SEMINAR 2 READY. It s More Than Money: Engagement with Life Worksheet 2-1: Retirement Readiness Quiz. Retirement

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1 Worksheet 2-1: Readiness Quiz Please complete this quiz before attending Ready?, seminar 2. The Readiness Quiz contains 20 multiple-choice questions. Answer each question, unless instructed otherwise. For each question, read all the possible responses first and then choose the one response that is closest to your own situation. There is no one right answer; it is possible that you may fit into more than one category. If so, choose the one that best describes you. Add up the numbers in parentheses at the end of each answer you choose. The results will be scored at the end of the quiz and are for you and you alone, so be honest with yourself to get an accurate score. 1. Which of these situations is closest to your current vision of your retirement? A. I plan to take longer vacations but also continue to be involved in some type of professional or community activity. (3) B. I am dreading retirement, so I am giving it as little thought as possible. (0) C. I have a clear idea of my retirement lifestyle, which will be a balance of a number of activities, and I could write it down right now if you asked me to. (6) D. My retirement will be a perpetual vacation where I will do whatever I want to do. (0) E. will give me the chance to do things that I have always wanted to do but never had time for while I was working. (4) 2. What thoughts have you given to planning your transition to retirement? A. My transition will be relatively easy. After I leave, others will have to take over my responsibilities. (1) B. I have begun to think about how I will rearrange my life and transfer my responsibilities to others, but I have a lot more to do. (3) C. I am just counting the days until it happens. (0) D. I have made a specific retirement transition plan, shared it with those who matter, and gotten buy-in. (6) E. I have talked with my boss and associates, my spouse or life partner (if any), family, and friends about my retirement transition and gotten their initial feedback. (5) 3. What do you want to accomplish in retirement? A. I have some specific goals in retirement that I would like to pursue. (4) B. I have already accomplished a lot. Now I just want to kick back. (0) C. I want to wait and see what comes up that might interest me. (1) D. I have a specific plan for my retirement, with goals, objectives, strategies, and timelines for accomplishment. (6) E. I want to explore some interests that I had when I was younger. (3) RETIREMENT READINESS QUIZ PAGE 1 OF 6

2 4. What activities associated with your profession do you plan to continue in retirement, if any? A. I plan to volunteer in areas where I can apply my professional and/or life skills, and try to make a difference. (5) B. I hope to start over in an entirely new field. (1) C. None. I will be done with all of that. I just want to kick back. (0) D. I plan to continue to work, gradually scaling back and adding in other things that interest me. (6) E. I plan to continue to work part-time, or otherwise contribute to my profession, using the skills I have already developed. (5) 5. How do you plan to spend your time, day to day, in retirement? A. I have a general idea of how I want to spend my time, but I don t have a specific plan. (3) B. I have not given this much thought, and I am just going to go with the flow. (0) C. I have thought about this in the abstract. The details will come later. (1) D. I have thought about this subject in detail and have made a plan for reorganizing my time to help me accomplish my retirement goals. (6) E. I have done some time management exercises to help predict how I will spend my time in retirement. (5) 6. When you are away from work for extended periods, what do you miss, if anything? A. I miss being part of a goal-oriented group or organization. (4) B. While I value my time away to refresh my energy, eventually I miss the structure, community, and purpose which my job provides for my life. (6) C. I am happy to miss all the pressure and stress. (2) D. I don t miss anything. (0) E. I primarily miss the social interaction with my co-workers. (3) 7. Have you talked with your spouse or life partner about your retirement plans? (If you are single, skip this question.) A. We have talked about it on occasion but need to get into more specifics. (2) B. We have talked about both the big issues and about the day-to-day issues that we will face in retirement. (5) C. We talk about it a lot, and are trying to make sure we both understand each other s needs and have the same expectations. (6) D. Very little. We both already know pretty much what we want after I retire. (0) E. We have had some specific discussions about the big issues (e.g. where we will live, what we will do, how much time we will spend together, etc.) and we will have to work out the details as we go. (3) RETIREMENT READINESS QUIZ PAGE 2 OF 6

3 8. Have you talked to your family and/or close friends about your retirement? A. I have made some specific plans with them for the time immediately following my retirement, and we will discuss the long-term future after I retire. (3) B. I have talked to them a little about my retirement, but only in general terms. (1) C. I keep my plans pretty much to myself. (0) D. We have had specific discussions about the retirement lifestyle I want and how to balance my needs with theirs. (6) E. We have discussed how our relationships will change after I retire, and we have a pretty good idea about how it will work out. (5) 9. Have you estimated how much your retirement lifestyle will cost in comparison to your current lifestyle? A. I have prepared a detailed budget for my retirement, and I plan to monitor my expenditures against that budget. (6) B. I really haven t thought about it very much. (0) C. I have made some back-of-the-envelope estimates, but I will have to get more specific before I retire. (1) D. I expect that my retirement lifestyle will cost about the same or a little more; although I will not have expenses associated with working, I plan to travel more or do other things that will increase my expenses, particularly in the early years. (4) E. I expect that my retirement lifestyle will cost less because I will no longer incur expenses associated with working. (2) 10. Which sources of your capital will you use to finance your retirement? A. I plan to spend my personal savings first, and keep all my tax-deferred retirement accounts in reserve as long as possible. (5) B. I plan to tap my retirement savings first and keep my personal savings intact as much as possible. (1) C. I have not thought very much about this. (0) D. I have made a plan for how I will rearrange my sources and uses of income in retirement to support my lifestyle, taking into account the tax consequences. (6) E. I plan to draw a little from each source (e.g., pension, social security, personal savings, home equity liquidation if applicable, any continuing income, and retirement savings). (1) RETIREMENT READINESS QUIZ PAGE 3 OF 6

