Ready to Retire? 7 Things You Need to Do Now

You’ve worked hard over many years and finally your retirement finish line is 3-to-6 months away.

But don’t start exhaling just yet – there’s still plenty of race left to run. Before you take one of the biggest steps of your life, make sure you read this list to understand what you need to do and why:

1. Do the math.
When you first thought of retirement years back, you probably had a vague idea of what your spending would amount to by the time you actually took this step. But at this point, you should have a much clearer picture of your monthly budget. Be sure to laser in on your fixed expenses as well as on your lifestyle expenses to determine your financial needs.

Look at your anticipated income to clearly identify how much you’ll be taking in and from what sources. As part of this step, develop a Social Security strategy. Determining when to start taking Social Security is a pivotal decision that will impact all your other retirement income sources.

See more at: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/05/31/Ready-to-Retire-7-Things-You-Need-to-Do-Now#page1