Gain Freedom From Worry in Retirement

As a hard-working professional, the idea of not working can seem like a huge gamble and retirement is an exciting but worrying concept for many in your position. How will you know that you’ve done enough? Will your money run out? Will you be able to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle?

The key to preparing for a worry-free retirement is going into it with a solid plan. To help, we’ve addressed some common questions we’re often asked about retirement.

What’s Your Number?

The biggest cause for concern for many professionals looking into retirement is the fear of running out of money. We completely understand how powerful that fear can be – after all, you’ve worked hard to get to where you are today. The most effective strategy we advise is to work out your ‘number’ – the amount of money you need to accumulate over your working lifetime to fund the retirement lifestyle you want.

To start, you should consider what you exactly what this retirement lifestyle is. What would you like to do? Having specific goals can help you create a strategy that is fit for your needs. Think about what you’ve been working hard for – perhaps you’d like to gift money to your family, or cover university fees for your grandchildren. You may even want to create a charitable fund for causes dear to your heart.

Then there are the more material and practical matters! Would you like to travel? Purchase your dream car or the holiday home you’ve always wanted? Identifying what’s important to you will help you gauge the income needs of your retirement.

Your next step is to assess the value of your current assets, and allow for some conservative growth estimates from now until the point you anticipate retiring. Now you have an idea of what your worth will be come retirement, you can work out your number.

What Next?

You may be pleasantly surprised to find you are well within your limits. Retirement doesn’t have to be expensive, especially if your ambitions are modest. Conversely, you could find a shortfall between what you want to do and what you can afford, based on your current circumstances. If this is the case – don’t worry, there are a number of tools to help you with your retirement aspirations.

Savings, annuities and even investments can be examined and combined to help you reach your goals. We’d always advise getting some help with these options, your retirement is much too valuable to base on guesswork.

Relax – and Retire

Retirement isn’t a “one size fits all” idea, and a financial planner can give you the peace of mind of knowing that your financial freedom is within reach. Take the guesswork out of your future with a great, tailored plan and you can gain freedom from worry in your retirement.