Category: Retirement Decision

  • Is It a Good Time to Retire?

    I have friends who are thinking about retirement. Each has their reasons, but I imagine they may be wondering, “is this a good time to retire?”. Some might think, ”anytime is a good time to retire (if I can)!” Others may be unsure. In reality, it’s not a question that can be easily answered—certainly not…

  • Thoughts at the Three-Year Mark in Retirement

    I retired three years ago this month. Frankly, it seems longer, but I’m not sure why, perhaps because the last 18 to 24 mos. have been a pretty long road for all of us. If you’ve read this blog for very long, you know that I don’t make every article about me or take you…

  • My New Book “Redeeming Retirement: A Practical Guide to Catch Up” Has Been Released!

    I announced earlier that I would soon publish my next book, Redeeming Retirement: A Practical Guide to Catch Up. Well, I’m excited to announce that it’s been released and is now available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions! In this article, I want to tell you more about it, and let you know about some giveaways…

  • Can You Retire? Part 3: Your Decision

    In the last two articles, to help you answer the “Can I retire?” question, I went over an approach for calculating your essential living expenses and for determining whether you will have enough income from “guaranteed” sources to cover them. I also looked at what you could do regarding withdrawals from “non-guaranteed” sources, such as…

  • Can You Retire? Part 2: Your Income

    In the first article in this three-part series on financial planning for retirement, I introduced an approach for answering the all-important question, “Can I retire?” The article focused on the first step: Calculating your essential living expenses in retirement. In this article, I am going to discuss the second major phase of the process: Identifying…

  • Can You Retire? Part 1: Your Expenses

    Sooner or later, most of us will ask ourselves this question: “Can I retire?” Perhaps because of an unexpected layoff, a health issue, age, or some other factor, we will need to come up with an answer. No matter what the reason or when you decide to retire, you will need to have some idea of…

  • The 8 Questions I Need to Answer Before I Decide to Retire

    I get this question fairly often: “When are you going to retire?” Perhaps because I am almost 65 and mentioned that I’m receiving solicitations from Medicare insurance providers in the mail; or, maybe because I’m starting to look my age, I hear it more often than I used to. I usually say that I’m not…

  • Is an “Early” Retirement Good Stewardship?

    I am in my 60s and still working in a full-time job. If I were to retire tomorrow, I wouldn’t be considered an “early retiree.” In fact, because I am 64, I’m older than the average retirement age in the U.S., which is 63.  It’s not that I can’t retire, I just haven’t wanted to…