Stole the concept from MathNews at the University of Waterloo (N Things You Need to Do Before You Graduate). Before you retire, what do you really need to get done? The list can be long, and this is only a tiny sample.
- Cry at your kitchen table about how you will never be able to retire.
- Wonder how “N things” articles got so popular
- How much debt are you carrying? This will be a significant influencer on whether. you can retire.
- Wake up excited on Monday because you aren’t retired yet, so you still have time to plan it.
- Cry in the living room too
- Try something new that you know nothing about and meet some new friends
- Cry in the garage
- Did you speak to your children about whether you want to be in Long Term Care? What might trigger this?
- Do you know when is the optimal time to start claiming CPP? If you do, tell me
- Lament that you don’t have a very good retirement plan
- Look at your RRSP situation. Remember that money is before tax money, so you won’t get it all
- Remember that lamentation is something you should do at Church
- Your TFSA may be your first line where you start financing your retirement, did you open one?
- Start working on a cool project you think you might want to keep doing when you retire. Maybe a LEGO Millenium Falcon?
- Learn that your bank’s idea of a Retirement Plan is simply trying to get you to open new RRSP, RRIF and TFSA accounts with them. Possibly purchasing some of their high MER mutual funds
- Determine whether you need to increase or decrease your alcoholic intake when you retire. If you aren’t sure, most likely decrease.
- Do you have a pension? Does your spouse? If you both do, then your major plan is not carrying debt into retirement, and your life is simple
- Talk to your spouse that you are thinking about retiring, and see how they react. Mention it to your friends to see how they feel
- Did you open a Spousal RRSP, might be time to see what its status is
- Wonder where all those years went, as you are now thinking about retirement when the last thing you planned was how to buy a house
- If you want to play Golf when you retire, try it out now. The best way to be good at golf, is like investing, go back 20 years and start then
- Come to terms with the fact that no matter how difficult it was, your life so far has been great. Forgive yourself for your regrets, and become grateful for the good times you did have and for those to come
- A spending plan for your retirement years, given you have a good understanding of how much money you will have, would be a good thing
- Cry with your dog or your cat. Maybe do that in private
- Don’t die. This is an essential part of your retirement plan
- You are going to get sick as you age. Will you have health insurance is a good question (even in Canada)
- Do you have a Will? Power of Attorney? Each province has their way of dealing with these. Best have them ready. Maybe tell your Executor or POA Lead about this as well.
- Write your own “N things” plan because this one isn’t that useful
Every plan is a living entity. It needs to be revised many times. Start now.
