Envision Your Retirement

You often hear people ask, “Are you planning for your retirement?” For me, that mostly brings up the idea of putting money away to finance my retirement. Planning for retirement is very crucial to the success of living out the rest of your life well. Let me ask, is your financial planning for retirement just to survive or is it for something more?

How many of us have envisioned our retirement? I often ask people what they are doing in retirement; I get a lot of answers like golf, vacation, visiting with family, or not much of anything. Sometimes I see retiree’s health diminish and even depression set in.  In fact, studies show that retirement raises the depression rate by 40%. I’m convinced this isn’t just age setting it, it’s a lack of focus for your retirement setting in. The statistic might be depressing in of itself. But there is a way to do retirement well.

As in your work years, if you are not focused in your career you can lose your purpose, drive and spirit; then depression sets in. It’s not any different in retirement. The trouble is, we approach retirement so looking forward to the end of our busy careers, tired of all the problem solving, and bodies that are worn out from lack of care. Retirement becomes a goal that we set our sights on and the never-ending vacation.

We are created for purpose, even in retirement. How do we do it?

• Take care of yourself before retirement. Rest, vacation, and take care of your body. This way          your body won’t be screaming for a break prior to retirement.
• Talk with your spouse or friend about what you want to accomplish in retirement. Write a mission and vision statement for your retirement.
• Make a plan. Questions to ask yourself:

a.     What family and friends do you want to spend time with? How can you help them?

b.     Is there someone to mentor? There is a special set of skills that are uniquely yours. Who can you influence?

c.     Is there a church or organization you can volunteer for?

d.     How did you want to impact the world when you were younger? How does that look for retirement?

In retirement, after you are tired of resting, what will excite you about your new freedom? What will make you say, “I did retirement well”?   A great plan may be the very thing that brings you life.

Minimizing the Risk of Identity Theft

Having your identity stolen can be an enormous inconvenience to say the least. Personally, I have never experienced it, but I know how it feels when your wallet goes missing. Having to remember everything that was in your wallet, retracing steps, calling all your credit cards, getting your license reissued, it’s a lot of work. It puts your life on hold. Marry that with the fact that someone intentionally took your identity for monetary gain. Now your conversation turns from I lost something to I didn’t make those purchases. Someone who said they were me did that.

While identity theft is a very real possibility, in fact the 2011 report on identity theft by Javelin Strategy & Research estimated that in 2010 approximately 8.1 million U.S. adults were victims of identity theft, costing consumers a whopping total of $631 billion nationwide. There are steps you can take to minimize your risk.

•           Buy a shredder – shred all documents with personal information on them.
•        Never give your information over the phone to someone who contacts you. Get a number and call them back. If you are still unsure, don’t give it out.
•           Don’t carry your social security number in your wallet. Keep it in a safe place.
•       Review your credit card statements to make sure all charges are yours. Sometimes charges are small and can be missed.
•      Change online passwords regularly, make them strong with uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. “Password” is not a good password.
•      When buying online use secure sites only for purchases, the address should begin with “https” not just “http.”
•      Keep limits low on credit cards to minimize the damages.

If you have experienced identity theft:

•      Contact credit card companies, bank, and vendors.
•      File police report
•      Maintain a log of all conversations.
•      Contact insurance company to see if you have identity theft coverage as part of your homeowners. (Ask ahead of time to understand your benefits.)
•      Hire a daily money manager or financial professional to work with you to restore identity.
•