Create a Printable Countdown to Retirement Planner in 5 Easy Steps

Creating a printable countdown to retirement planner is easy and customizable. You can choose from a variety of templates and designs to personalize your planner. You can also add your own goals, reminders, and special days to keep you motivated and on track. Whether you are retiring in a year or ten years, a countdown planner can help you stay organized and focused on your goals.

If you are ready to take control of your retirement planning, consider creating a countdown to retirement planner. With a little effort and creativity, you can create a tool that will help you achieve your retirement goals and enjoy the next chapter of your life.

The best part of making your own retirement planner is that you can sell it and start your journey on making a passive income towards retirement or even during retirement with creating printable planners!

Disclaimer, as an affiliate for several companies, I may receive compensation for links you click.

Understanding Retirement Planning

Retirement planning can be a daunting task, but it’s essential to ensure you have a comfortable life after you stop working. It involves your retirement goals, evaluating the time until retirement, and developing a plan to achieve those goals.

It’s also important to understand the hows, whats and whys to create your planner.

Defining Retirement Goals

The first step in developing a retirement planner is to define your retirement goals. This includes determining your retirement date and the lifestyle you want to lead after retirement. You should consider your retirement income, expenses, and savings to determine the amount of money you need to save to achieve your retirement goals.

Assessing Time Until Retirement

The next step is to assess the time until your retirement. This will help you determine how much time you have to save and invest to achieve your retirement goals. You should consider your current age, retirement age, and the number of years you have until retirement.

For Americans, you can go to the Social Security website and check on your personal retirement dates of when and how much you could collect. I do this yearly to double check and make sure they have my years of employment correct and check on that countdown.

If you have not been to the Social Security website and set up your account, I suggest you do so. Reason is that you want to make sure they have all of your employment dates and earnings correct.

It’s important to note that the earlier you start saving for retirement, the better. The power of compounding interest can significantly increase your retirement savings over time. For example, if you start saving for retirement at age 25, you will have more time to save and invest than if you start at age 40.

I stress this to my son all the time. He is in his early 30’s and I told him the time is now to start saving. Even though he will have military benefits and as a law enforcement officer, he will have a nice pension. He still needs to think about the what if’s.

I may come up with a retirement planner for the Millenials! You can’t start too early planning for your retirement if you want to be comfortable and enjoy a carefree retirement!

Living in Florida, in the heart of retirement villages, towns, and cities, I see a lot of retired people. Many who struggle and had no plan for retirement. The pain and struggles they have is heartbreaking.

I also know what it was like to plan for my partners retirement when he turned 67. So making a planner seemed to make sense to me. Creating them to sell made even more sense!

So let’s get to it!

Step 1: Designing Your Retirement Planner

When designing your retirement countdown planner, there are two main aspects to consider: the format and the design theme.

Choosing a Format

First, you need to decide on the format of your planner. One easy way to create a printable countdown planner is to use an online template.

Canva can be a great resource and all you need to do is type in retirement planner. You will see all sorts of ideas on how to format your design.

Don’t carbon copy them, but use them for ideas on creating your own.

You can also create in Powerpoint or Google docs, but I prefer Canva for creating planners as most everything I need is there and is very user friendly.

Selecting a Design Theme

Once you have decided on the format, the next step is to select a design theme that fits your style and personality. If you dream of tropical beaches and travel, you may want to choose a theme that features beautiful places from around the world. If you prefer a more minimalist style, you may opt for a simple and clean design.

If you are making planners to sell, starting off in a minimalistic design is best, as you can then create another, using that template, and add more color, etc.

When you are creating your planner, you can use images, colors, and fonts to create a unique and personalized design.

In Canva, you set your brand colors and use those. There is also a website called Coolors, where you can see trending color palettes or create your own.

You can also purchase PLR or Private Label Rights templates where you can use their templates as you paid for the right to use them.

PLR defines as: Digital products that are sold with a license, allowing the purchaser to modify and resell them.

In Canva, there is a section called Elements. In there, you will find charts, tables, lines, shapes, etc. These are very useful and helpful when making your planner. It has a lot of the work done for you.

Play around and you will discover how easy it can become to quickly make any planner! Once you have one created, you can use it as a template for other planners as all you need to do is change the wording to suit the niche you have chosen.

