Waking up as early as 6 am and working long hours can be tiring and may even make you consider retirement. Every worker wants to retire someday and have a stress-free life that involves playing more with grandchildren, traveling, pursuing hobbies, amongst others.
However, this is not a decision to make lightly without weighing your options. You don’t want to make a wrong move that you would go downhill only months after retiring. You should be enjoying your retirement, not dealing with the pains caused by it.
In this article, we will tell you how to know when to retire from work and stay away from all the rigors of work-life. Below are requirements you should satisfy before you retire from work:
1. You’ve paid off debts
Most times, debts are unavoidable, especially for a worker. From car loans to mortgages, you have to deal with debts. Debts are often settled with the monthly income from your job. So, what happens if you retire, earning less income, and you still have to deal with outstanding debts?
You guessed right, you have an unwanted and avoidable crisis on your hands. As a salary earner, it’s unwise to consider retirement while you have outstanding debts to settle. The logic is simple: you have less income, meaning less financial might to settle your debts.
So, if you’re considering retirement, you should try to pay off your debts.
2. You have enough retirement income to cover monthly bills
What a salary or monthly income does for you as a worker is help you pay up monthly bills that you would normally struggle to settle without a guaranteed income. Monthly bills such as food payments, electricity bills, amongst others, are quite essential that you can’t live without them.
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In the face of these numerous monthly bills, do you retire from work without enough retirement income to fall back on? No, because that would be an unwise move to take.
Before you consider retirement, you must have enough retirement income to help you settle the essential monthly bills or you would find living tough and we have no doubt that you don’t want that.
3. You have a plan for healthcare coverage
Healthcare is as essential as food. While you want to avoid a shortage of food, you also want to ensure that you have guaranteed healthcare coverage. You don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that retirement means you lose the cheaper employer-provided health insurance.
Therefore, as you might have guessed, it would be almost suicidal to retire from work without guaranteed healthcare insurance in place. You are likely above 60 years of age before considering retirement, meaning you’re vulnerable to health challenges and require regular medicare.
When you have a plan for healthcare coverage, you are fit to retire from work and live a stress-free life.
4. Your partner or spouse agrees with the retirement decision
When making a life-changing decision such as retirement, informing your partner or spouse is a no-brainer. Since you live together, you must make the decision together because make no mistake about it, your retirement will affect both of you.
Before you make a final decision on retirement, you should have a sit-down with your partner or spouse, discuss the pros and cons of retirement, and decide together whether it’s the right move for you and the family.
If your partner or spouse agrees to the retirement decision, you are good to go as long as you have satisfied other essential requirements.
5. You’ve reached physical or mental exhaustion
One of the things you get from working long hours every day is physical or mental exhaustion. If your job requires enormous physical activities, working long hours for several years can take its toll on your physical health. Likewise, if your job involves a lot of thinking, your mental health may suffer.
In fact, it’s very possible to suffer from both – physical and mental exhaustion. If you reach this stage in your work life, you should start considering retirement because your health should be your number one priority.
Dealing with prolonged physical or mental exhaustion could lead to unwanted health complications and you should ensure that you avoid such. Bad health can prevent you from working, so you must make the retirement decision yourself before your health makes it for you.
6. You have hobbies or interests to keep you busy
A great thing about retiring is having the time to pursue hobbies or other interests. Perhaps you have grandchildren and you’re looking forward to finally being able to spend more time with them.
The reason you will need to have other interests is because you can find yourself becoming extremely bored once the newness of retirement wears off. You will only be able to watch so many episodes of daytime television programming before you begin to get antsy.
It is imperative that you understand the psychological and behavioral aspects of a retirement decision. A great way to avoid negative effects such as depression or boredom is to be sure that you have hobbies, interests and a support system to lean on.
7. You have an adequate amount of money saved
The number one goal of working is to earn money and have enough resources to settle essential bills. When a worker doesn’t earn the right amount of money, they suffer. Job seekers often fight for the best-paying jobs so that they can live a good life.
Hence, if you’re considering retirement, it’s only wise that you have an adequate amount of money saved somewhere. Such money complements your retirement benefits and helps you settle essential bills, even when you’re out of a job.
Once you have enough money saved, you are ripe to make the retirement decision and not regret it in the future.
Our Final Thoughts On How To Know When To Retire From work
A decision to retire is surely not one to take lightly or out of the blues. Many factors can cause you to consider retirement and it’s not an unusual move, especially when you’re near the retirement age.
But there are certain things you must get done before you make the retirement decision. It would be unwise to retire from work when you’re still settling debts or when you have no clear plan for healthcare coverage. Apart from that, if you don’t have an adequate amount of money saved, you shouldn’t be retiring.
Before you retire, you should ensure you draw clear plans that will ensure your health or finances do not suffer afterward. Retirement should help you get a deserved rest from years of work, not complicate your life.
You’re solely responsible for what comes after retirement. Therefore, you should ensure that you consider all the important factors so that you can make only the right decisions. We hope you’ve now learned how to know when to retire from work.
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