Most still think that they will retire at age 65 and never work again. That was fine for our parents who married young, had their kids right away and stayed with a firm long enough to get not only a gold watch, but a real, honest-to-goodness pension.
Well, guess what? We married late, and had kids even later and we have worked at enough jobs to make an executive recruiters head spin. Since we havent followed any of the traditional paths up until now, why should we start as we think about retirement?
Maybe we dont have to retire at 62, 65 or at all.
Maybe we should start thinking now about how we can generate part-time employment once we quit. No, not by working at Wal-Mart, but by turning an avocation into a vocation.
Maybe downsizing our lives now isnt such a bad idea.
Heres one quick example of how thinking differently can generate an extra $11,000 a year in income for a 44-year-old baby boomer.
If our boomer retires at age 62, shell receive $1,175 a month in Social Security benefits for the rest of her life, starting 18 years from now.
If she waits until age 66 to apply for Social Security, shell get $1,570 a month; and if she delays retirement until age 70, those benefits will rise to $2,080 monthly. The difference between retiring early (age 62) and retiring late (age 70) is $10,860 a year, and that does not even begin to take into account the additional money she can be earning between the ages of 62 and 70.
If you think differently, you can have a whole lot more money when you retire.
Next time I am going to go into all this in detail. But for now, the takeaway message is: You havent thought like everyone else up until now. Why follow the heard when it comes to planning your retirement?
