Early retirement survival checklist

Robyn is 58, happily married and her daughters are living independently. Like a lot of women in her situation, Robyn would like to have more time to enjoy life now that the expenses of raising children have been met.

"Right now I'm doing a lot of thinking about whether or not to leave my job," confides Robyn. "There are so many factors to consider that I've drawn up a list of things that may help other women in my situation to make up their minds, too. I call it my retirement checker!"

Robyn says that there are always going to be other considerations - unique and personal to every woman - but she feels that there are six major areas we all have to consider when we start to think about retiring early.

The first consideration, of course, is going to be money.

"I asked myself whether I am financially able to retire early," says Robyn. "Are the family finances in such a bad shape that I need to work until I'm given the gold watch and pushed out to pasture? Or, am I capable of financial independence with or without a cut in living expenses?"

The second consideration is the action style:

"Do I want to make a clean break when I retire? Or, do I want to bridge the transition from full-time work to retirement by halving my working hours by working part-time or on casual contracts?"

The third consideration concerns the value of the job:

"I asked myself whether or not I enjoyed my job, my co-workers and the commute to work," says Robyn, "an to what extent I enjoyed them."

The fourth consideration is lifestyle:

"Do I enjoy a rich lifestyle and intend to continue it in retirement? Do I enjoy the good life but plan on cutting down drastically when I'm retired? Or, is my present lifestyle frugal and I intend to keep it that way?"

The fifth consideration is health:

"Am I physically fit, mentally alert and emotionally strong? Or, am I falling a little short in one or more aspects of health?"

The sixth consideration is the state of the economy and the world generally:

"I asked myself if jobs were plentiful, if the economy was humming along nicely and if the country was at peace with the world," says Robyn.?

"Most of us are middle-grounders," says Robyn. "We're neither rich nor poor; we're not sure whether we want to stay to the end or go the part-time transition route; we neither love nor hate our work, our co-workers and the commute; and we have a reasonably good lifestyle, but still watch our pennies."

"Because most of us are middle-grounders," laughs Robyn, "the retiring process can take many years to think about and act upon."

"One factor stood out above all others for me," says Robyn, "and that's the job market and the state of the world."

"The situation now is really not very good for older women and a lot of us are being forced into retirement much earlier than we had planned - and for some of us that means ending life in abject poverty. As much as I yearn for a life on the porch, reading and catching the sun, I couldn't bear to be poor and neither could my husband. We want a good life in retirement."

"A clever woman approaching retirement thinks of all angles and takes as much control of her situation as she can - as early as she can," says Robyn. "Yes, I'm lucky that my marital situation gives me a lot more control over the early retirement decision than most women have, but every woman regardless of her cirucmstances needs to pay attention to what she wants for herself in retirement."