by Dr Pandula Siribaddana

Created on: December 31, 2012   Last Updated: January 02, 2013

According to research, having a higher socioeconomic status is linked with a decrease in morbidity and mortality rates in many populations. The causal mechanism of this linkage has not been recognized clearly enough. However, many believe that having financial freedom, access to better healthcare and a sound educational background are contributing factors. Thus, the notion of healthy, wealthy and wise is evident, and is never more applicable as it is among those in their retirement age. Therefore, the goal of this article will be to suggest some of the important financial goals for you to have in order to become healthy, wealthy and wise during your retirement period.

Determining retirement goals

First of all, it is necessary to determine your retirement goals before deciding on the financial means that will help achieve those objectives. These goals may include, buying a house and property in a place where you always liked to live, buying a car that you always wanted to drive, traveling to places that you never had the chance to visit, engaging in recreational activities that you never found time to engage, learning something new that you seems to have missed during your early days, helping people who are less fortunate or fulfilling the dreams of your spouse and the family as much as possible. When looking at these goals, it is obvious that you never can plan or predict the expenses that you may have to incur when realizing your retirement dreams or perhaps the life’s dreams. However, once the retirement goals are set, it is easy to think clearly about the realistic nature of achieving the same, and if possible, where the funds will come from.

Understanding retirement

Following the determination of retirement goals, it is necessary to think about the retirement period and the potential expenses associated with the same. As pointed out by analysts, the retirement can be divided into three phases. The earliest phase would be the most expensive as it is the time when you will try to realize most of your dreams. During the middle phase, you will be more settled and will look at ways of keeping costs down. In  later retirement years, the costs pertaining to health could be more and in certain instances, the expenses during this phase could be hefty. Thus, the financial goals that you intend to set should take the different phases of retirement as well as the way you should finance each of the phases without having to empty the savings in to consideration.

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