going to be around on a given weekend with incredulity. I don't want to live purely selfishly – I just need to rebalance things a bit. Do you have any advice for me? – Audrey, via email Dear Audrey, Yes, I do. Rather than making saying no to requests for your time on a reactive basis – which takes people by surprise, given your previous automatic acceptance – you should be proactive. Move on to the front foot. Take the initiative. Write emails or letters to everyone, similar to your one to me. Explain how and why you are currently readjusting your life. How can they object? Why shouldn't you reassess the way you spend your time, who with and where? By doing this you'll have prepared them for the change in your mindset, and a refusal will be far less likely to offend. But if it does – to heck with them. It's your life. Live it exactly as you want. It sounds like you've earned the right.