4 11. Have you determined that your money will be sufficient to last for the rest of your life? A. I have done detailed financial planning for my retirement, using computer-based simulation models. (6) B. I have discussed this with my financial and/or insurance advisor(s) and together we have come up with some estimates on which I will base my future retirement budget. (4) C. I have estimated my retirement lifestyle financial needs, and I have done some detailed planning about my future investment strategy, my insurance needs, and my retirement budget. (5) D. I have not thought about this very much. (0) E. I have a general idea of how many additional years, on average, people my age are expected to live, and I have made my calculations on how long my money will last based on this information. (2) 12. Have you determined that your money will be sufficient for the rest of your spouse s or life partner s life if you were to die first? (If you are single or divorced without financial obligations, skip this question). A. We are not relying on average life expectancies; instead we are making conservative assumptions that one or both of us will live a long time. (5) B. We are both (almost) the same age, which means our life expectancies are practically the same, so the same plan works for both of us. (1) C. I really haven t thought about this very much. (0) D. We have used computer-based simulation models which have taken life expectancy issues into account for both of us. (6) E. We have sufficient life insurance to cover the eventuality that one of us might predecease the other. (4) 13. How have you arranged to cover your health care costs during retirement? A. My employer will continue to cover me in retirement until I am eligible for Medicare, at which time the benefits of the two plans will be coordinated. (6) B. I will lose my coverage at work, but I will pay for a temporary policy until I am 65, at which point Medicare will kick in. (3) C. My employer will continue to cover me in retirement until I am eligible for Medicare, at which point I plan to buy a Medigap insurance policy. (5) D. I will not have health insurance after I retire, so I will pay for my own health care costs. (0) E. I am not planning to retire until I am 65 and, at that time, Medicare will provide health care coverage for me. (3) RETIREMENT READINESS QUIZ PAGE 4 OF 6

5 14. How do you plan to maintain your physical health? A. I am very active (exercise five or more times per week), and I pay very close attention to my diet and weight. (3) B. I am quite active (exercise three or four times per week), and I pay attention to my diet and weight. (5) C. I am moderately active (exercise about two times per week) but could improve my diet and/or weight. (3) D. I am not very active, but I pay close attention to my diet and/or weight. (3) E. I am not very active physically, and/or I have a weight problem or other significant health issues which could complicate matters later on. (0) 15. How do you plan to replace the intellectually challenging activities that were associated with your work? A. I am planning to work part-time and also to seek out new intellectually challenging activities. (6) B. I have already had enough intellectually challenging activities to last a lifetime. (0) C. Since I am planning to continue to work part-time, these intellectual challenges will continue but without the same intensity. (5) D. I plan to seek out new intellectually challenging opportunities to replace the ones that I will lose when I retire. (6) E. I am hoping that new intellectually challenging opportunities will come along in retirement. (1) 16. Are you planning to replace the social activities that were associated with your work? A. My close friends will always be there for me, and that is enough. (2) B. My close friends will always be there for me, and I am open to making new friends as opportunities present themselves. (3) C. I will put considerable effort into maintaining my close friendships and will actively develop new friendships as a result of activities I am committed to undertake in retirement. (6) D. I will need to spend more time maintaining my friendships in retirement than I did before. (4) E. When I retire, I am looking forward to getting away from a lot of social interaction. (0) 17. Have you given thought to how you want to be remembered? A. I have made a will, and it will dictate how I will be remembered. (2) B. I really can t influence this. It will take care of itself. (0) C. I have taken steps to pass on my assets, my values, and the lessons I have learned to those who will come after me. (6) D. Remembered for what? I plan to just fade away. (0) E. I want to do some things in my retirement that the people closest to me will remember me for. (4) RETIREMENT READINESS QUIZ PAGE 5 OF 6

6 18. What do you think will make you happy and fulfilled in retirement? A. I will find satisfaction and fulfillment in learning about and doing brand new things that I never had time to do before. (3) B. I want to repeat the fun times I had while on vacation. (2) C. Not working, and having the time to do whatever I want. (0) D. I hope to continue some of the things that made me happy and fulfilled in the past, while adding in new activities that I have wanted to pursue before but never had the time. (6) E. I have thought about what has made me happy and fulfilled in the past, and I plan to do more of these types of things in retirement. (5) 19. If it turns out that you are not happy and/or fulfilled in retirement, what do you plan to do about it? A. If I find that I am unhappy and/or unfulfilled, I will seek professional help from appropriate sources, if and when I need it. (5) B. I will wait and see how things work out. If there are problems, I will adjust. (1) C. I really don t think I will have any problems being happy and/or fulfilled in retirement. (0) D. I have a life coach or mentor whom I plan to meet with periodically to evaluate my progress and help me manage my life toward happiness and fulfillment. (6) E. Since I will be in control of my time, I will eliminate the things that are making me unhappy. (3) 20. What is your current situation? A. Married or life partner (0) B. Single (includes divorced) (8) Note: A single person adds points here so he or she is not penalized by questions 7 and 12. OVERALL READINESS SCALE Score Category 1 30 Not ready; time to start getting ready Just starting to get ready Almost ready, but more to do Ready; only fine tuning necessary Souce: Bernstein, A., & Trauth, J. (2006). Your retirement, your way. Retrieved July 20, 2009 fom Used with permission. RETIREMENT READINESS QUIZ PAGE 6 OF 6