Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
Have you marked your calendar yet? I met with a client a couple weeks back and within 2 minutes of sitting down he rattled off his date. January 6th, 2023. That’s the last day he intends to walk into his place of work. When I meet with a prospective client for the first time, I always ask what their date is. I usually get a puzzled look followed by a “well I’ve never really thought about it.” People tend to fall somewhere in the middle of two extremes when it comes to retirement; either they’ve never thought about it (maybe because they don’t intend to ever truly retire) or they have a countdown on their phone to the exact minute they will walk out of their place of employment for the final time. No matter where you are, there comes a point when we all start thinking about what retirement will look like. Part of what makes my job so fun is that no two retirements look exactly the same. I have a client in her 90s who just went bungee jumping in New Zealand, a couple that sold their home to travel the country in a camper and a lady whose new pastime is reading to children at a nearby elementary school. Retirement means something a little different for everyone. No matter what retirement will look like for you, there are a few numbers you should have in the back of your head as you prepare. The five numbers I’m going to talk about today will help prepare you for a financially stable retirement, whether you’re bungee jumping or journaling in your backyard.
Social Security website: www.ssa.gov
Medicare website: www.medicare.gov
Whether retirement is twenty years away or five, we encourage our clients to keep these key numbers in mind as they prepare. Knowing these numbers helps our clients create realistic expectations and gives them goals to work towards. While our clients are busy dreaming up their perfect retirement, our job is to come alongside them and, by using these numbers, create a framework to fund those dreams. The numbers are our jam, the dreaming is theirs. If you have questions about your numbers specifically or need help digging deeper into how we use these to implement a plan, give us a call. We are always happy to help.
Opinions expressed are those of Molly VanBinsbergen and are not necessarily those of Raymond James. All opinions are as of this 10/25/19 and are subject change without notice.