Pre-Retirement:
The Power of Time and Patience

by Richardo
(usa)

This is a Great Retirement Planning Tip... so I wanted to highlight it! If you are still in the Retirement Thinking stage -- read this! It's good! Wendy

Well Wendy, I have shared my thoughts on preparing for retirement once before on this site, however since I am in a "writing frame of mind", I thought that perhaps I would share them with some new members.

Let me begin by saying that my target date for "hanging up the old boots" is September of 2012, good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise!

My plan has been for the last ten years or so to invest as much as I possibly can, living rather frugally and SELDOM, if ever during that time frame spending more than I make. That I believe is a major key to financial success.

Unfortunately, that was not my mind set for the majority of my life..... I guess I am a slow leaner, better late than never.

Now that I am approaching retirement, with this as my game plan, transitioning into financial retirement will be much easier, since I have been praticing this life style for some time. The reward is that I will not have to watch my pennies during my retirement years as much as if I had not practiced this life style.

In other words, there will be no financial "shock of down sizing my lifestyle"..... I already have! Now I will hopefully be able to begin reaping the rewards of my past frugality.


Wendy: Kudos to Ricardo for submitting this. Thank you!

Sometimes, when I was Retirement Manager, I'd find someone who'd make more in retirement than they did working. I'd recheck my calculations -- like where did I go wrong? Then I'd ask... do you have any big deductions from your pay? YEP.. saving BIG bucks in their 457 account.

Thus, forcing their pre-retirement working income to be less, for years prior to retirement. When they retire, and oddly enough, their smaller pension sometimes equaled their previous forced reduced income! I was amazed...

THAT is when I realized the power of living on less before you retire...

And I did the same.

Thanks again Ricardo - great story! You'll do well in retirement!

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