#2: So consider these factors:

1) Start planning in advance! 10 yrs before taking retirement is barely enough time. There are a lot of complex factors involved in a holistic financial plan, including insurance, health (not just mortality but morbidity), legal issues, etc. It takes time to understand how the preferences you have and the actual decisions you make, will affect your options going forward as you age. If you want to have options available when bad things happen, you MUST plan properly!

2) Everyone's retirement is unique, just as their financial and estate planning needs are unique. Never assume that what is true for your cousins, friends, parents, siblings, etc., is absolute for you as well.

3) If you are retiring as a couple:

- Have you planned a 'worst case' scenario for the disability or lingering illness of one spouse? Do you know what the Medicare rules are? Do you keep knowledgable about Medicaid rules and benefits for your state? Do you know how using Medicaid benefits will affect your final estate planning? Do you have some idea about what you could do if the rules change, which is inevitable when you are talking about something that may be 25 yrs in the future, or may happen 5 years from now?

- Do you have sufficient income for BOTH of you, whether you both live into your 90's or if one of you dies (and their Social Security or pension goes away)?

4) What will you do if one or both of you can no longer drive? Do you know what services are available, and whether you qualify? What are the options for senior living in your community (or the community you choose to retire in)?

5) Do you make friends easily? Have you made any new friends of different ages in the last five years, outside of work or people you've 'known forever'? Do you make the effort to 'keep in touch', by phone or email or writing? Is your family nearby, or too far away for an easy visit? Do you have a plan to keep yourself physically active and mentally engaged, independent of your spouse? Do you have a fall-back plan, should you have to retire due to physical disability? How would physical disability affect your attitude towards retirement? These factors determine your adaptability in adjusting to retirement, and are emotionally critical to a smooth transition to this new stage of your life.

6) Have you talked to a professional advisor with fiduciary responsibility to you, about running Monte Carlo simulations on your budget numbers? Even if you don't use a registered advisor normally, I highly recommend hiring an independent CFP or CPA w/PFS certification to go over your retirement assumptions at least 5 yrs before actual retirement. It would be even better to do it at the 7 yr prior and 3 yr prior mark.

6a) Either way, it should be done again 6-12 months prior to final retirement date.

Very few people are capable of factoring in all the 'gotchas' that could happen to their retirement. I have seen friends and family get tripped up by thinking their plans were on track, only to discover they had been assuming nothing bad would happen – not just the market gyrations, but heart attacks, etc. It can be worth paying a professional for good neutral advice.

Could you do proper planning yourself? Sure – I did it. But I did have help from good, experienced professionals, even if we didn’t have to pay for it (sheer luck). And I enjoy things like investing and funds management. I’ll sit for hours at the PC, doing research and reading about estate planning, insurance trends, Medicaid/Medicare issues, etc.. Honestly, I don’t know anyone else who has the time or interest to do these same things.

A professional will bring up questions and issues you may have never realized could affect you. Asking for advice on the Net is worth precisely what you pay for it – even mine, I’m afraid!

This is a very complex subject matter, with a lot of factors to consider. A huge lifestyle change, whether it’s retirement or disability or death, needs to be planned for. That transition will be a lot easier if you can arm yourself with sufficient knowledge.