Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “Turning 60 Checklist: 10 Key Retirement Questions to Ask” can help find out if you will be ready when it is time to retire. Turning 60 can be an important milestone and catalyst for many people to take a hard look at different aspects of retirement. Here’s the list:
- Have I saved enough for retirement and if I don’t, with likely five to eight years to go, what should I do today?
- Is it a good idea at 59½ to do an “in-service” rollover into an IRA, even while still working?
- Am I diversified properly? Am I taking on more risk than I need to (or should)?
- What part of my retirement income versus expenses is guaranteed (such as pensions, Social Security, income annuities), rather than drawing down assets from potentially fluctuating accounts?
- What about long-term care?
- Is my estate planning up to date and accurate?
- Should I convert some of my pretax money (traditional or rollover IRA, for example) to a Roth IRA, so I have tax-free funds from which to draw?
- Should I purchase a life insurance policy that will continue beyond retirement?
- Is my retirement plan ready if my spouse or I die, and how would the reduction in Social Security affect the surviving spouse?
- Should I have a written retirement plan?
- When should I start to collect Social Security?
These are just some of the questions to think about when you hit 60 or when you find yourself seriously starting to consider retiring in the next five to eight years.
Review your assets to make sure there is enough income to last (while keeping up with inflation) over a potentially 30+ year period of your life, after you quit working.
Reference: Kiplinger (Dec. 23, 2020) “Turning 60 Checklist: 10 Key Retirement Questions to Ask”