I was having coffee with friends, in those pre-lockdown halcyon days, and one asked “when do you think you will retire?” My answer is always the same “when my pension and investments reach the magic number!”
Obviously my magic number is personal! But I 100% know what it is and when I can retire.
How? Because I know exactly what I need to comfortably live on. Secondly, how much I need to save each year to get there, thirdly what level of risk I need to take to generate an investment return, which will help the process and lastly, and perhaps most important, to know that I will never run out.
At Robson Laidler Wealth, we practice what we preach:
- We will never advise you to invest your money in a way that we haven’t invested our own.
- We will always be honest with you about what you need to get there. If you are not on track you might need to defer/increase saving/reduce spending/increase your level of investment risk.
This is because it’s important to have confidence your plans. That way, you stay working because you love it, not because you are trapped. It’s about choice.
A beginners guide to your “magic number”…
- Take the amount you need to live on each year (net)
- Increase it by an annual % for inflation say 2% over your preferred timescale to retirement
- Reduce it by any known fixed income (State Pension/rental income for instance)
- Divide it by between 4-5% (if you have a higher appetite for investment risk then you might be able to increase this figure)
There you go. Talk to us about getting there.