5 Keys to Selecting a Successful Retirement Date

1. Discovery – Understand your present situation!
2. Destination – Decide what YOU want your retirement to be like. Do you want to travel? How about volunteering or picking up new hobbies?
3. Design – Failing to plan is planning to fail!
   1. Create an estimate of what your monthly/annual expenses are going to be in retirement.
   2. Understand your future sources of income. Will you have a pension or 401k? Will you utilize Social Security or any investments?
   3. Compare your potential income to your estimated expenses. Are they equal? Is it more or less?
   4. Analyze and understand how you can improve your situation. Here are some ways:
      1. Increase your contributions to 401K and other retirement savings accounts.
      2. Create a plan to pay off all your debt by retirement.
      3. Be conscious of your spending and spend wisely.
      4. Are you interested in just cutting back at work vs. full retirement?
4. Implement – A plan without action is just good intentions.
5. Monitor your results and modify if needed!

Plan for what you want – don’t just settle for what you get!