Designing a retirement countdown planner should be a fun and creative process. By choosing the right format and design theme, you can create a planner that not only helps countdown to retirement, but also reflects your personality and style.

Step 2: Setting Up Your Planner

Creating Sections For Your Retirement Planner

The first thing you’ll want to do is create an outline of all the sections you want to cover in your planner.

A sample breakdown of sections/pages:

1. Planning Goals – Short term and long term goals
2. Financial Goals, make a list of investment goals, loan payoff goals, income goals, and any other monetary goals you may have
3. Annual budget and monthly budget pages. Think of all the things a person may need to pay and list with a budget and actual column.
4. Estimated Expenses Page (could align with the above) and an income page. Also a retirement saving page. All of these will be more or less tracker pages to fill in until and during retirement
5. Debt payment overview page and a debt payment tracker. This will help keep on top of what debt there is and possibly will be during retirement
6. Retirement accounts page where a list is made as well as investments page.
7. Next there are taxes that will need to be paid during retirement and also any insurance, so there is another page
8. Now the fun pages, a bucket list page, a travel or entertainment page (basically a page dedicated to all the fun things that you want to do when retired) and to make sure that you are not just sitting in a rocker, rocking the days away.

You may also want to include in your retirement planner a page for estimated date for retirement, when to apply for social security and medicare. You need to look at the bigger picture. From planning to retire to actual retirement.

I know when my partner retired, he had to get his dates set up in his head when he can apply for social security and get his medicare taken care of. We found it best to talk to a medicare broker for that supplemental insurance etc.

Step 3: Making the Actual Retirement planner

Now that you have broken down and listed all of your sections, it’s time to go to Canva or the creating platform of your choice, and get started on your pages.

You’ve made your design theme with color and fonts, and if you want minimalistic or colorful. Remember, these will be printed, so be conscious of ink usage for you and your potential customers, if you are making these to sell online. At least one of your planners should be minimalistic.

Above are some images of a planner I created. You should be able to click on the picture to expand it to get the idea of how I set up my pages.

First I create my first page size and use US Letter Size, 8.5″ x 11″. Since that is what most in the USA use for printing, I start there.

Something to think about is you may also want to copy that to an A4 size for the Europeans to be able to use. We will get into that later.

Once you have your first page, it’s time to create. Go ahead and create each page as when you have it finished, you can move pages up and down for that final save and download to your computer as a PDF file.

Most of the creating is blocks and lines and text and a few images. I found the cutest clip art on Creative Fabrica. Just note, that even though you have a free account or a premium account on Canva, you need to be careful of using clip art. Please refer to the terms and conditions as they can change.

You will want to make a cover page as well and if you are ambitious, a table of contents.

Once you are finished, download a pdf print copy to your computer. You will want to print it out and make sure it looks great.

Step 4: Printing Your Planner

Once you have created your printable countdown to retirement planner, it’s time to print it out. I always print out what I create before I sell it. I need to see that it is formatted to print properly and looks good on paper and can make any other edits and just make sure it is user friendly.

Paper Selection

If you are printing this for yourself, choosing the right paper is important for the overall look and feel of your planner. You want to select a paper that is durable and high-quality, but also affordable. You want this planner to last if it is for you. Here are some paper options to consider other than plain white copy paper:

• Cardstock: This is a heavier weight paper that is great for creating durable planners. It comes in a variety of colors and finishes, and can be purchased at most office supply stores.
• Matte paper: This paper has a smooth finish and is great for printing text-heavy documents. It is also affordable and widely available.
• Glossy paper: This paper has a shiny finish and is great for printing photos and graphics. It is more expensive than matte paper, but can add a professional touch to your planner.

Consider the type of content you have in your planner and choose the paper that will best showcase it.

You can also include the above in your instructions or description of your planner if you plan to sell it online.

Printing Methods

Here are a few different methods you can use, depending on your budget and printing needs.

• Home printer: If you have a printer at home, this is the most convenient and cost-effective option. Make sure you have enough ink and paper before you start printing.
• Print shop: If you want a professional-looking planner, consider taking it to a print shop. They have high-quality printers and can print on a variety of paper types and sizes. This option is more expensive than printing at home, but can be worth it for a polished final product.
• Online printing service: There are many online printing services that allow you to upload your planner and have it printed and shipped to you. This option is convenient and can be cost-effective for larger quantities.

