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The Babyboomers’ Guide to making the most of the rest of your life
If you are one of the one million people aged between 45 and 64 living in New Zealand, it is time to address this question: how long have I got to live? Most of you probably said well, I should live another 20 years. Say it turns out that you only have 5 years to live – have you made the most of your life? Have you achieved all your goals? Have you visited all the ‘must see’ places in the world?
You may well prove to be one of those lucky people that do indeed have 20 years to live and can successfully accomplish all your goals. But can you count on that? Maybe it is time to start making the most of the rest of your life. Many titles have been coined for this period: the Third Age; the Golden Age; the New Retirement. These are a just a few of them but these terms are not overly attractive to those still working. It is simply the rest of your life – what are you going to do with it?
Most of us baby boomers are now in our fifties and contemplating retirement. We believe we are trendier and younger-thinking than our parents were at the same age. We want to enjoy life while we can. Those of us wanting to retire want to do so while we are still fit and healthy. It does not make much sense putting this off until we are too old or decrepit to enjoy it. It is a fact that we tend to slow down in later life. Although some 90-year-olds are still very active, many people in their 80’s find they have less energy. The early years of retirement are when you're most likely to have the health and vigour to pursue your passions. So it would be unfortunate to miss that fun by postponing retirement unnecessarily.
Retired New Zealanders are among the most active retirees in the world. We love our travel, hobbies, sport, walking, gardening and DIY projects. We don’t want to waste precious leisure time doing things we don’t enjoy. But the questions of when to retire, where to retire, what are our income needs and health care options have not yet been addressed by many baby boomers. A possible compromise might be phased retirement such as working fewer hours or switching to a job that allows more leisure time. That could allow you to postpone eating into your retirement funds while you keep yourself active and achieve your retirement goals. Many people are beginning to recognise that cutting themselves off entirely from work is not necessarily the right option.
A lack of planning can make the decision of when, or even if, to retire a difficult one for the average wage/salary earner or small businessperson. Not only is there often a lack of a guaranteed income but the fears of a sharemarket crash or housing downturn means there are a lot of issues to consider and the information on them is not easy to accumulate.
This book will try to summarise all the information on the wide range of important matters that need to be considered before making the decision to retire. Checklists, quizzes, and planning guides will be provided so each reader can complete a personal Retirement Plan and be confident that they have allowed for every contingency. Further resource material will be available via a supporting website for those areas of particular concern to individual readers.
So, what are you going to do with the rest of your life? Read my book and explore the options. You can buy the book from any of the major book retailers in New Zealand.
You can
contact Ron if you want more information on any topic in the book
