By Claire Keogh
In considering retirement, the words “pension,” “social security,” and “financial security” are often the first ones to come to mind. Whether you’re fresh out of college and looking for a job with a 401K or thirty years into a career and looking into buying a condo in Florida, money is always an issue when one thinks of their retirement years. As money is often listed in the top ten stressors that most people experience, it is no wonder that it can easily become the main focus when one is planning for the time in their lives when they will no longer be earning.
While for obvious reasons it is very important to pay attention to savings, health care, 401ks, and an overall plan for how you will financial support yourself, it should not be the only focus on ones retirement. With the dramatic rise in divorce in America over the past few decades, lots of attention has been directed at making sure that a newly engaged couple realizes they are planning a life together, not just a wedding. The happy couple can put over a year into planning the flowers, the music, the food, and the dress, all without giving a single thought into planning their marriage. While the wedding day is important, they need to have a plan formed in regards to how they’ll spend their money, how they’ll raise their children, and how they’ll sort out arguments…there is so much more to think about! Planning retirement while only considering how to fund it is setting yourself up for the same disappointment as planning a wedding without considering the days after the honeymoon is over…
