Holistic Pre-Retirement Planning

Your pre-retirement planning goes much wider than making financial provision for retirement. It includes planning for personal security, mobility, health care, lifestyle, and a social support network.

We all probably dream in our pre-retirement years of an idyllic lifestyle at an exotic location, but those dreams are not always realistic. On the other hand is staying on in your house and community where you've lived before retirement also not so realistic.

What you plan to do in retirement dictates to a large degree where you would locate. I know many clever advisors would urge you to make your decision where to locate for your retirement years and stick with it. My wife and I certainly didn't do it that way.

When we retired in 2001 we were living in Southern Switzerland on the shores of Lake Lugano. A more idyllic setting and higher quality-of-life would be hard to find. We stayed on in our apartment and used it as a base for exploring Switzerland, Italy, and France. When we were not on a trip, we were planning the next one! Traveling was what we wanted to do. It certainly were the best years of our lives.

But after eight years we started to seriously miss our home country, our children and grand children, our friends and family, our language and our church! We settled in a secure rural setting within easy reach of excellent health care facilities, an international airport, and a landscape reminiscent of Switzerland. As I write this, we are ten years into retirement and we are making good progress in establishing a social support network. We are not traveling as much anymore, but I use the time to explore the wonders of the Internet. One of the results is the building of this Web site!

Yes, managing our financials remains a priority and a challenge. Yes, the recession eroded our retirement investment portfolio. Yes, we spend more time consulting doctors than ever before. But holistically we made ample provision for all aspects of the retirement package in our pre-retirement phase.

Do visit the related discussions on retirement planning on this Web site. Our experience, be it pre-retirement or post-retirement, might assist you in making the right decision in your retirement planning.

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