Chapter 15 You have been working for many years and it is almost time to do something different. Most people enter retirement joyfully, looking forward to it like a permanent vacation. Others will be forced into retirement due to corporate cutbacks or other unanticipated events. | Chapter 15 Pre-Retirees and Retirees We grow neither better nor woreeatweget old butmorelikeour-selves. May Lamberton Becker Y ou have been working for many years and it is almost time to do something different. Most people enter retirement joyfully looking forward to it like a permanent vacation. Others will be forced into retirement due to corporate cutbacks or other unanticipated events. Regardless of the circumstances as retirement draws near you must address many issues. One issue is the way you manage your wealth. Common wisdom suggests that it would be appropriate to lower the level of risk in your investment portfolio. This will prepare your accounts to make monthly distributions during retirement without the threat of a large loss in market value. In addition you may want to keep extra cash on hand in your checking account to cover unexpected expenses in the first few years. This chapter actually covers two periods. The first period is a pre-retirement phase which starts about five years prior to your anticipated retirement date. The main concern most people have Copyirght 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use. 241 Protecting Your Wealth in Good Times and Bad in the pre-retirement stage is whether or not they will have enough money to retire. That issue is covered in detail in this chapter. The second phase covered in this chapter is actual retirement including IRA rollover considerations distributing from retirement accounts including the best tax strategy and investing in retirement. For the purposes of organizing this book the retirement period starts on retirement day and goes for many years until health reasons cause you to slow down dramatically. The crest life is covered in Chapter 16 Experienced Retirees. The Pre-Retirement Period Sometime during our late 50s or early 60s most people enter the preretirement stage. This period begins when we have about five years of full-time work left before retiring or transitioning to
