Goodbye, Clutter! Hello, Retirement!
When you are young, your motivation in your career might be making a difference in the world or impressing people with your professional skills or purchasing power. When you have children, your desire to secure a future for them affects your career goals and decisions. After a while, though, you start to feel like you are just working to accumulate more stuff that you don’t need. When that feeling creeps in, it is time to start thinking about retirement. Retirement is a good time to free yourself not only from the acquisition of stuff but also from some of the stuff you already have. The idea of not having an income from work is scary, but being able to live on your savings or retirement income is easier than it sounds, because your expenses will be much lower than they were when you were working. A Hillsborough County estate planning lawyer can help you plan for an affordable, enjoyable retirement.
The Best Time to Get Rid of Old Stuff
Lots of middle-aged people own storage units full of stuff they never planned to use. Perhaps you rented the storage unit when you inherited furniture from your parents, and you had vague plans to buy a bigger house at some point in the future and to use the inherited furniture there. If anything, retirement is usually about moving to a smaller house, not a bigger one. Now is a good time to get rid of the family heirlooms in the storage unit, as well as all the other clutter you have accumulated there, such as your children’s toys that your grandchildren probably will not want to play with, your old VHS tapes full of movies you taped off of HBO in the 80s, and your tax returns from 20 years ago. You probably don’t need a storage unit at all.
While you’re at it, you and your spouse can probably afford to downsize from two vehicles to one when you retire. You can free up some space in your garage for the few items from the storage unit that you decided to keep.
Some of the Stuff to Get Rid of Isn’t Stuff
Not having to pay for a storage unit or a second car and insurance for it will reduce your expenses, but don’t stop there. You can declutter your expenses, too. Life insurance policies for retirement-aged people are not worth the cost. You can use all that money you are saving to pay off your mortgage early. It is hard not to feel financially secure when you own your home outright.
Contact an Attorney Today for Help
The legal issues involved in estate planning and probate are a lot more complex than simply decluttering, but downsizing your possessions and reducing your expenses can give you some much-needed clarity. A Tampa estate planning lawyer can help you decide where to go from there. Contact David Toback for help.
