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Speaker 1: Are you five years before your retirement about that? If so,

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your job is simple to turn that dream of retirement

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into a plan, to turn it into reality. And that's

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what we're going to talk about in this video. I'm

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Mariy Debranski. This is Life Starts at Retirement. I produce

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a retirement lifestyle video every Saturday at noon, and I

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just work hard to make our retirements remarkable. So this

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is the time, if you're about five years out, this

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is the time I think it's to stop saying, you know,

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I'm going to retire someday, and to start saying I'm

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planning to retire in two thousand and thirty, whatever that

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might look like. That's when you get real specific. That's

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when it becomes real to you, because the closer you

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get to retirement, the more valuable the clarity becomes. So

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here's a few questions at about five years out that

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you need to start asking yourself. First of all, how

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much do you really spend each and every month? How

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much do you spend? Because in order for you to

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make sure you have a successful retirement financially, you should

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know today how much you spend and how much you're

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planning on spending any your retirement. So I would take

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some time and calculate how much do you spend each month,

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Do it for at least six months and see where

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you are with that. Think about what your retirement will

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look like. So what kind of a lifestyle do you want?

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That's mostly what I talk about is lifestyle. Do you

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want to travel? Do you want to downsize? Do you

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want to help your grandkids or your children financially? What

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kind of hobbies do you want to do? What are

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you going to do to keep busy when you stop working?

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All of these types of questions five years out should

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be thought about. The closer you get, the more you

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need to think about them. But at five years out

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it's time to start thinking about this. Then you also

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want to take a real hard look at your debt

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because every mortgage payment, any loan payments, any car payments,

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any credit card balances, all of that of course follows

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you into your retirement. And then any of those types

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of bills then let you have less to spend on lifestyle,

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rather than then you're spending them on bills instead of

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your lifestyle. So it's really time to look at your

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debt and see what you can do to hopefully get

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rid of some of that debt before you enter into

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your retirement. And then finally, this is very boring stuff too,

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but five years out is a great time to start

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reviewing your will, your power of attorney, updating any beneficiaries,

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checking out your insurance coverage, etc. It's not exciting, it's

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not fun, but it's something that you have to do,

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and retirement isn't just built on excitement, although it can be.

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But the more you have your decks in the row,

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the more you're confident that that makes you have a

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better return, It makes you sleep better at night. And

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of course the confidence comes from preparation. So those are

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some of the things five years out now, four years

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out I always say in your fourth year now is

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the time to really put in time and effort to

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build your income plan. Where will your income come from?

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For us in Canada cpp oas whatever your government pensions

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look like for wherever you live. Any investments that you

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might have, any part time work, are you thinking maybe

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there's a gap there that you might need to do

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some part time work. Identify them now around four years

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out before they become a problem when you do retire.

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You want to make sure you have the whole picture.

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So those are some of the things to start thinking

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about four years out. Three years out, I say this

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is a great time to protect yourself. So three years

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out I would take a look at where my investments

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are and reduce any unnecessary risk. So if you're in

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something that's a little bit higher risk than what you

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want to be, maybe put yourself into something a little

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bit less risk. Then I would also begin to build

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an emergency cash reserve. There will be things that happen.

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Your car might break down, your roof might go on

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your house. Whatever it is that happens, life still happens,

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even if you're retired. I would have an emergency cash

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reserve as well. It all depends on your lifestyle as

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to how much that cash reserve should be, but I

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would definitely have some money in an emergency reserve. And

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then just make sure that if there is a market downturn,

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it won't derail your plans. You may have to adjust

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at times, and most of us do have to adjust

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at times, but make sure it just won't derail completely

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your retirement plans. Two years out I love this one.

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It's just practice retirement. So from a financial perspective. Let's say,

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live on your projected retirement income for six months, See

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how it feels. See if you can do that. See

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what you have to give and take to live on

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that retirement income. Test your budget, see where it is,

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see what works, and see what doesn't for me. Because

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I talk more so about lifestyle, two years out, I

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would now be starting to think about what kind of

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hobbies and what kind of classes or what I would

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like to do from a lifestyle perspective, and maybe test

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some of those. So if you've always wanted to take

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a cooking class, if you've always wanted to learn a

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new language, whatever it is that you think you might

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like to do, I'd start be testing those out, finding

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where I could do them, maybe even joining in one

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or so in the evenings or on a weekend, something

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to make sure that when you retire you're not going

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to be bored out of your ever loving mind. And

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then one year before retirement is now the time to

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get ready to get that excitement. But again there's a

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few boring things you have to do as well. One

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year out, I would be setting up any banking or withdrawals,

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turning your income generating stream or turning your investment streams

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into now income streams, So gathering the paperwork, seeing what

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you might need, possibly filling it out a little bit

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ahead of time, just so that it's ready on the

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day that you actually retire. Another very important one is

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understanding your healthcare benefits. I know in Canada that's not

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quite as important because we have our they call it free,

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but it's not free but free healthcare here, but we

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still I still they don't cover glasses, they don't cover teeth,

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they don't cover eye things, et cetera. So whatever prescriptions

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aren't covered. So whatever you need for your healthcare benefits,

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understand what you're going to need and how much it's

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going to cost, Finish any other paperwork that you might have,

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and away you go. Then you are ready because I

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see often I talk to so many people and the

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biggest one of the biggest mistakes people make is believing

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that retirement happens on the day they stop working. So

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technically that's when it really happens. You've quit working, so

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you're retired. But all of the stuff you have to

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do before you retire is really helping you to have

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the best retirement. Making your retirement remarkable. So retirement is

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really built in the years before that final day arrives. Now,

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the good news is though you don't need to make

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perfect decisions, You just need to make intentional because a

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few thoughtful adjustments now made five four three two, one

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year before retirement can have a huge impact on your

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retirement and help you to avoid those frantic panic changes

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that you need to make five months after your retirement.

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So where are you on your retirement journey? Five years away,

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one year away? Are you already retired? Let me know

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in the comments. And remember, retirement isn't the end of

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the story for many of us. It's the chapter where

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life really begins. So go make your retirement remarkable. I'm

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Marie Dabranski. This is life starts at retirement. I produce

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again that retirement lifestyle video every Saturday at Newlish and

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this true