10 Things to Know: How to Plan a Retirement You’ll Truly Enjoy
Retirement planning should be a lifelong exercise, but it becomes far more important in the years just before you want to retire. We spend most of our working lives chasing one ultimate goal: a happy retirement. The question is how you get there. The answers are yours alone — every retiree has their own definition of what a perfect retirement looks like.
For some people, a happy retirement might mean far more time for their hobbies. For others, it might mean finally travelling to every destination they have ever dreamed of, or simply spending more time with their children and grandchildren. Whatever your happy retirement looks like, you will want to make it happen. Here are 10 pieces of advice you should know for planning life after retirement.
1. What Do You Want to Do in Retirement?
We all have different retirement ambitions, from simple pleasures such as time spent on a hobby or with the grandchildren, to far more demanding ones such as travelling to far-flung places and trying something new. Retirement itself is changing too — more and more of us are now retiring gradually.
Many people spend too much time worrying about accumulating money and too little thinking about how they will spend it. That is why understanding what we want from the next chapter of life matters so much. We should first know what we still want to do in retirement: keep earning, rest, or something else entirely. Picture yourself clearly so you can plan your retirement with real care.
2. Planning Your Retirement Savings
Buying yourself happiness is fine, but it should not come at the cost of long-term happiness — having enough money to live comfortably throughout your retirement. Remember that as you get older, your income is likely to shrink, and may disappear altogether. So if you do not want a stressful retirement, the key is to start saving as early as possible, so your savings have time to accumulate and grow while you are still working. You will also want to top up those savings with other income streams such as social security, a pension, rental income, investment returns or even side work, so your money holds steady all the way through retirement.
Try a retirement planning calculator to see how much you will need in retirement and how much more you have to save.
- Retirement planning calculator from The Stock Exchange of Thailand
- Retirement planning calculator from Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri)
- Retirement planning calculator from Krung Thai Asset Management
3. Budgeting and Financial Planning After Retirement
Whatever your retirement goals are, you should know how much income, savings and assets you need to match your spending in retirement.
- Income: the income and assets you expect to receive both before and after retirement
- Expenses: your monthly outgoings in retirement, plus any lump-sum costs
This information forms the foundation of your financial retirement plan. Start by looking at your regular outgoings, such as commuting costs, food, housing and other essentials. Then add the new expenses that come with retirement — what will you do with all that free time, will you take up new hobbies, and so on. Just as importantly, factor in your life expectancy when working out your monthly costs, and remember that your health may drive up medical bills. Those costs may not appear every month, but they are a real risk as you get older. This is exactly what your financial plan is for: knowing how much you need to have saved.
4. Where Will You Live?
For some people, retiring abroad is the big dream. For others, the time has come to adapt the house for retirement — adding a new room, installing an elderly lift , renovating the home, making the bathroom safer, and so on. These are investments you need to think about too.
And if you want to live overseas, the cost may be higher or lower depending on your choices. Think carefully about what you truly want. Retirement should be the time in your life when you achieve new things, not one you look back on with regret. Once you have decided, build the associated costs into your financial plan.
5. Invest in Your Interests
Retirement planning is about far more than your finances. It is just as much about planning what your days in retirement will look like. Spending all day glued to the television is unlikely to make for the best retirement. Happy retirees tend to have interests and hobbies that give them something to enjoy every single day.
It really does not matter what your interest is, as long as it makes you happy and gives you a sense of calm. It could be travelling, hiking, playing music, learning a new language or spending time with friends. Whatever speaks to you and sparks a passion — that is what you should pour yourself into. If you would like some ideas for interests and hobbies in retirement, read our article 10 Activities and Fun Hobbies for Seniors to Boost Mental Health, Beat Loneliness and Prevent Depression
6. Healthcare Entitlements and Future Medical Costs
Besides arranging health insurance that gives you long-term cover, you should review the healthcare entitlements already available to you — social security, universal health coverage (the Gold Card) or civil-service medical benefits — so they can absorb treatment costs when your emergency fund is not enough. Thailand’s health insurance system is currently divided into four groups:
- People with private health insurance
- People covered by civil-service benefits
- Employees, company staff and members of the public enrolled in social security
- People covered by the national health insurance scheme, or universal health coverage
Medical bills are a future expense, so you should plan for that risk — whether through insurance or the entitlements that can bring your costs down in retirement.
7. Clear All Your Debts
Use the remaining years of your working life to clear every debt in advance, so you can truly enjoy yourself once retirement arrives. If you still have outstanding debts such as loans and credit card bills, car payments, or a mortgage on a house or condo, make sure they are all paid off on time before you retire, so they do not weigh on you later. Make sure everything is settled by the time you are ready to retire.
8. Plan for Inflation
High inflation can do serious damage to your retirement savings. While you are working, your wages generally rise along with the cost of goods and services, and you need to be confident your income can “keep pace with inflation”. That is why ordinary inflation is rarely as big a problem as inflation in retirement: your retirement money stays fixed while its value falls. For example, a bowl of noodles that costs 60 baht when you are 60 could cost 80-100 baht within ten years, which means the savings you had on the day you retired are worth a little less every year. If you live without saving, inflation will erode your income to an astonishing degree.
The good news is that social security and pension programmes adjust your income in line with inflation. The bad news is that if you live through retirement by drawing down investments or savings, the value of your money will fall sharply over time. Remember that you will need more money to support your lifestyle in the future.
9. Have a Dream and a Purpose
Without a plan for life after retirement, many retirees find themselves adrift — wanting something more but unsure what it is. Focusing on the financial side of retirement is essential, but the personal side of your retirement plan matters just as much.
The clearer your goals around your dreams and purpose, the more smoothly your retirement plan will run. If you want to grow fruit, for example, set aside the money, secure the land and get planting before retirement day arrives. Or if you plan to travel the world, look into exchange rates, routes and tickets ahead of time.
10. Be Ready to Adapt When Things Change
Retirement is a long-term goal that needs careful planning. Even the best-laid plans, however, can be derailed by the unexpected. To keep your retirement on track, you need to be ready to adapt to changing circumstances — for instance, by considering financial strategies that give your post-retirement income more flexibility.
Keep an eye on economic shifts, tax law and other factors that could affect your retirement planning. To cover unexpected costs, it is essential to have a contingency plan such as an emergency fund, because inflation will steadily eat away at your retirement savings and you need a strategy to counter it. Review your retirement plan regularly to make sure it still fits your goals and your current situation. Unexpected health events can also be extremely expensive, so planning ahead for the possibility of long-term care is important.
Financial planning is the foundation of a happy, healthy retirement. Without enough money, retirement can be an incredibly stressful time. But do not forget to plan for your overall wellbeing too. If you want to be happy, healthy, long-lived and able to enjoy the fruits of your work, you need a good plan from the very start.
One of the best retirement investments for safety and everyday comfort is installing a home lift , because it removes the risk of climbing up and down the stairs, means you never have to move your life to the ground floor, and lets you move freely around your own home. Choose a home lift from a reputable, quality-driven company and you can count on using it for another 20-30 years.
