Plan your retirement with a checklist (Part 2), advice from Steve Sexton

“Winning In Life” is the radio show hosted by financial advisor Steve Sexton. Steve is the President of Sexton Advisory Group and Director of the Financial Knowledge Institute. Each week on the show, he provides his listeners with exclusive advice in financial planning, business updates, health issues, and charities making a difference.  “Winning in Life” airs every Sunday morning at 9:00 KCBQ 1170 AM.

In this week’s show, Steve opened with a funny letter sent to him by a woman he refers to as “Wendy.” Ever since Wendy’s husband retired recently, she has insisted on bringing him along every time she goes shopping. Wendy, like every normal woman, likes to take her time shopping by browsing around and trying things on. Long story short, Wendy and her husband are now banned from a store that is referred to as “T” due to the commotion he has caused in the store for the past six months. Steve just wanted to share the story as a fun retirement story for those husbands who also do not enjoy going shopping with their wives.

As for current news, Wall Street dipped a little bit on Wednesday. The big issues the economy is facing at the moment are macroeconomic issues due to the European debt crisis. Additionally, taxes are going up in some way or form. Steve advised listeners to sit down with your financial advisors and talk to them about how taxes are moving forward. Take the time to meet with your advisors and CPA to figure out how your money flows onto the tax return. For those who are interested in getting a tax review, give Sexton Advisory Group a call today.

Did you know you can get fined $500 for molesting butterflies in Pacific Grove, California? Steve shared that some small towns with poor economies are imposing bizarre fines in effort to recoup revenue. For example, here in San Diego if you leave your Christmas lights on after February 2nd, you can get fined $250. These laws may seem a bit ridiculous but they definitely exist so remember to take down those lights after the holidays!

Continuing on from last week’s show, Steve finishes off the 25 point retirement age checklist starting with #15:

#15 – Are you concerned that your future health limitations could interfere with your retirement goals? Consider your hereditary health issues and have a plan early on.
#16 – More and more grandparents are raising their grandchildren, could this be you? Also, there’s a possibility your parents will need financial help in the future as well. How much are you willing to help them?
#17 – Is there a possibility you might be at risk of losing your job?
#18 – Assess your job satisfaction and potential changes in your job satisfaction. Decide whether or not you should try to change jobs before you head straight to retirement.
#19 – Understand how to determine an appropriate retirement date. Think about factors such as age and life expectancy.
#20 – Evaluate your ability to adapt to retirement. This is crucial because some people find out that there is not much to do after retirement and they would rather work.
#21 – It’s possible that your work defines who you are. You might find it hard to retire because you enjoy your job and don’t want to retire yet.
#22 – Keep in mind that while most people value the retirement lifestyle, they might not realize what they’re losing by giving up their work life.
#23 – Determine your willingness to work. If you’re unsatisfied with your life at work, that might drive you to retire earlier.
#24 – Determine your desire for leisure. If leisure time is what you want and need, you might want to retire early.
#25 – Examine the potential for joint retirement. You probably won’t be making the decision to retire by yourself. You might want to consider retiring with your spouse.

There you have it, the entire checklist! If you missed out on the first part of the check list and would like to learn more, look back on last week’s article of Winning in Life Radio.

Don’t forget to tune in every Sunday morning at 9:00 KCBQ 1170 AM to hear the show live. Send your financial queries to Winning in Life Radio and if your question gets chosen to be answered, you will receive a $50 American Express gift card!