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Overview
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It is never too early or late to plan for the future. This section is designed to help you understand the challenges one faces when retiring from the workforce, help you figure out how much money you will need to sustain a comfortable lifestyle as you age, help you leverage your home for income and tax breaks, and help you understand the legal documents required to protect your assets and ease the distribution of your estate. Also in the mix are the best places to retire, and the challenges of downsizing. And for couples: how to cope with Empty Nest Syndrome. Last update: 12.22.20
Retirement Planning 
Money:
​Charitable Giving ​
​Social Security:
Health/Dental/Long-Term Care:  
Marriage/Divorce: 
Housing/Transportation:
Other Issues:
​Leveraging Your Home for Income and Tax Breaks
8 Books for a Happy Retirement Next Avenue
Estate Planning
Organizing:
  • Make a list of all physical items that you own worth $100 or more.
  • Make a list of non-physical things you own such as brokerage accounts, 401k plans, IRA assets, bank accounts, life insurance policies, credit cards and other debt. Include all pertinent information.
  • Make a list of any organizations (membership, charitable) that you belong to or regularly contribute money.
  • Make sure the beneficiaries are listed exactly as you want for all of your financial assets. Most can be setup with a “transfer-on-death” feature to avoid probate.
  • Create important estate documents including a Will, Living Will, Durable Power of Attorney, Healthcare Surrogate, and Living Trust.
  • Find ways to minimize paperwork and consolidate financial accounts to make managing assets easier.
  • Select an Estate Administrator who will be responsible for following the rules of your will in the event of your death.
  • Have a conversation--about your estate, and your wishes and desires as you grow older--with the people you have designated to manage your affairs when you no longer can. ​

Related Issues​:
​Important Legal Documents
  • Durable Power of Attorney is a legal document that gives another person the legal authority to make decisions in the case you have an incapacitating medical condition. Each state has its own requirements and form.
  • Health Care Surrogate is an advance directive that enables you to appoint another adult to make decisions on your behalf when you are unable to do so. It is usually recommended that you appoint someone who knows your wishes, and is willing to carry them out, especially regarding your personal, religious, moral and cultural beliefs. If you are incapacitated, your health care surrogate will have the authority to make all of the medical decisions regarding your health care, including decisions about when to withhold or withdraw life prolonging procedures.
  • Living Will, also called a Directive to Physicians or Advance Directive, provides your physician with instructions regarding procedures that are meant to prolong your life. Your physician and health care surrogate are required to follow all of the directives.
  • ​Revocable Living Trust (inter-vivos) is a legal document created during a person's life that allows easy transfer of assets without going through the process of probate. Probate refers to the general administering of a deceased person's will or the estate of a deceased person without a will. The court appoints an executor named in the will or an administrator if there is no will, to administer the process of collecting the assets of the deceased person, paying any liabilities remaining on the person's estate, and distributing the assets of the estate to beneficiaries named in the will or determined by the executor.
  • Will/Last Will and Testament is a legally enforceable declaration of how a person wishes his or her property to be distributed after death.
  • Ethical Will is a document designed to pass ethical values from one generation to the next. This is not a legal document. It's a heartfelt expression of what matters most in your life. The information is usually shared with family and community while the writer is still alive.
​HOUSING--Downsizing/Upsizing/Renting vs Buying

There are a number of reasons to downsize. The main four: the children are gone and maybe a spouse too, and you want to live in a smaller space; you need more money for retirement; you want to move to another location to reduce housing costs, be closer to family, or live in a more favorable climate; you need to move for health reasons.

But downsizing isn't always as simple as it seems. At issue is a fragile real estate market where many home owners are getting less for the sale of their home. At issue are the emotional demands of leaving one place for another, changing lifestyles, and clearing out decades' worth of possessions.

A support resource to consider is a Senior Move Manager, who can help organize and manage the downsizing process. Regardless, for many retirees, the experts say that it can pay to downsize before health and/or financial issues cloud the picture. The Boston College Retirement Center provides an online tool to help you figure out if it is economically feasible to do so.
Best Places to Retire 
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