What do you think about when you think of retirement? Sitting on a sunny beach drinking your favorite drink, bring waited on hand and foot? I don’t know about you, but that sounds very boring. Oh, it would be nice for a while, but for how long?

Life Is More Than Just Sitting On Your Butt

What you may not realize is that when retirement does come to past, you better have a plan for the next phase of life. You don’t want to end up like a lot of past friends I know who have retired and died within 6 to 12 months of retirement. These people were pretty well off financially, but they were totally involved in their jobs. When the job ended, they had nothing else.

The Mind Does Funny Things

If you are in a situation where you would be totally bored for the rest of your life, would you still want to live? Interesting question to say the least. While I am not saying that people intentionally die, it could be that because they feel their usefulness is done, they subconsciously give up.

How Do You Move To The Next Phase?

Many of you may not be into video games. I don’t play the newer ones, but I did see an interesting game on a cop show last year called “Second Life”. Apparently the purpose behing the game is that you can have a totally different life than who you are today in an online reality game.

What would you do if you could be anything you could be? Think about it? Look at it like when you were much younger and adults would ask you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The same thing applies here. Think about this right now. What do you want to do when you retire? What is your next job?

Jobs Aren’t A Bad Thing

Too many business opportunities and investment companies put jobs in a bad light. Yes there are jobs out there that totally suck. But for the most part, it is possible to make any job enjoyable if you think about it.  I currently have a job that most people think is totally boring, but I have found a way to completely enjoy it and thrive greatly in it.

Change Your Mindset

I know I have talked about this before, but you have to begin by thinking differently. Find ways to enjoy every day regardless of what you do. As you prgress through life, look for new things you would love to do if you weren’t doing what you are right now. Maybe discover ways to test out the new life for a weekend or take an extended vacation. Go to seminars or training classes to learn more about your potential new passion.

Have A Plan For Your Second Life

The best approach is to develop (yes, it may sound boring) a long range plan. I know that I have already started looking for places to retire. I am taking vacations to towns and spending a week in the town to get to know more about it and learn where good places to live would be.

I have also been working on learning new skills by going to at least 2 to 3 seminars a year to learn more on how to continually increase my retirement wealth ratio. I have found a number of really fun things to do that I really enjoy. RETIRE? Are you kidding me? I never plan to retire. I just plan to move to a different phase of my life. Push the reality games aside and create your own reality.

What about you? Have you ever thought of retiring as a way to create a second life?

Until Next Time…

When was the last time you had some good old fashion jokes about retirement. Any type of retirement humor makes you laugh at yourself whether you are retired or not. How many times have you seen a bumper sticker with a funny statement on being retired. One we saw last week stated - “no job, no work, no money”.

Why Is It Good To Laugh?

As we go through the various rites of passage in life, it is always good to laugh. In fact, it is the cheapest type of medicine on the market today. The old proverb states that “Laughter is good medicine.” Retirement Cures came across a funny video related to banking. We hope you watch your spending a little more than the person who makes this phone call.

Oh, another good lesson is to not leave your cell phone laying around for others to answer. What are your thoughts? Have any good retirement humor you would like to share so others can have a good laugh?

Until Next Time…

In our discussion on getting more income to increase your wealth ratio, there is one option which is being promoted by a number of financial institutions called a reverse mortgage. Now the question may be asked what is it and how does it work? Usually a financial institution will agree to pay you a fixed amount each month based on a certain percentage of your home value which is usually some where between 30% and 70%. Keep in mind that there are many things that have to be aligned to qualify for one and you would have to check with the financial institution to get the specifics.

Why Would You Want To Get One?

For many retirees, the only asset they have is their home which really isn’t an asset since it costs you to use each month. That aside, retirees have a lot of money tied up in their homes. If that is their only place where they have available funds, many turn to reverse mortgages to gain extra cash flow to cover their monthly expenses. They get a fixed amount each month until they die. Upon their death, the home is sold and an agreed amount is paid back to the financial institution.

What To Look Out For In A Reverse Mortgage?

The first thing is to make sure you are dealing with a reputable financial institution. Too many retirees have entered into some contracts which have caused them to lose their homes and equity because they didn’t check out all the facts before they signed on the dotted line.

Another thing that you need to keep in mind is that you are giving up your equity over time. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but understand that this is not free money. The bank expects to get paid at some future date. Also know that the reverse mortgage is more expensive than a regular home mortgage. There are more closing fees and higher rates due to the longer term risk that the bank is having to take in making you the loan.

What Should You Do?

Retirement Cures recommends that you check into the facts through organizations who may not have a financial interest in your decision. Check with the AARP to see what information that they may have regarding both the plus and minuses of getting a reverse mortgage. The key to your decision should be based on facts and not hype from a high pressure sales person at a bank.

Until Next Time…