How to help your parents ease into retirement

Retirement may be something to look forward to for many, but as the child of a retiree, you may need to help out a little bit to get that process moving easily. For many long working adults, making the transition to retirement can be a hard one as they feel there’s nothing left for them to do. This can cause issues to arise, such as reduced mental and physical health. But you can help out. Here are a few ways you can ease their transition to retirement:

Plan Ahead

One of the most important aspects of helping out during a retirement transition is being able to plan ahead and plan out the retirement. If you have siblings, this can be an important step to do together and will make life easier for everyone. With a plan like this in place, the burden of care is not laid solely at your feet.

Planning can cover immediate needs, but it can also progress to future planning when your parents may be beyond the immediate retirement age and need help in their very senior years. Thinking about places like the assisted living Buffalo Grove is a great way to ensure peace of mind for the future. Considering the future, you can take this time to adjust your own retirement plans making it easier on your own kids as well, saving time and effort for them later on down the line.

Reduce Their Costs

One of the issues that most recent retirees will face is how to meet their current living expenses. With no major income anymore, with the exception of a pension, your parents may be feeling stressed and unable to enjoy their usual lifestyle. In order to help your recently retired parents in this regard, it can be a good idea to sit down with them and see where they can reduce their costs in order to remain more effective now they’re at home.

Cost reduction can cover a range of different things. Many of these are simple such as switching their phone provider or changing which company they use for their utility bills. In some cases, helping them to downsize, potentially moving to a smaller house or property can ease that monetary burden. If you’re happy to have them, let them move in with you, as it could benefit you as well as them. Selling surplus items or reducing unnecessary spending will also help ease the burden of support that lies with you.

Finding the Benefits

Your retired parents may also be entitled to a number of different benefits depending on their situation. These benefits can help supplement their current pension, and again, this will take the burden away from you, allowing you to continue saving for your own retirement. See if your parents qualify for senior bus passes, food discounts, cheaper prescriptions, or even property tax help. Any or all of these can really help out your parents so that they can continue living as independently as possible.

Help Them Move

There are two main reasons why you should help your parents move; to help them reduce their living expenses and to help them retire to a town or city they have always wanted to live in.

All cities and towns are different, with the cost of living fluctuating depending on the city or town in question. Your parents might have been living in an expensive city because they could afford it while they were working. Now that they are not, and are likely relying on depending passive income streams and their savings, it is important to ensure that the amount they have saved up and that is coming in can be stretched as far as possible.

Many people have a dream city or town they would like to retire to. Some want a quieter life, with a simple life and friendly neighbors while some might favor the farm life. Moving to a town or a city they have always wanted to live in is a good way of improving their satisfaction with their living condition as well as ensuring they can fulfill a lifelong dream.

Educate Them About Scams

Scams are a topic that a lot of people do not discuss with their retired parents. Did you know that retirees over the age of 60 are more than 5 times more likely to be scammed than younger people? Technology has made it easy to perpetuate these scams, and because many retirees might not be tech-savvy, they are more likely to fall for scams like imposter scams (where strangers pose as friends and family to solicit money), check fraud or sweepstakes, lottery or prize scams.

Additionally, encourage them to keep an eye on their credit cards and bank accounts. If they notice anything amiss, they should get in touch with the relevant parties or with you so you can help them out. Lastly, let them know that get-rich schemes are scams that go by another name.

Encourage Them to Bolster Their Insurance

If you have life or health insurance, it is easy to forget that your retired parents might not have it too. If they do not have adequate insurance to cover their retirement costs, long-term care, or medical expenses, you should do that for them as soon as possible.

The reason why this is so important is that if they do not have adequate cover, they could end up paying a lot of money for retirement expenses that might have been covered by insurance. If you are responsible for taking out insurance on their behalf, ensure you get whole or universal life insurance. While you might end up spending a lot of money taking care of your parents while they are retired, whole or life insurance will replenish all this money when they pass away.

Know When to Step in

There will come a point where things like paying the bills will be overwhelming for your parents. It is important that you do not force your parents to give you total control but should instead know when to step in or not. By doing this, you will be letting them stay in control while helping them in the areas they are overwhelming or cause anxiety for them.