Welcome to part two of our blog series about important retirement questions that can affect your financial planning! In the last post, we explored two important retirement decisions — moving and lifestyle. In this post, we’ll take a look at just one post-retirement expense, but a big one — traveling. Here are some things to consider when you’re thinking about how much you will or won’t travel in your retirement years.
How Much Do I Want to Travel?
In our many years working as financial advisors to the people of California, we’ve generally seen people broken up into three categories — those who have spent their whole lives dreaming of traveling the world, those who are sick of traveling, and those who fall somewhere in between or are otherwise indifferent. You’ll have some things to think about no matter which one you are.
- The Dreamers: If you belong to this group, you have the most work to do. While traveling is one of the most rewarding experiences you can have in your life, it’s also very expensive, and it would be prudent for you to start thinking now about how much you’ll want to travel in your retirement years, and what kind of places you might want to visit. While prices will no doubt change in the future, due to inflation and other time-specific factors, you can get a general ballpark idea of how expensive your vacations will be. It’s also good to think about method — are you going to fly to each destination and stay in hotels, or live out of an RV taking extended road trips? If you calculate these kinds of things, financial advisors can help you to see how it all fits into your retirement plan.
- The Weary Travelers: Were you lucky enough to have plentiful travel opportunities and now you’re just sick of it, travel probably isn’t high up on your priority list. But before you write off all the money you would otherwise save for traveling, think for a moment that things could always change. It’s good to prepare to have some amount of travel money, even if it’s not a huge amount. We’ve seen plenty of jaded travelers rediscover their zest in old age, due to the freedom that retirement affords you. You don’t need to save up a fortune, but you also don’t want to reach a point where you regret not saving enough because you didn’t think you’d care anymore.
- The In-Betweeners: Finally, if you’re in the middle, it’s smart at least assume that you’ll take a few cool vacations in retirement. Traveling isn’t for everybody, but you’ll be surprised to see how much free time you’ve unlocked, and without being obliged to a work at a job or raise kids, you might be surprised to discover how much you love traveling in retirement. Build your retirement income with this in mind — it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Ultimately, the strategy is consistent — you should be open to the idea of taking some vacations, even if it’s not on your priority list, but you’ll definitely want to make travel expenses a major factor in your retirement income planning if you know for absolute certain that you’ll want to be trotting around the globe in your retirement.
California Wealth Management
Have you given some good thinking to your traveling plans in retirement age? Are you already planning the stops in your European backpacking trip, or listing all the islands you’re going to hit up in the Philippines? If you plan your retirement income wisely, you won’t have to be stressed about finances when the time finally comes for your dream vacations to come true.
While everyone can do a certain degree of financial planning on their own, there’s nothing better you can do for your retirement income planning than to visit a team of professional wealth management professionals. Our financial advisors have been helping clients for years to manage their money wisely, helping to build a solid retirement income that will carry them through the greatest adventures of their lives.
At Kennedy Wealth Management, LLC, we have helped hundreds of clients near our Calabasas location to plan for a solid retirement where they can truly relax and enjoy the rest of their lives without the burden of a full-time job. Our team can look at your options, plan out a reliable course, and help you to avoid any mistakes that can be easy to make in retirement income planning. Ready to get started? Contact us today!