For many people, the concept of retirement can be scary, both emotionally and financially.

If you, too, feel somewhat anxious about what awaits you, you might feel more comfortable in knowing that, depending on where you work, you might be able to retire in stages.

As its name suggests, retiring in stages typically involves reducing one's work hours from full-time to part-time, and then, eventually, to complete retirement.

If you enjoy the social relationships of work, and you define part of your identity with what you do at your job, this type of gradual transition may be easier for you to accommodate than the abrupt transition from "worker" to "retiree."

As for the financial aspects of such a move, you will want to plan ahead. A "phased-in" retirement can affect your investment and income strategies in several areas, such as these:

Social Security: You can start collecting Social Security as early as age 62, but your monthly payments will only be about 75 percent of what you'd get if you wait until you reach 66 (assuming that 66 is your "full" retirement age). And the payments get larger from there, until they "max out" at 70.

So, if you had planned to retire at 62 but instead retired in stages, you could possibly afford to delay taking Social Security until your checks were bigger.

You could work and receive Social Security, but if your earnings exceed a certain amount, some of your benefits may be withheld, at least until you reach full retirement age — after which you can earn as much as you want with no withholding of benefits.

However, your Social Security could still be taxed based on your income.

Required minimum distributions: During your working years, you may well have contributed to tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as a traditional IRA and a 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored plan.

But once you turn 701⁄2, you must start taking withdrawals ("required minimum distributions," or RMDs) from these accounts.

You can't delay taking these payments, which are taxable. But if you did retire in stages and continued to work part-time, past when you expected to completely retire, you may be able to stick with the required minimum withdrawals at least for a while, rather than taking out larger amounts immediately.

In this way, you could potentially keep more of your retirement funds growing in your tax-deferred accounts.

Investment mix: If you planned to retire at a certain date, you might have created a specific mix of investments designed to provide you with sufficient income to last your lifetime. But if you continue to work, you may not have to rely so heavily on your portfolio — that is, your IRA, 401(k) and all investments held outside these retirement accounts — to help you meet your income needs.

Consequently, during these extra years of work, you may be able to withdraw less from your portfolio, thus potentially having more assets to provide for your income needs down the road.

As you can see, a "phased-in" retirement could help provide you with options in making a variety of financial decisions.

So, plan carefully before you exit the workforce — a gradual departure may be a good way to say "goodbye."

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones financial adviser.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SHANKLIN: Should you retire in 'stages'?

The majority of visitors to Okaloosa County come for our most popular natural resources, the beach and ocean.  However, our county has so much more to offer and visitors and residents are often not aware of the wide variety of ecotourism and agritourism options available to them. 

Ecotourism and agritourism are two segments of the tourism industry that are growing in the Panhandle.

Agritourism involves bringing visitors to the farm for activities such as fruit and vegetable picking, corn mazes, hayrides, bonfires, weddings, and campouts.

Ecotourism is nature-based travel that emphasizes conserving the environment and having little to no impact on the natural environment. This includes bird watching, hiking, biking, kayaking, camping and other actives in nature.

Local businesses are beginning capitalize on their nature-based and/or agricultural tourism operations, not only during the busy summer season, but also as a way to increase tourism during the traditionally “slow” times of the year.

The average tourist on the Emerald Coast spends approximately $90 per person/per day, with 41 percent going towards lodging, 25 percent shopping, 17 percent food, 10 percent entertainment and 7 percent other. In Okaloosa County, this translated to $603 million of tourist spending in 2014 and resulted in 11,923 jobs.

Eco- and agritourism are a small, but growing sector of that tourism industry. They brought $117 million in tourist spending and accounted for 2,313 jobs in Okaloosa County in 2014. That is nearly 20 percent of the overall tourist spending in the county.

Eco- and agritourism must be advantageous for communities where it exists. Otherwise, there is no incentive to provide these valuable services. To support its growth we need to work together to increase traffic to local ecotourism and agritourism businesses, particularly during the fall and spring. We need to increase local and out-of-area awareness of existing businesses. We can also support the creation of new businesses tailored to serve the needs of visitors.

Eco- and agritourism can benefit both the citizens and environment in Okaloosa County.

Laura Tiu is an agent at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension office in Crestview.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: TIU: Capitalizing on sustainable tourism in Okaloosa County