As my husband and I begin to look towards life as empty-nesters, we have many things to consider. We are fast becoming Boomers who are no longer burdened with college tuition, a mortgage, debt, or children’s expenses.
We are a hybrid of the leading-edge boomers and the trailing-edge boomers. The leading-edge boomers is a population no longer burdened with significant financial responsibilities and investments, unlike trailing-edge boomers who still have these expenses, plus many years of work ahead of them. We are far from being ready to retire, but looking forward to the benefits of increased investments and reduced expenses.
With both of our sons moving out, I am not sure if we should be celebrating or crying, but we both know it is time to reevaluate our life. As we mull over how to redirect our financial resources, here are the questions we are asking ourselves:
- Do we max out the yearly retirement savings caps or consider other investment options – or both?
- Do we continue to increase our emergency fund but at a slower pace and redirect some of these funds to higher yielding accounts?
- Do we sell our home, which is too much for just two people? Should we downsize or continue to pay it off and then cash out?
- Do we invest in a more affordable and much smaller retirement home, or rent for now and take dream vacations? (Ahhh: this option sounds divine!)
- What happens to our taxes, since we are losing dependents?
- What are the tax liabilities should we decide to sell our home, but not purchase a new one right away?
- Speak with our financial advisor;
- Reevaluate our spending;
- Assess our retirement savings;
- Evaluate downsizing our home;
- Get HIPPA authorization forms;
- Research long-term care insurance;
- Reevaluate life insurance and final expense needs;
- Review our current wills.
February 25, 2015
