Are you thinking of retiring?

When the question of retirement comes up, most people  tend to associate it with old age or elderly people who will soon be out of their jobs. This is common especially in this part of the world where even people who are of retirement age tend to hold tenaciously to their jobs.

Recently, experts suggests that it is beneficial to retire much earlier so that such individuals could enjoy a better part of their lives as it is discovered that most of them die after few years of retirement, as a result of too much stress during their working years.

The decision on when to retire differs from person to person, the bottom line however is that retirement should come to mind as early as possible because it is quite inevitable. You can only run from it but cannot hide from it.

When should you think of retiring? Should you wait un till you feel you are old enough to retire from your job? You should start thinking of retirement as soon as possible making adequate preparation from the outset of your working life.

In preparing for life after retirement, it is advisable that you do the following things.

•Prepare financially: From the very moment you get employed seize the opportunity offered to you by your organization to contribute to your Retirement Saving Account (RSA) under the supervision of a Pension Manager. Not withstanding ensure you set aside some fund on your own so that you have adequate financial back up after retirement.

•Prepare mentally: start preparing yourself mentally for retirement whether you think its too early or too late to do so to ensure that you do not realise the  reality of retirement suddenly. This will help prepare you for life after retirement in order to help you to plan to engage yourself in useful ventures at the point of retirement.

•Plan ahead for your children’s education: prepare adequately for your children’s education before retirement stares you in the face. On like years back when its feasible to have almost all your children if not all your children through with their tertiary education . Its quite different today as many parents have school age kids at the point of retirement either due to delay in marriage, pursuit of careers or other economic factors. So it is worth while planning for these children’s education ahead of time.

•Investment in different portfolios : Another way to prepare for retirement is to consider the various investment instruments such as stock, bonds, treasury bills , Cash deposits and so on, weighing the risks involve in them and the ones to invest in. It is advisable diversify your investment to guard against loss and inflation as the money you do not put to use will loose its value with time due to inflation. You can also invest in housing estate that can yield rent for you at retirement.

•Gather enough experiences from your jobs: Don’t just see your jobs as means of survival but a gold mine to gather a wealth of experiences. This will be beneficial to you during your years of retirement.

•Make friends: Make friends, not just friends, but good friends that will support you emotionally during your years of retirement. Surrounding yourself with positive friends at this point in time will boost your morale. Many people at this time need morale support and not just money to keep them going and rejuvenated. So the friendships and relationships you built during your working years will come in handy at this point in time.

•Plan on getting your own home: Get your own home! Don’t spend all your life and working career renting house to house, enjoying the luxury of what people built or stay put in the staff apartment your organization provided for you because one day at the time of your retirement such benefit will not be there for you. The sooner your realize this, the better for you.