While planning for retirement, it’s easy to overlook the important matter of how you’ll spend your days. Even something as simple as reading the days away has a price. When living on a tight budget, buying a few new books every week has a significant impact on your expenses and needs to be planned for. How can you prepare for the cost of retirement fun?
The Cost of Retirement Fun
Will you have enough retirement income for your desired lifestyle? The last thing you want is to be stuck on the couch watching TV because of a lack of funds. Often, people have dreams of a specific lifestyle, and the only way to ensure you reach your dreams is to prepare for them now.
Your Interests
As a first step to prepare for recreational retirement expenses, define all of your interests. A reader doesn’t want to read all day, and a golfer can’t golf all do. In addition, their may come a time when reading, golfing or other activities are just not suitable for your body’s capabilities. This means that the couple of interests that fill your days in early retirement may give way to other interests down the line.
The Matter of Inflation
While analyzing the various recreational retirement expenses, set a realistic budget using today’s dollars. Do you enjoy sewing? What’s the cost of your hobby on a monthly basis. Then, create a realistic budget for your retirement fun taking inflation into account. Here’s a chart of historical inflation rates in the U.S.
Replacement Gear, Apparel and Supplies
In addition to your regular recreational expenses, replacements are necessary over the years. This spans from a new sewing machine and golf clubs to gardening tools, binoculars for bird watching and more. Many activities have special apparel that require replacement as well, such as hiking shoes, gardening gloves, golf shirts, water aerobics swimming caps and more. Pay attention to the estimated frequency of these replacements, and work them into your annual budget.
Travel Expenses
Some activities require travel expenses. For example, hikers and bird watchers prefer to change the scenery often by visiting different state and national parks. Golfers travel to different golf courses near and far. For some people, traveling itself is the preferred way to spend the days. Travel expenses mount quickly and require careful planning and budgeting.
Prepare for the Cost of Retirement Fun
With many retirement expenses to contend with, setting priorities is crucial. Define what the minimum amount of retirement income needed is. This is to meet your essential expenses. Then, factor in the cost of retirement fun that brings your complete retirement dreams to life.