No matter how prepared you are, there remains one thing that absolutely no one can avoid: old age. While you can’t prevent it, you can still be prepared for it. Here are a few things to keep in mind as a prepper that’s getting older.
Generally speaking, there are a few things that everyone should do when they start to grow old. While the details of each are specific to the person, they are generally a good idea for everyone.
Update your will
The will or testament is a legal document where a person expresses where they wish their belongings to be distributed to upon their death, as well as an executor, the person who will be in charge of seeing this through. Anyone of sound mind can make a will with or without the help of a lawyer. Having a lawyer for legal matters is always a good idea, but it can be done without. If you don’t want to have a lawyer help, we recommend looking into DoYourOwnWill, a website that helps people handle the matter online.
Handle Your Retirement Finances
When you get older, your daily work becomes harder and harder to manage. Eventually it becomes time to retire. But money doesn’t grow on trees, you need money to keep living your life. If you have a retirements fund, 401k, or allocated stocks to retire on, then you should look deeper into how to start utilizing that.
The other thing to consider is social security. Currently, the government will allow full retirement funds for individuals age 67 or older. Individuals can begin collecting social security as early as 62, but at a reduced rate. The average social security payment is $1,413 per month as of June 2018, but this will vary by age and income. If you want to know what kind of numbers you can expect, check out the SSA’s official calculator.
Be careful not to rely on social security, though. The program is in danger of collapse as the generations progress.
Take Better Care of Yourself
Just like with retirement, you won’t be the peak of physical condition forever. As you get older, you get weaker, more worn out. While you can’t stop this, there are a lot of things you can do to offset it.
Eat healthier. Food is the fuel that powers everything we do. Whether it’s just less sugars, more vitamins, or just drinking more water, taking better care of our bodies can help us not feel so rough when we get older.
Work out, but not too much. physical activity is proven to help promote a healthy body. Look into workout routines that suit your needs and interests. Just don’t overdo it. There’s a difference between physical exercise and physical strain.
Accept medical help. Go to the doctor, take the medicine the suggest, wear your glasses or joint braces. Doctors want you to be in good condition, and many will be happy to recommend healthy living activities if you ask.
Accept Your Situation
Physical and financial prepping is easy. The real challenge comes from the mental side of things. There’s a certain social stigma to being old. People will buy hair dye and plastic surgery to avoid looking like they’ve aged. There’s nothing inherently wrong with aging though. When you can learn to accept that you’re older, you can start to own it. Worrying about the inevitable is more stress than you should have to handle.
In turn, part of that is accepting help. You might need to rely on your children, or on registered caretakers, for your daily responsibilities. It can be emasculating. But there’s no point in avoiding it. Hurt pride is far more manageable than a broken bone.
Become the wise, old sage you see in stories, wear your age with honor.
Claire Masters March 22, 2022
Thanks for mentioning that one way you can prepare for retirement it’s to settle your will of testament by hiring a lawyer that would handle the administration of your estates. Personally, this is a complicated process that I will need to think about soon. I hope I would be able to find to help in making sure my assets are inherited by my children soon.