Approaching Retirement Age and Beyond as a Veteran

Approaching retirement age is a complicated time. On one hand, you’ve spent your whole life working hard, and now you have some restful years to look forward to. On the other, there are a lot of decisions you need to make regarding your retirement years and beyond. It’s important for each individual to get their finances in order, but this is especially true for veterans.

This is because veterans have access to options that are not available to everyone else. If you’re a veteran who is approaching their retirement age, and you want to start planning for your future, here are the things you need to consider.

Veteran’s Pension

The first thing you’ll want to look into is your pension. While your employer might offer a pension, you could also be eligible for one as a veteran. There are a few requirements that you will have to have met. First, you had to serve during wartime. Second, you must have served for at least 90 days of active duty. If you started your active duty after September 7, 1980, this requirement extends to 2 years or the full period for which you were called to active duty. Finally, you must either be over the age of 65 or receiving Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance, be permanently disabled, or receiving care in a nursing home.

If you have a spouse or children, you should also look into survivor’s pension. This would allow them to collect a pension should something happen to you.

Life Insurance

During this time, it’s important to think about not only how you’re going to get by on a day to day basis, but also what’s going to happen to your loved ones once you are gone. This is why you’ll want to think about life insurance. Many people have already considered their life insurance choices by this point, but it’s still a good idea to go over the options available to you. A few things you should look into are Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, Veteran’s Group Life Insurance, Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance, Family Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance, Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance Traumatic Injury Prevention and Service-Disabled Veteran’s Life Insurance.

Disability Compensation

If, while you were in active service, you sustained or aggravated an injury, you could be eligible for disability compensation. This will hopefully help to offset some of the costs associated with your injury. To find out more about how disability compensation works, or if you are eligible, your best bet is to talk to your local Veteran’s Affairs office. You can locate yours by clicking this link.

Nursing Home Considerations

Another thing you need to think about as you get older is where you’re going to live. It’s an unfortunate truth that as we get older, we need a little more help doing things. This is why many people, including veterans, choose to live in a nursing home. It’s a good idea to start researching nursing homes now, so that you have an idea as to where you might want to live one day, especially since not all nursing homes are created the same. In fact, according to TheBarnesFirm.com “Nursing home negligence is a serious problem that impacts thousands of elderly Americans and their families each year.” As a result, you’ll want to make sure you do your due diligence, and find a place where you’ll be happy, safe, and comfortable.

Military Burial

Finally, while it might not be pleasant, you should give some thought into how you want your funeral to go. As a veteran, you are entitled to a military burial. This includes a gravesite at a veteran’s cemetery, perpetual care, a government headstone, and more. To learn more about this process, the VA website has all the information you need here. Towards the end of your life, you want to make sure everything is in order for your family, and taking care of this step for them will help them during their grieving process.

Start Preparing Now

Whether you plan on retiring in 5 years or 5 days, it’s never too early to start thinking about your options. The sooner you start planning, the more time you can take with each decision, and ultimately make choices that are better for you and your family. You’ve spent your life working and serving your country, and you deserve to spend your retirement in peace and happiness. Hopefully the above guide was able to give you some things to think about, and before long you’ll have your retirement planned out and beyond.