Many pre-retirees attest to feeling anxious and doubtful in the months leading up to retirement as they begin second-guessing their decisions and retirement plans. While retirement may be a once-off event, getting your retirement right takes careful, meticulous planning in the years leading up to the event to ensure that your retirement years are what you envisage them to be.
WORDS & PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
The mental shift from generating an income to drawing from your life’s savings plays heavily on the mind of most pre-retirees who are most likely acutely aware that the financial decisions leading up to retirement are all-important – and very often irreversible.
If retirement is on your radar, here are some tips on how to prepare adequately for this life stage:
Consider a retirement trial run
The retirement lifestyle that you have in mind may be practically very different from the vision, so consider trial-running your retirement – even if it’s for a short period of time – particularly if you plan on completely relocating to another city or town. Although the idea of retiring to a sleepy village or quiet beach town may be appealing, the practical reality of living there permanently, particularly through the off-season, may not be in line with your vision.
To ensure the lifestyle is what you’re looking for, try to spend a night trial-running your retirement in the destination of your choice. Many clients who have undertaken this exercise have uncovered some surprising discoveries which, in turn, have served to completely reinvent their concept of retirement.
Oasis Life retirement has recently launched a new campaign called Trial your Lifestyle, which enables you to test one of its retirement villages set within a secure multi-generational suburb that covers 180 hectares. Located at the foothills of the Durbanville winelands, you can trial a night at the Burgundy Estate in either a cottage or house to ascertain what it has to offer thereby aiding your decision when it comes to investing in a retirement home.
Not only are they offering a night’s accommodation you get to try out a wealth of activities both in the clubhouse and lifestyle centre including Pilates, water aerobics, chess, bowls coaching, line dancing, tai chi and canasta. On certain evenings you’ll be spoiled with a live band, quiz night and social bowls.
Add experienced hospitality and unrivalled attention to detail, and you have the new recipe for retirement as residents flip the script on what retirement can be like.
Creating your retirement roadmap
If you’re not planning to relocate, give careful thought about the type of retirement accommodation you envisage for yourself. Do you want to sell your primary residence and purchase a smaller, more manageable freestanding home?
Could you see yourself living in a life rights retirement village? If you have travel plans, is a lock-up-and-go townhouse a better option? Do you have plans to ultimately live with your adult children, and what do these plans look like?
Buying and selling property is expensive, and any unnecessary property transactions just before or during your retirement years can negatively impact your retirement funding position.
Spend time doing your research, reading retirement material, and visiting retirement villages so that you get a clear picture of the options available to you.
Want to know more? Drop an email to info@oasislife.co.za
