What are you doing on your 65th birthday?

It used to be that 65 was the age for retirement after working a lifetime for one company. For most of us that is no longer the case.

Retirement is no longer an event celebrated on one's 65th birthday
- it is a period of life when one is perhaps no longer earning a regular income from the main employment one undertook until then.


January 1 2011 marked the day that many people consider the first so-called 'baby boomer' turned 65.

As medical science helps us live longer, demographics tells us that life expectancy continues to increase.

With this, the harsh reality of working for longer has set in for many.

Whilst some simply can't afford to retire at 65, others simply don't want to retire.

One of my aims for my clients is to help them have the choice of when to retire through gaining financial independence.
Without this, the choice may be made for us.

Last October, the French parliament raised the retirement age from 60 to 62 - despite rioting in the streets by French citizens in protest.
At about the same time the reforms in Spain mean their retirement age will soon move from 65 to 67 and that is what has happened here in the UK with even older ages being discussed.

Though turning 65 doesn't have to mean mandatory retirement I still suggest that in advance of 'retirement'- whenever that is for you and whatever it may mean, it is worth reviewing your financial situation, principally to ensure you don't outlive your means.

You may like to look at my website on the 'How much is enough?' page
http://www.iangreen.com/timeline.php

Alternatively, as a start, you may wish to consider the LIFESTYLE you wish to maintain during retirement and the LIFE INCOME you'll need.
You may also want to think about financial LIFEBOATS to have at the ready, should the unforseen occur, such as long term care and private medical arrangements
With these numbers in mind you can start to work out if and when you can retire, or what retirement will mean to you.

If you don’t want to do the maths, or the number crunching or any of the ‘financial stuff’ yourself, we'll help you to do that.
Perhaps just as importantly as the figures, we’ll also help you to explore the personal issues that matter to you, such as what you want to do in retirement and who you want to do it with.
You may not know when you want to 'retire' yet.


As a small, bespoke, personal, family business we prefer to take the time to get to know you as retirement approaches.

We promise you won't have to hang on the telephone, or choose push button options.
You'll always be able to speak to a person.

And they will know who you are and what you are doing. You won't have to explain it all, again, to someone else! (sound familiar when calling your bank or utility providers?)

We are not the cheapest, but you can be assured you'll find us of value.

We offer an initial meeting, at our expense, so you can ‘try us out’ to see if we do what we say we will do, and determine if you think we can provide a valuable service for you and most importantly of all to see if you wish to work with us on this important matter.

After all, retirement may well be the longest financial time period in your life after working – a 30 year retirement is longer than childhood, time in education and most mortgages are only 25 years.

Whether with our assistance or not, we wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous retirement, whenever that is and whatever it means to you.


important footnote: This blog post was inspired by an article entitled 'Age is just a number' by Kelly Biasco in the MDRT (www.MDRT.org) magazine 'Round The Table' (www.roundthetable.org) - I urge any financial planners to join MDRT if they meet the qualification criteria as it is an excellent global organisation with tremendous educational resources. MDRT - The Premier Association of Financial Professionals