30 Things to Do BEFORE You Retire

A friend of ours just called and said he will be retiring this month.  Since he is a good decade away from regular retirement age, we are glad he has all of his ducks in a row before he steps off of the employment merry-go-round.  These are many of the things he (and we) did before retiring...

1. See if you are even able to retire.  Add up your retirement sources of income and subtract your monthly expenses and if you have a negative number, you can't afford to retire.
2. Figure out the rules around your retirement income sources.  When can you take social security, when can you withdraw from your 401k/403b/IRA without penalty, etc.
3. Understand that if you take early social security, there are limits on how much you can earn if you decide to go back to work/work part time during early retirement.
4. Figure out your health insurance situation before you retire.  You don't want a gap between your employer-provided health insurance and the time that Medicare kicks in so figure out how you will get medical insurance in the interim.
5. Figure out all of the rules around Medicare.  You will need to pay a portion of the cost each month (usually taken out of your social security payment before you receive it), then you have to figure out parts B/C/D.  It's all quite confusing.
6. Be completely debt free.  The best way to retire on a smaller income is to have no debts.
7. Pay off your car before you retire.  Ditto.
8. Pay off your house before you retire.  Ditto.
9. If your car is on its last legs, get a low-interest loan for a vehicle while you are still employed, and strive to pay it off as quickly as possible (it can be more difficult to get a loan once you are retired).  You don't want car loan debt but you also don't want to go into retirement with a car that is iffy at best.
10. Also consider if you still need two or more cars if both you and your spouse are retired.  Hubby and I went down to one car after we retired because we were pretty much always together instead of each driving off in difference directions for work.
11. Consider driving alternatives as you age--taking the city bus, using Uber/Lyft if you don't leave your home often, walking to do errands if this is possible, etc.
12. Decide if you will stay in your current house, downsize in your same community, sell your house and move elsewhere after you retire, etc.  Where you live and housing costs have a huge impact on your retirement finances.
13. If at all possible, live in a house or trailer on land that you own.  If you are renting an apartment or house, rental rates often continue to go up which can outpace your retirement income.
14. If you do decide to move and downsize, consider such things as weather, state income taxes (some tax retirement income, some don't), healthcare availability, and definitely buy a house with a single story/master on the main floor (you don't want to have to move when you are 75 because you can no longer go up the stairs in your house).
15. Consider Swedish Death Cleaning when you retire whether you decide to move or not (most of us have a ton of crap collected over the years we can easily get rid of).
16. Look for any and all discounts you are entitled to based on your age (senior property tax exemptions, senior discounts--which can start as young as 50 years old!, senior center discounted meals, etc).
17. Pay attention to your utilities.  These bills may go up if you are no longer gone all day for work so look for ways to conserve water/gas/electricity in order to keep these bills in check.
18. Decide how you will spend your free time during retirement.  When you quit working, you will have A LOT of hours to fill!  Consider new hobbies, joining clubs in the community, joining a gym or bowling league, volunteering in your community, etc.
19. Review all of your insurance coverages.  You might get a discount on car insurance if you no longer commute to work, you may no longer need a high-cost life insurance plan, etc.
20. Be sure that you have an emergency fund that can cover your expenses for at least a year before you retire.  Also, continue to add to this fund each month as you may eventually need to buy a new car, pay for a furnace replacement, etc.
21. Review your will, living will, and medical power attorney forms and update them if necessary.
22. Create an estate plan.  When your circumstances drastically change (marriage, divorce, birth of a child, retirement, etc) it is a good time to create/update your estate plan.
23. Speaking of health, develop a daily exercise plan when you retire and stick with it (you often get way less general exercise after you retire which can negatively impact your health).
24. Cook most of your meals at home.  This is usually healthier and less expensive compared to eating out.  Bulk cooking and freezing what you cook for future meals is a great way to resist going out to eat or ordering food for delivery.
25. Consider making get-togethers with friends potluck affairs.  If you are used to footing the bill for extravagant restaurant meals because you could afford it when working, you may want to ratchet back your financial generosity to stay within your budget.
26. Shop the Goodwill/thrift store now that you won't need a professional wardrobe.  I think I single-handedly kept Macy's stock price up with all of my clothing purchases when I was working.  Now we only shop at the Goodwill for clothes (and home decor, and...pretty much everything we need).
27. Review all of your memberships and subscriptions and cancel the ones that you no longer need (do you really need both Costco and Sam's Club?  Was work paying for your gym membership and now the cost will fall on you?  Do you still need to subscribe to industry publications now that you are retired?).
28. Also review each line item of your budget and look for things you can reduce/cancel (we went from oil changes every three months to oil changes annually because we drive a fraction of what we used to; I also reduced our phone plans from unlimited to the cheapest plans because we no longer have people calling us for work-related things).
29. Then review your hobbies.  I know plenty of retirees who still golf, go boating, and vacation in their giant RVs but greens fees are stupid expensive here, boats require a ridiculous amount of maintenance, and the cost to fill up the gas tank of an RV is astronomical.  Consider trying out less expensive hobbies (pickleball is less expensive and super popular here).
30. Look for other ways to save money in retirement.