It’s been very well documented that we now live longer than ever before. While it’s very tempting to stick your head in the sand and take whatever life brings you, there are things you should be doing if you want to prepare for old age. Writing a will, making choices about your funeral plans, and talking to your family about dying are just a few things to consider.
Let’s take a look at some of the other things you should be doing if you want to prepare for old age.
Get Your Life in Order
You might not want to think about it, but one day, a loved one is going to have to come in and make decisions for you. Make it easier for them by being organised. That means getting your financial documents and plans in one place.
Make a list of your income and outgoings, savings, investments, property you own, and any debts you might have.
Make a Living Will
This is a document you can draw up with the help of a solicitor. In it, you express how you want to be treated in different situations. A document like this is invaluable when you can’t make your wishes known.
Arrange Your Power of Attorney
If you think you might need a power of attorney in the future, there’s no time like the present to get one set up in advance. It’s not expensive to set up and will make things easier and cheaper if a loved one needs to handle your financial affairs in the future.
Organise Your Pension
Gone are the days when you could rely solely on your state pension to survive. If you want to maintain your standard of living after retirement, experts say you’ll need almost three-quarters of your pre-retirement salary.
When you’ve got lots of time ahead of you before retirement, start paying into a private pension.
Aim to Pay Off All Debts Before Retirement
Your ability to pay off debts will be significantly reduced after retirement. It, therefore, makes sense to clear as many of your debts as you can.
Make a Retirement Budget
It’s a good idea to make a retirement budget because it will help with planning for the future. Think about what you want to be doing, whether you want to take up a new hobby, or travel the world.
When you’ve calculated how much you’ll need for retirement, it makes many other decisions easier to make.
Keep Working as Long as You Can
There’s nothing to say you have to retire at the age of 67. For many people, this is not the right time to retire. To help you decide whether it’s right for you, consider whether you can afford to retire, whether you’re mentally prepared to retire, and think about how you’re going to fill your days.
Stay Healthy
Your financial situation is not the only thing you need to be thinking about. You also need to look after yourself by losing weight, quitting smoking, drinking in moderation, and staying active.
Achieve all these things and you’ll likely live longer and be able to enjoy all that financial planning you’ve done.
Make Necessary Changes in Advance
You really don’t want to be stressed in your old age so work out the kind of needs you’ll have and deal with them while you still can. It’s better for you if you can be proactive rather than reactive.
For example, do you need a 3-bedroom house with a large garden? As you get older, you’ll find a smaller house and garden much easier to manage. Perhaps you’d like to move closer to family so you’ve got an extended support network.
Are there changes you can make to your home to make it more navigable and easier to manage as you get older?
It’s worth considering all these things and more as retirement age gets closer.
Make New Friends
If you don’t have a wide network of friends, you’re setting yourself up for feelings of isolation in your elder years. Take stock of who you know and who you can keep in touch with. Work at extending your range of social activities to expand your social circle.
Stay Active
You should look after your physical health, but your mental health is just as important. If you can keep mentally alert, it helps to stave off depression and may slow down the onset of dementia.
Final Thoughts
It’s important to remember that you can’t control everything. You’re going to get old and there’s nothing you can do about that. However, you can plan as much as possible and with everything in order, you get to relax and enjoy your senior years because let’s face it, you’ve earned it.
