How Much is enough?

The million-dollar question – how much do we need in retirement? 

Obviously, there is a not a one answer fits all approach that can be provided as there are so many different factors that need to be considered on an individual bases.

Play 4CRB Radio Show: How much is enough? by Troy Theobald of RFS Advice

To get to this answer we need to ask more questions:

These are the 20 questions every retiree, or want to be retiree, should be asking:

  1. How much income do I need in retirement?
  2. How much capital do I need to retire?
  3. Will you retire completely or semi retire for a period?
  4. Do you want to grow your capital in retirement?
  5. Are you happy to drawdown your capital in retirement?
  6. What assets are you prepared to sell to fund your retirement, and do you need to sell any at all?
  7. Are you wanting to stay in your home in retirement or are you prepared to downsize?
  8. How will you fund aged care and are you open to retirement community living?
  9. What are you going to do with your time? Travel? Activities?
  10. What is your passion and how much have you allocated to explore this?
  11. What will you do if you suffer the loss of a spouse?
  12. What will you do if one of you suffer a debilitating illness sick?
  13. What exercise or activity are you going to commit to and be active?
  14. What social interactions are you going to commit to and be socially fulfilled?
  15. What commitment to regular medical check-ups will you make to yourself?
  16. How much are you prepared to be tied to helping the grandkids?
  17. Do you have a professional team to help you with your finances as you age?
  18. Are you comfortable with an online solution for your superannuation?
  19. Should you retire? Or are you happy working…it is ok.
  20. Who are you working with to keep you accountable on all of these things?

From here is where we work with clients to help put the financial pieces together of the retirement puzzle to determine a realistic number that will help you achieve your ideal life in retirement. 

When thinking about how much you will need to live on in retirement, there is a vast array of information on the internet that can help get you started. For this month’s show I did my own google searches and have sourced information from sites such as ASFA, ASIC, Canstar and the ABS.  Following are some snippets that I found and it will show you a little bit about what you can find to help you get to that final number.