Getting on the road toward financial freedom: there are several basic steps that anyone can take to reach economic empowerment. Here are three of them

Black Enterprise, Oct, 2004 by Lynnette Khalfani

Certainly, leaving the full-time workforce has serious financial implications. But too often, experts say, economic issues overshadow important emotional considerations.

So if you're planning for your golden years, do take time to enhance your retirement IQ--ensuring, among other things, that you'll have a healthy-sized nest egg.

But before you retire, don't forget to boost your retirement EQ (Emotional Quotient) as well. To ease into retirement with a lot more peace of mind, consider these three questions now--before you bid corporate America farewell.

* Where do you plan to live? If you still have a mortgage, or if you plan to purchase another home, this is clearly a financial issue--especially since housing prices vary wildly nationwide. But where you will live during retirement is also an emotionally-laden topic, particularly for couples. Oftentimes, one partner may envision selling the house, moving out of state, or relocating to a warm climate. Meanwhile, the other partner may be sentimentally attached to the family home, may be wary of leaving the current neighborhood, or--far from desiring tropical weather--may want to move closer to the grandchildren in Minneapolis or Buffalo. Thus, talking beforehand with your spouse about these potential areas of disagreement can go a long way toward avoiding future conflicts.

* How will you spend your time? Figuring out what to do with the rest of your life will require some serious soul-searching. It's also important to debunk some myths about what retirement represents.

"A lot of people are afraid of what their lives will be like," says Jerry Kleiman, a clinical psychologist in Long Island, New York. "They associate retirement with diminished capacity, diminished usefulness in society, dependency, or being a step closer to death."

Kleiman, who is also co-founder of Optimal Resolutions Inc., a consultancy that aids individuals and families with the emotional issues surrounding retirement, suggests that pre-retirees take a "life inventory." This requires you to identify unfulfilled dreams or goals, examine the hobbies and activities that excite you most, and determine what you are passionate about, in terms of intellectual, physical, social, or spiritual pursuits.

Similarly, it's also crucial to realize what you don't want to do.

"I know some people who want to retire on a beach, and sit around and play cards all day. If I did that, I'd be dead within a year from boredom," says Mark Wachs, a publicist in New York. Wachs, 60, has been meeting with his financial planner recently to prepare for his retirement--a period he views as "the next phase" in his life.

* If your finances fall short of your expectations, can you cope with that reality? Many of us have grown up with grandiose images of what retirement will be like: freedom from the stresses of work, time to travel, carefree days spent playing golf, or even doing absolutely nothing at all. Unfortunately, these images are more fiction that fact. The average American is woefully unprepared for the financial challenges of life without a steady paycheck--and thus unprepared to deal with the emotional letdown that inevitably occurs when retirement dreams and goals aren't realized.