You can start now in planning a healthy retirement even if it is years or decades away. In fact, the earlier you plan, the better prepared you can be, and the tips below can help you get started.
Visualize Your Retirement
If you’re in your 20s or 30s, it may feel impossible to try to imagine being near retirement age. Even if you’re older, you might not have given much thought to what life will be like in your 60s, 70s, and beyond.
Chances are you’re too busy in the here and now to think too much about tomorrow. However, getting an idea of how you would like to spend your time in retirement can help you lay the groundwork today.
If you know you want to remain in the home that you currently live in, you might want to do modifications over the years that will make it easier for you to stay there if you develop mobility issues. This visualization can also help ensure that you avoid a situation in which you leave your job and genuinely do not have any idea what to do with yourself without the obligation of paid work hanging over your head.
This can help you transition into a happy, healthy, focused mindset in which you’re able to hit the ground running and start accomplishing whatever it is you have planned for this next stage of your life.
Consider Long-Term Care Insurance
One of the biggest reasons to start thinking early about retirement is so that you can address certain issues before it is too late. One of those issues is whether or not to buy long-term care insurance.
Too often, people wait until they are in their 70s or 80s and have a need for this insurance to try to purchase it, only to find that either they cannot afford it or they do not qualify. If you purchase this policy earlier, such as when you are in your 50s, these factors may not be an issue. You can review a guide on the pros and cons of covering your long-term care needs with this type of insurance to help you make your decision.
Healthy Habits Today
Whether you’re 25, 35, or nearing 65, implementing healthy habits now will make it easier to stick with them as you get older and can help increase the likelihood that you will be able to enjoy your retirement in good health. Of course, there are no real guarantees in life, but regular exercise as you get older can go a long way toward making sure that you don’t have to slow down too much after you retire.
Healthy living can also help mitigate aging issues and make recovering from an illness or an injury speedier and less difficult.
You can talk to a medical professional about how your nutrition, fitness, and sleep needs may change as you get older, but keep in mind that plenty of people are active well into their 70s, 80s, and beyond. Listen to your body and don’t take foolish risks, but don’t automatically assume that aging is synonymous with becoming sedentary either.
