In This Issue
	Maine Medical Association Zoom Meeting for Providers During COVID-19 Pandemic
	Federal Enforcement Against COVID-19 Fraud, Hoarding and Price Gouging
	HHS has Modified Emergency Fund Grant Language to Make its Meaning More Clear
	WHO COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Update
	Obtaining Unaffordable Medicines: A Challenge for Many Patients
	Retirement Planning - Topics To Consider During Your Retirement Transition Years
	MMA Joins the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health
	A Message from Maine Responds
	Nominations for the MMA 2020 Mary Cushman Award for Humanitarian Service
	Information about the 2020 Census
129th MAINE LEGISLATURE, SECOND REGULAR SESSION
	New Law Takes Effect Concerning Physician Assistant Scope of Practice
UPCOMING EVENTS
	Upcoming Specialty Society Meetings
	FREE WEBINAR - Risk Management & Ethics: COVID-19 Rationing - Thursday, April16th - 2-3pm
	Webinar tomorrow April 16th at 6pm: Managing Student Debt
	Webinar April 20 12:30pm: Tele-Tech 101-Lay Of the Land
	April 29 webinar: MAT in a Time of Public Health Emergency & Social Distancing
	Successful Opiate Recovery Strategies - June 3 at 2pm, Augusta Civic Center
	Maine Suicide Prevention Program Training for Clinicians
HEALTHCARE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
	Family Medicine Outpatient Physician
	Medical Director, Primary Care Physician
	Physician - Nasson Health Care
	Nurse Practitioner - Nasson Health Care
	Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner - Nasson Health Care
	Family Medicine Opportunity in Beautiful Western Maine
	Orthopedic Surgeon Opportunity in Beautiful New England
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
	Opportunities at the VA for Volunteer Physicians
	Volunteer Opportunity with Partners for World Health - Portland, ME

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The goal of this article is to identify what some of the key retirement planning topics are so that you can better prepare yourself for the important decisions that you will need to make during your retirement transition years. 

Employer Benefits
The last thing you want to do is to leave money on the table.  So make sure that you take the time to review the financial benefits that you have through your employer such as, pension claiming options, vesting schedules for bonuses, life insurance, as well as what to do with your 401k or other retirement plans once you're no longer an employee. 

Health Care
Having an understanding of what your health insurance options are and how they work is extremely important.  You want to make sure that you don't have any lapses in health care coverage during your retirement transition period.

Take the time to learn how Medicare works, what the costs are, and when you need to apply by in order to avoid the lifetime penalties.  If you retire before the age of 65, and are not able to stay on your employer plan or go to a spousal plan, you will most likely need to get COBRA or a private insurance plan until you qualify for Medicare, which can be expensive. 

Social Security
If you haven’t already done so, sign-up for an online account on the Social Security website to get a projection of your benefit.  Your benefit will be based off of your highest 35 years of earnings. 

Before taking you're Social Security benefits, which for most is between the ages of 62-70, you should really take the time to consider all of your claiming options.  Making an uninformed claiming decision could end up costing you or you and your spouse thousands or potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime(s).

Generating Income Without A Paycheck
Have you considered how you're going to generate consistent income now that you're no longer receiving a regular paycheck?  Do you know how much you should be spending from your accounts every year? Have you coordinated your account withdrawals in a way that that maximizes tax efficiency?  Have you considered the impacts of inflation on your spending power over time? Are your accounts properly allocated and diversified in order to be able to fund your short, intermediate, and long-term spending needs? 

Organize Your Accounts
Consider simplifying and consolidating your different bank, brokerage, and retirement accounts to one or just a few trusted banks or brokerage firms.  This can really simplify things as you begin coordinating withdrawals from all of your accounts in retirement.  It can also potentially cut down on paperwork and fees.  Not only that, if something were to happen to you, it would be much easier for someone to step in and manage your accounts.

A well thought-out retirement plan will put you in a much better position to be able to make informed decisions regarding these important topics.  Not only that, a retirement plan helps to give you and your family on-going peace of mind and financial clarity that you deserve during your retirement years.