Some people have a plan to stop work completely at a particular age, while others prefer to ease into retirement by reducing their work hours or days allowing them to work until they are a bit older.
Financial independence arrives when you replace the income you earn from employment, to income from assets that you own.
You replace what you earn from renting your time to a Boss, to earning a dividend from the assets you own.
You become an owner, not a loaner.
For most people, this means accumulating enough in your super so that you can start to draw an income that covers your expenditure needs for life.
But how much is enough?
There is no ‘one size fits all’ answer to this question. I have Clients who comfortably save money just on the Age Pension, whilst others say they ‘need’ over $100,000pa just to makes ends meet. And everywhere in between.
Your ongoing expenditure needs are personal to you, and spending time in the years before retiring understanding what your numbers are is a very useful exercise.
On top of your ongoing expenditure needs you will need to allow for the extra capital expenditure that will arise from time to time. Large things like replacing your car or buying or upgrading a caravan. Expected repairs on your home and larger holidays are other examples of capital expenditure you should allow for on top of your ongoing everyday spending needs.
Your Financial Planner can then work with you to plan how much capital you will need to produce the cash flow to fund your post-employment dream lifestyle needs. They will discuss how your money should be invested to combat the ravaging effects of inflation while at the same time not losing any sleep worrying about market crashes.
Optimising Centrelink Benefits is a good idea – the more Age Pension you receive the less of your own monies you will use in that year. And the cost savings from the Pension Card really add up over time – especially if you have high pharmaceutical expenditure.
Whilst no-one can give you certainty – there are no facts about the future – spending time with a Financial Planner mapping out your retirement cash flow and capital needs can give you confidence about your plans to retire smiling.