The Best Time to Plan for Retirement is Now!

Did you notice how life events creep up on you? Simple things like a significant birthday. How can we suddenly be 21, 30, 40, 50 years old. Most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how old we are, so it can come as a bit of a shock when we suddenly arrive at a milestone.

The reason is, that we are fully engaged and busy dealing with the here and now. That’s essential because we have to ensure that the bills get paid, the groceries get bought, our day-to-day priorities are met.

Retirement may seem a long way away, it might not happen at all, it might not pan out as expected, plans may be unachievable. All that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t plan for a future that we want.

Let’s look at some of the important aspects of retirement planning. Health, wealth and happiness.

Assuming that we are hoping for a healthy retirement, there are a few things that are really important. Whether we want to improve our current state or maintain it for the future, let’s consider some specific factors.

Weight/BMI/waist measurement/percentage of body fat.

Where are you now? Are you a healthy weight? If not, what adjustments can you make to your lifestyle to improve this?

Alcohol consumption

Do you buy the bottle of wine/beer/cider with the most alcohol content? Is your consumption moderate and within the government guidelines? Do you need to reduce your alcohol consumption?

Exercise

Do you have a good balance of light exercise, moderate exercise and hard exercise? Are you reasonable fit with good aerobic capacity? Do you have good core strength and balance? A healthy amount of muscle mass? Do you need to improve this?

Healthy diet

Are you eating enough fruit and vegetables? Are you eating too much salt or saturated fat. Do you enjoy your food or eat to relieve stress? Do you need to improve this?

Mobility

Yes, I’m talking about flexibility. Do you find it easy to get dressed, put on your socks, get onto and back from your hands and knees? Do you need to improve this?

Health metrics

Do you know what your cholesterol levels are? Do you know what your blood pressure is? Do you know your resting heart rate. Have you checked for any undiagnosed irregular heart beat?

There is potentially a never-ending list. The significance of each item will be different for everyone.

Why not make a start and build up a map of current status?

From there, we can move on to look at priorities.

What will we get the most benefit from with the least amount of effort?

Now I can see that my priorities (for now) are;

• Lose weight – although this is relatively high effort, it will bring the most benefit
• Healthy diet – this is a high priority and will support the highest priority
• Monitor blood pressure will help me to understand if things are going in the right direction
• Reduce alcohol – this will help me to lose weight and reduce blood pressure.
• A health check every few years will help to pick up any developing conditions

Training for a half marathon may help me to achieve benefits in some of these areas, but will require a lot of effort.

The best time to start planning for retirement is now. Looking after your health is one of the most significant steps you can take towards preparing for a healthy, active retirement.