Maybe a sojourn in
the Dominican Republic
could become part of your...

perfect "Retirement Plan"

So what do think makes the 'perfect retirement plan'? – To move to somewhere the sun shines all day, where the costs of living is low, the landscape is beautiful, pastimes are plentiful, and people are friendly? Sounds good! But too often the reality is much less enticing.

Due to poor retirement planning, money is tight, confidence to 'move away' from 'where, what and who' you know reduces, days are spent in gloomy rooms, absorbed by trashy 'day-time-TV' and early evening 'soap-operas', and you sit there hoping maybe today the phone will ring, or the door will knock, and break the monotony of 'the final countdown'!

When you are young it's hard to begin to think about the 'last phase' of our lives...we feel all but 'immortal', we are robust, confident and full of 'hopes and dreams'! A sensible 'retirement plan' is the last thing on our minds. Somewhere in our 'subconscious' most of us probably hope for a long - healthy - stimulating retirement! 'Heady' days when we can say we've "done our bit"...and it's time to put our feet up and allow ourselves to relax and enjoy life to the full!

For many people they hit a point in their lives when suddenly the concept of 'retirement' becomes a looming reality. Maybe this occurs when we reach milestones like the BIG FOUR-OH! If we manage to blot out the thought for a while it comes back with a vengeance by the time the even bigger FIVE-OH comes around (and we are not referring to 'repeats' of that famous Hawaiian detective series!!)

So the need to develop a proper 'retirement plan' will become a reality sooner or later for all of us. This is becoming even more important these days, for as the 21st century gets well underway, it is increasingly likely that many of us will live on for considerably more than our 'three score and ten'!

No doubt those of you in our own generation (without being too specific...that is within 25 years of retirement) should be becoming concerned about the all too frequently re-iterated reminders from our respective Governments, that by the time we reach retirement age...there will not enough 'State money' in-the-pot to go around (no matter that we've been contributing all our working lives!!!) – DEPRESSING ISN'T IT?

What this does mean is like it or not – we need to consider how we are going to make provisions to ensure that our 'declining years' are not spent entirely in miserable poverty! We need to formulate a realistic 'retirement plan'...but what does this involve?

Let's consider some of the key issues that can help us lay a foundation for making headway with planning for retirement that is going to be as enjoyable and fulfilling as we can make it...The framework we are going to use to formulate a sensible retirement plan is what we have called the FOUR P's:-