Will aspiring grey nomads and avid travellers be able to fund their retirement?
Meet Gary and Julie, in their mid 60’s and recently sold their business.
Hoping the sale of their business would be enough to fund their retirement lifestyle.
Like most people, they’d worked hard and now was their time to shine. Time to do more enjoyable things while they were fit and able too…
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The Retirement Challenge…
Unfortunately for Gary and Julie they had not undertaken any retirement planning to date.
Did not know how they were going to fund their regular income. Nor did they know if they had enough to do all the things they had planned. Now they had time freedom…
Luckily for Gary and Julie, one of our long term clients had introduced us.
For Gary & Julie, they had a number of issues they wanted answers too:
#1 Do they have ENOUGH money to fund the retirement lifestyle they wanted? Or did Gary have to continue with part-time work?
#2 How do they set everything up so they don’t run out of money and avoid costly mistakes?
Deep down, they had worked hard to build their business and now wanted to reap the benefits. To live a good lifestyle in retirement where they were not limited by the money they had…
Learning form Past Mistakes…
No matter who we are, we all have regrets and made mistakes in the past…
We should have started planning earlier…
We should have put more into super…
Why didn’t we make that investment…
Why did we take on so much risk…
Gary and Julie were no different.
As we were talking about their super, which they had neglected for many years. Gary mentioned that they should have paid more attention to it and should have contributed along the way.
Honestly, if they had started this process 5 years ago or even 10 years ago they would have been in a better spot. Not having a plan equates to less money you’ll have to enjoy in retirement…
But they were here now and we needed to see what was possible for Gary & Julie…
Dream Retirement Lifestyle…
The first step of any successful retirement plan is to understand what a comfortable lifestyle looks like for you.
For Gary and Julie it was:
#1 European holiday
While Gary and Julie were not big overseas travellers. They had planned a trip overseas to Europe pre-Covid and couldn’t take the trip.
Now they had the time, they wanted to take this trip. They had many long term friends who lived throughout Europe. Now was the time to go and visit them all.
#2 Australian travel
Like most clients we work with, they want to complete the BIG LAP of Australia or part thereof.
To do that they needed to upgrade their vehicles and add a canopy to one.
Now they had finished what was a labour intensive work life. They wanted to get in as much travel as they could while they were fit and able.
#3 Small unit
Gary had throughout the years helped out his mates by working on their farms from time to time. Picking up a little cash along the way.
They spend time on the West Coast of SA throughout they year. Having a small parcel of land, they wanted to have comfortable accommodation they could stay in while there. Nothing flashy, just practical.
#4 Boat
Gary was a keen fisherman and Julie mentioned he’d need a boat. Not thinking they could afford this.
They mentioned that if they could this would be a bonus as Gary loved his fishing.
#5 Comfortable Retirement Lifestyle
Gary and Julie did not live a flashy lifestyle, but loved travelling around visiting friends they had made over the years. They had a large network of friends around the country.
They didn’t want anything flash and thought $60k pa would see them cover their living expenses comfortably.
Knowing what they wanted out of their retirement, they wanted to know whether this was all possible…
Retirement Scenarios…
The very first action we take with any client once we are clear on what they want out of retirement. Is to put together a long term cashflow forecast.
This serves two purposes:
#1 To determine how long the money will last.
#2 Identify blind spots clients are unaware of.
For Gary & Julie, the news was good. They would comfortably be able to afford the retirement lifestyle they wanted.
Even better, they would be in a position that if they wanted. They could spend more than they had anticipated if they chose too.
Not only that, they could take on less risk than they were currently taking with their super.
Gary and Julie’s retirement plan…
If you want to have a successful retirement. Do all the things you want to in retirement. You need a roadmap or plan to make that happen.
You can’t rely on a hope and prey strategy…
For Gary and Julie, there plan involved:
# 1 Knowing their retirement number
One critical step when planning your retirement is knowing your numbers. For Gary and Julie we had calculated that number and stress tested various outcomes. This will drive every financial decision they make.
#2 Contributions to super
As they had recently sold a business, the majority of their funds would be contributed to super. Which would in turn pay out their monthly income to pay for their day to day living expenses.
#3 Right fit super fund
While for most people heading into retirement. They have used the same super fund throughout their working life.
This means you may be holding a single investment that invests across many different assets. This is fine for most of your working life, but as you approach retirement and transition into retirement.
You require a different setup…
One that allows you to structure your investments based on the cashflow you need to fund your comfortable retirement lifestyle.
While allowing you to avoid selling investments when investment markets go down.
For Gary and Julie, we needed to make some changes to their current super arrangements to fit the retirement lifestyle they wanted.
#4 Right fit investment strategy
One step that many neglect. Is putting the time into understanding what investment strategy you need to get you through retirement safely.
There are many aspects to it. You still need to take on some level of risk but just enough to see you through and avoid your plans blowing up in front of you.
We worked with Gary and Julie to work through what was important to them when it came to investing. The formulated an investment strategy that would allow flexibility and just enough risk to see them through safely.
#5 Building a margin of safety…
Every retirement is going to hit challenges along the way…
Whether that’s an unexpected financial shock…spending more…falling investment markets…inflation, doing more or simply something you didn’t see coming.
Your retirement plan needs flexibility to adapt and flex when these events occur. It’s important to stay on top of them…
This involved making sure cash was available for capital expenses. Protecting their retirement nest egg from market shocks. Working with conservative estimates when using expected investment returns and inflation numbers.
#6 Retirement Roadmap…
Gary and Julie now had their retirement roadmap. Essentially a map to follow to help them enjoy the money they had to live the lifestyle they wanted.
One that shows them the path forward…
Gives them options…
Buffers built in when things don’t go as planned…
Flexible enough as plans and the landscape changes over time…
There will be times where changes will be required to keep Gary and Julie on track.
Gary and Julie now had the confidence to live their life. Free from worrying about running out of money. In fact, they now have the choice to enjoy more if they choose.
Do you know if you are on track to live a comfortable lifestyle in retirement?
Everyday you don’t have a plan is less money you’ll have in retirement to enjoy.
Do you know how much you need to live a comfortable lifestyle in retirement?
What would it be worth to know?
If you want to have peace of mind. Want a retirement roadmap you can have confidence in. One that gives you options and allows you to live the lifestyle you want.
Book a call with Glenn below. Let’s have a chat about your retirement dreams and how you can achieve a comfortable retirement. With confidence and peace of mind…
Request a Retirement Clarity Call
An opportunity to talk through some of your challenges and questions you have around your retirement.
Achieve some clarity and maybe a roadmap on how you can achieve a comfortable retirement.
Schedule hereAdvice Disclaimer: Any reference in this publication to the provision of advice refers to advice of a generic nature, and should not be taken as product or investment recommendations. Before any action is taken based on the information provided, independent financial advice from a licensed financial adviser should be sought. Financial Freedom Project Pty Ltd ATF GA & DC Doherty Family Trust Trading as Jigsaw Private Wealth is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Exelsuper Advice Pty Ltd. The information contained in this publication is of a factual nature only and is not intended to constitute financial product advice. Information is current as at date of publication. This is an online information blog. It does not imply an offering of securities.