Planning for retirement, including the possibility of moving from bricks-and-mortar to a park home, is one of the key phases of our lives. In association with the Barton Group, here are our top tips…

Do you have a cunning plan for retirement? There is a well-known phrase, attributed to Benjamin Franklin, which states that ‘failing to plan, is planning to fail’. As many park residents will be able to confirm, there are no shortage of people queueing up to help with the financial planning aspect of retirement, but there is so much more than money to plan for.

This month, in association with Barton Group, we take a leaf out of Baldrick’s book and make a few suggestions for a cunning plan for a successful transition to the retirement lifestyle.

Dreams can come true
Setting aside the very real need to ensure that your pension provision will provide the size of pot you need for a comfortable and varied retirement lifestyle, it is almost as important to prepare for the emotional transition. Moving to a park home is often a great start to ensuring that your retirement hopes comes true. Park homes and residential parks provide a great route to releasing equity, moving to a modern low maintenance home, and life amongst a like-minded community. But, if your dream of more holidays, lazy days, time for hobbies and finally getting around to ticking off your ‘bucket list’ is going to become a reality, its best to think ahead.

Try a dry run
As retirement approaches its perfectly possible to try out some of the activities and changes you have planned for, before the time actually arrives. Here are some suggestions for this aspect of retirement planning

Take more holidays and trips. Whether its coach tours, golf trips, city breaks or cruising that floats your boat, try them out so you can be sure there aren’t downsides you hadn’t counted on. It’s also worth trying out your favourite holiday destination in the closed season before making it your permanent address!

Taking up taxidermy
Make a start on hobbies and projects now. Don’t wait until you have retired to discover that the long-held ambition of restoring an E type or taking up taxidermy is not as fulfilling as you hoped.
Spend more time with your spouse or partner to see what you enjoy together. It may seem obvious but you may not know your partner as well as you think. Its best to find out sooner, rather than later, that your nearest and dearest doesn’t actually share your passion for real ale or birdwatching!

Be prepared
Be prepared to make new friends. It’s easy to underestimate the social side of work. Interacting with workmates and colleagues is such a natural part of everyday it’s easy to forget that it will disappear when you retire. Fortunately, residential parks such as Barton’s Glenholt Park, near Plymouth are invariably ready-made communities of like-minded people.

Read the full story in the June 2019 issue of Park Home & Holiday Caravan