Our church has a very high proportion of teachers and college instructors,
and many of them have retired, are about to retire, or will be retiring in
the next few years. That doesn't include me; I've only have 11 years in
the state retirement system.

So, here's some advice I've heard them give each other:
1) Get your teeth fixed now, while you have the better insurance.
2) If you need any elective surgery, get it done now, while you have the
better insurance. After my breast reduction, one of the older teachers
had hers done - just 2 years before she retired.
3) At your doctor's office and at the dentist's office, talk to whoever
files the the insurance. Ask THEM about the better insurance carriers,
especially for retired teachers. Before I signed up for dental insurance
this year (the carriers changed), I called my dentist's office manager,
and she approved one carrier over the other.
4) Call your car and home insurance carrier and look very carefully at the
deductions and coverage, especially if your vehicle is older or if there
aren't as many people in the house. We carry our son and DIL on our car
insurance, because they sometimes drive our minivan during vacations.
However, the agent lists them as inactive; we just call up the agent the
week before to activate and the week after to deactivate. We also have
some VERY high deductables on the old cars that my daughter and I drive.
5) If your house needs repair or upgrades, do it now. My neighbor waited
until she retired to update her kitchen, and she believes the contractor
charged more because she wasn't working (the old lady syndrome).
6) Start making the list now of all the things you want to do when you
retire. Otherwise, you may find the extra time eaten up by others. One
of the ladies worked all those years as an elementary school teacher, and
now finds herself babysitting her 3 preschool grandchildren. She jokes
about going back to work to at least get paid (but I don't think she's
really joking).

Some of these people took a careful look at their large family homes and
decided it was crazy to keep them, especially when the children lived
close by. They cleaned up the homes, sold them, and either purchased or
built retirement style homes. My neighbor did that, and she really enjoys
a 1 floor home with an attached garage, electric kitchen, and small yard.

Share This Post | Report This Post

Next Post >>

Posts on this thread, including this one