Expert Interview with Art Koff About Preparing for Retirement

Preparing for retirement begins much earlier than one’s twilight years. In fact, most retirement professionals recommend planning for retirement as soon as possible. Art Koff from RetiredBrains.com understands that retirement is a major life change, but knows that with proper planning, retirement is something to enjoy. Retirement can be a scary situation for many. What are the top three things RetiredBrains.com tells individuals who have retired or are in the planning stages for retirement? 1. Healthcare expenses are a great deal more expensive after you are on Medicare than people realize. 2. In order to live the lifestyle you had planned in retirement, you will probably have to continue working in some capacity longer than you expected. 3. Many “retired” Americans are now working at home to earn some additional income during their retirement years. What are some of the biggest challenges facing retirees today? What kinds of tips can you offer to help these people realize retirement does not have to be something to worry about? Americans are living longer, and the time one reaches 65, it is likely that either the individual or the individual’s spouse will live to be 90. Individuals must prepare for unexpected years by saving more, working longer, starting a small business to earn some extra income, or working at home. If none of these options are appealing, it is important that individuals adjust their standard of living and plan to spend less. Financially speaking, what kinds of resources does RetiredBrains.com recommend for those planning for retirement and those who have already retired? Work longer often on a part-time, temporary or project basis and check out our financial resources page for a myriad of ways to save, invest as well as protect what you have already put aside for retirement with specific recommendations found on our page regarding increasing retirement income. Individuals retire with savings of all amounts. What tips can you offer these individuals? Check out our retirement planning guide for a list of ways to plan your retirement. Outliving one’s savings is a fear many retirees have. What advice can you offer these people so they can take comfort in knowing that will not happen? There is no assurance this will not happen, and unfortunately a growing number of Americans are outliving their savings. Work longer, save more, work at home or start a small business which provides some additional income during retirement years. What trends do you see happening regarding retirement? What do you think the future holds as more individuals reach retirement years? Americans are retiring later, either continuing to work for the company they have been with or taking a temporary, project based or part-time job to maintain their income longer. Do you have a formula that people gearing up for retirement can adhere to? Plan to continue working a great deal longer than you thought you would work. The days of being able to travel, play golf, fish, go back to school, relax, and enjoy your retirement years are over for the great majority of Americans. If you realize this many years prior to your projected retirement, you can better equip yourself when the time comes. Some people think when they retire they will live the life they were always meant to, but then realize that without work, life can be somewhat frightening. What kinds of things do you recommend for those people so they can prepare for retirement? Volunteering can be very satisfying either when you are fully retired or perhaps bored or when you are partially retired. Start looking for the kinds of volunteer work that you find interesting and start preparing yourself to be of value to the volunteer organization. In most cases, just an extra pair of hands without appropriate skill sets are not of great value to nonprofits, charities and other volunteer organizations. Share with us any information that you feel is pertinent to retirement planning. Most of the content that has been included on RetiredBrains has been researched and posted in direct relation to the traffic to those specific pages as well as a result of emails asking for more information. The areas that receive the most traffic are: work at home, employment assistance, senior discounts, and start your own business. In 2003, when RetireBrains first went up on the Net, we had a much larger percentage of visitors coming to arthritis pain, memory loss (is it a senior moment or the beginnings of Alzheimer’s), Type 2 diabetes, senior travel and the senior living sections. The recession changed the traffic pattern and the traffic has continued to increase in the areas of creation of income and saving money. Perhaps one of the reasons is that search engines now provide direct links to these internal pages. Follow Art Koff of RetiredBrains on Facebook and Twitter.