How Evelyn Partners can help you with your personal and professional goals
However you want to retire – completely or semi-retired with consulting services to match, with a well-considered plan, you can do the things that you’d always wanted to do. As an accountant, you know how important it is to plan for the retirement you want. Whatever that retirement looks like, there are potential impacts to your lifestyle that you should be aware of, and should plan for, so you can have the post-working life you want. Here are a few things to think about when planning or thinking about your retirement.
Cashflow planning for retirement - financial implications of retiring
The two key factors to consider in retirement planning are what matters to you and the means to protect and enjoy those things.
As an accountant, you know your core retirement expenses should cover your utility bills, housing costs, and for those that have children, residual education costs. Your discretional spending should also be considered.
Cashflow planning is a practical way to look at the type of retirement you can achieve, whether that’s setting up a new business, doing some travelling, or simply, staying put. It should also take into consideration healthcare expenses or long-term care. And if you’d like to leave a legacy, this should be factored into your cashflow planning as well.
With a clear idea of what your retirement should look like, you can start thinking about the income streams to support that goal. This could be your workplace or personal pension (or both), ISAs and other savings.
Investment planning for retirement
If there is a gap between your retirement income and expectation, you either need to start saving immediately, or to adjust your expectations.
A clear map of your income and expenditure from now into your later years will empower you to make good choices and feel more confident about your financial future.
Investment planning helps our clients run various scenarios and explore the art of the possible when thinking about their retirement. For example, do they really want to retire at 60 when they could easily do at 55?
Cashflow modelling can incorporate bumps in the market to show different outcomes, which in turn should make you feel more confident about your financial goals the closer you move to your retirement.
By playing back such scenarios, our clients can explore their options and make full use of the opportunities they now know they have.
Make sure there’s an adjustment plan
With your cashflow planning out of the way, you can start thinking about your transition to retirement. Chances are that you’re used to the routine of work and a somewhat structured life. Whilst a retirement is meant to ‘free up your time’, the reality is that it can take a while to adjust from a working chartered accountant to someone whose diary is supposedly more flexible.
Your family will also have expectations of what your retirement should be. You may even have discussed this collectively as a family. At the same time, you should give yourself the flexibility to review those plans regularly, to ensure that they are still in alignment with your retirement goals.
Cashflow planning can provide real clarity, by providing a path to flexible, confident retirement, and for most of our clients who have experienced this, they all have one thing in common; they wish they did it sooner!
The content of this article is not advice or a recommendation and you should not make any investment decision based on it.
The value of an investment, and the income from it, may go down as well as up and you may get back less than you originally invested.
Evelyn Partners Financial Planning Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.