I have seen the above in descriptions on Etsy giving people the best information for their customers have success in in not only printing their planner, but in using it.

So now your planner looks good on paper, it’s time to think about what is next.

Earlier I mentioned having a copy in A4 size. That is entirely up to you depending on where you are from in the big wide world. A4 = 8.27 x 11.69 inches. You will want to make a copy of that in Canva in that size and download a separate file.

With that said, you will need a premium membership to Canva to do that easily.

Step: 5 Preparing Your Retirement Planner To Sell.

Congratulations on creating your printable countdown to retirement planner! Now that you have your planner created, if you plan to market it online, here are your next steps!

Creating Mock Ups

Head back to Canva and create mock-up pictures. If you are selling on Etsy, you have 10 images and one video. You want to use up all 10 images.

Note that you can turn all 10 of your images into a mp4 video by adding transitions to it. That is what I do because Etsy says videos have more visits.

I like to make a simple clean background and go back to my original planner and download all the images in a png file. Then upload them back into Canva. (you can delete them when finished)

I use those images to create my mock up photos.

Here is an example of a mock up I have on Etsy.

I muted the background image to match my planner. All I did was create a pattern with the foliage used in the planners themselves.

I also like to use the shadow effect under edit photo, once it is on my image I am creating.

Title, Description, And Keywords

If you are uploading to Etsy, Gumroad or any other platform, you will need a title, description and keywords.

The title would obviously be the title of your planner, but write down some longtail keywords. Example: Countdown To Retirement Planner, Printable Planner, Digital Download, Bucket List, Retirement Savings, etc…

I used some of the page names in the planner to put in that title. This is mainly for Etsy. They allow the longtail keywords. You still want those longtail keywords to put in your description as well.

Description would be describing your retirement planner with a list of pages that are included, sizes being 8.5″ x 11″ and A4 ( if using that ) plus any pain points you are trying to solve for your customer.

Meaning that you may want to say, This Countdown to Retirement Planner would make a great gift for someone wanting to retire. Or, a great way to keep track of your investments and saving and to-do list before you retire… etc. You get the gist. Be as descriptive as possible.

I also always write “Digital Download Only. No Physical Product Will Be Sent”

Now it will be time to upload your file to Etsy. If your file is too large or you have more than one file to send, you will want to go into Google Docs, create a pdf page with links to your file. (I call this a cover page).

First, though, I go into my drive and import my pdf planner file I downloaded from Canva into Google docs and use the share button, then copy link, but first you need to give access to anyone with a link. You take that link that you copied and paste into your pdf page (cover page) you are going to upload to Etsy or any other platform you are selling on.

This cover page should have a thank you for purchasing statement, any links if you have a blog/Facebook page for your business and of course the links. Let them know if they have any questions, to please respond to you either via email (if you are not using Etsy) or through Etsy if you are. I don’t give out my personal information on Etsy like my email address, as they need to contact you through that platform in case they give you trouble, you have it recorded on Etsy.

Once all of your links are in place and your “cover page” is ready, you can upload that pdf file to Etsy, along with your mock ups, your title, your description.

Now you need 13 keywords for your retirement planner. This will help customers find you when they type in any keywords that you use.

A great place to find keywords is Insight Factory. Note that this is not a free tool platform as well as Erank.

There are free ones though! Google search, Google Keywords, Google Trends, and check out your competitors! See what they used in their titles. You can also look to social media and search for groups that have the same niche as you.

Effective keywords are VERY IMPORTANT if you want your product to be found.

Lastly, you need a price. Check out your competitors pricing. Don’t undersell yourself. Also don’t be the most expensive! You’ll sell yourself short. Find the middle of the road.

Now you are ready to list and make your next creation!

I do want to point out one thing. I mention Etsy a lot in this post. I am a believer that you should not have all your eggs in one basket. I recommend finding other platforms as well to sell your digital products. I like Gumroad, and plan to put a shop here on my website soon.

I have seen a lot of people getting their shops shut down without reason. Although some have trademarked items on their products and that is a huge NO-NO. Do not use any trademarked images in your product period! If you are unsure if it is trademarked or not, go to Trademarkia. It is a free searchable site.

For more detailed information on Canva, you can visit Pam as she has a free toolkit for Canva.

Stay Colorful, Stay Creative, and HAVE FUN!

~Laurie