Retirement is far more nuanced than a number. It is a target that is dynamic and forever moving.
Often people will say that they are striving for a certain number, such as […..]
A paid off house won't be enough for the average retirement
No bang for your buck - Being too conservative with your money carries a lot of risk too
The retirement stool vs the pogo stick
The 70% rule of retirement - how much do I need?
There is a well know rule of spending that is preached when planning for retirement. The preachers will say “you should plan to spend 70% of your pre retirement expenses in retirement”.
I am not a big fan of these rules. They work for some, but definitely not all. I wouldn’t even say this works for […..]
Retirement planning is bigger than you
Retirement planning is more important now than ever
The impact of inflation on annuities
Annuities can seem attractive to many retirees. It is a regular paycheck into your account. It’s an easy way to turn your lump sum savings into a regular fortnightly income.
One of the main annuity providers in New Zealand is Lifetime Income. You invest your money with them and you are guaranteed a certain amount of income every fortnight for the rest of your life. Even if your investments lose money, Lifetime income will still pay you the same flat amount every fortnight. If your investment balance grows, so does your fortnightly income.
Sounds amazing right […..]
The difference just one year can make in your retirement balance
There is more than one way to retire
Up until about 5 years ago, I thought there was only one way to retire. Work for 40 plus years until my mid to late 60’s, until I had enough money to retire with some help for NZ Superannuation.
Since then, I’ve learned a lot about financial independence and how to achieve it. Simple concepts such as compound interest, index fund investing and high savings rates have helped me understand there are other options, one of which is early retirement.
But what if traditional retirement nor early retirement suit you? Are there other ways to approach your retirement and work life?
Retirement: The best purchase you'll ever make
Why the 4% rule should not be used for YOUR retirement planning
The 4% rule is the golden tenet in the FIRE community. It is a calculation that tells you how much you need to retire, based on your annual expenses. Spend $50,000 per year? You would need $1.25 million ($50,000 x 25). You can read more about the 4% rule here and how it comes about.
As a financial adviser I generally dislike […..]
The similarities between the lockdown and retirement
Investing too conservatively may hamper your retirement
When many of us retire we are well into our 60’s and tend to be pretty conservative with our investments. And fair enough. We have hopefully built up a significant stash by now, and any large losses could be quite devastating.
Just before we finish work is generally the time of our lives where we have the most money we ever have. So a 30% loss on $500,000 when we no longer have income coming in, has a much more significant impact on us than a 30% loss on $300,000 at age 50 while we are still working.
We have more time to recover and we have the income coming in so we have […..]
Your house is not a retirement plan
Unlike Hansel and Gretel, you can't eat your house
Equity glidepaths as a hedge against retirement risk
In the last blog we discussed the results of New Zealand based research of the 4% safe withdrawal rate study. In it we highlighted how big an impact a share market crash can have on whether or not we run out of money in retirement.
I won’t be leaving this this to chance. The first ten years of retirement tend to be the most important indicator of whether […..]
