Chilling Out: Planning for Retirees

About This Episode

In the last two episodes of our miniseries on planning, we’ve taken a closer look at the importance of the financial plan for achieving your ultimate goal of financial security. We’ve covered the key areas of focus and potential pitfalls from age 25 up to pre-retirement and today we’re turning our attention to retirees.

Around 65, most of us enter a transition zone where we go from our maximum earning years and power play years to start collecting the fruits of our labor. Planning at this stage ensures you have the resources in place to chill out and do everything you’ve wanted to do. There are a number of different considerations to make in sustainable retirement planning and we’ll show you how to test your plans and set yourself up for success.

On this episode, Keith and Marcelo talk about the most important aspects of financial planning for retirees, why sustainability plays a key role at this stage of life, how to work out your sustainable withdrawal rate, the biggest financial challenge for retirees, why you shouldn’t rely on your home being your main retirement asset, and so much more!

Thank you for listening!

Key Topics:

• Why you need to understand financial planning (1:20)
• Key takeaways for 25 to 35-year-olds and 35 to 65-year-olds (2:00)
• Why planning is important for retirees (4:27)
• How does happiness vary in different age groups? (5:27)
• The main objectives of retirees (6:55)
• Why sustainability plays a key role at this stage of life (9:21)
• The six gears of financial planning (10:32)
• Where you should focus on each of the gears during your retirement (11:02)
• Working out your sustainable withdrawal rate (16:04)
• The 4% rule for retirees (18:06)
• How we apply the 4% rule in practice (20:27)
• Using software to stress test your financial plan (22:34)
• Simplifying Monte Carlo financial analysis (25:21)
• The biggest financial challenge for retirees (28:12)
• Unexpected financial expenses that come up for retirees (29:06)
• How the coronavirus pandemic has impacted retirement plans (30:30)
• What to consider when projecting your expected returns (31:24)
• Why a home should not be your main retirement asset (34:19)
• How you can downsize in retirement (36:29)
• Why downsizing can be tricky to execute (38:39)
• The benefits of planning for retirees (42:12)
• Consequences of not doing sustainable forecast planning for retirement (42:42)
• Key takeaways of financial planning for retirees (43:33)
• And much more!