Living and Retiring with an Abundance Lifestyle...

Some of the Biggest decisions you will make happen just before you retire:-

  • Are you comfortable that you are in a position to make these decisions? 
  • Are you prepared psychologically for your retirement?
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    Do you have a clear picture of what your retirement will look like?
  • Are you happy that you have enough savings to retire comfortably?

What does a Successful and happy Retirement mean to you?


Everyone's idea of a "Great life" is different. We all have very different priorities, belief systems and ideas of what makes life special and meaningful.

Most of us get it that although money isn't everything, it does help to enable a more comfortable lifestyle and does enable us to do and have those special things we Dream of.

So , how do You make your money work for You to get you to where You want to be in life & retirement... 

There are obviously may ways to do this...

HOWEVER ... To be successful ALWAYS takes good planning and real positive intent.  

Here's our suggested way to make a start. 

(PS - We have been using this methodology and system successfully with our clients for over 20 year now!)


These 5 Simple Steps will help you achieve Personal and Lifestyle Success:

  • STEP 1 : The BIG Picture.

Why should you plan and what makes it important to you?

  • STEP 2 : Determining Exactly what YOU want in Life.

What would you like to achieve in the Future? What are your Short term, Medium term and Longer term Goals?

  • STEP 3 : Designing Your Life - Building Your Plan.

How do you go about building your Planning correctly to achieve your goals?

  • STEP 4 : Implementing Your Plan - Creating Your reality.

How do you go about Implementing your planning so you ensure that you reach your goals?

  • STEP 5 : Keeping on course.

How you review and ensure that you maintain focus and keep on course to reach your Goals throughout your life.

To get a more detailed explanation of how we address all the steps above, take a look at a short set of videos we have prepared for you.

With these videos you will get:

  • A Simple but complete step by step overview of our full planning process.
  • A helpful FREE downloadable Goal Planning Guide.
  • Free downloadable Simple Step by step Budgeting and Assets and Liabilities schedule to get you started.
  • A whole bunch of other really useful guidance and information to help you immediately with your planning.

Your 5 Steps to a Great Lifestyle and Secure Future -


(An Overview)

STEP 1 : The BIG Picture

Why should you PLAN and what makes it important to You?

We all have Goals and Dreams and many awesome things that we would like to do and accomplish in our lives...

Happy Healthy Retirement

Family time

Special Holidays

Enjoying the Grandkids

Without some sort of Plan to achieve these goals or objectives, it is very unlikely that we will get any where close.

It is therefore IMPERATIVE that we start with a PLAN.

So, how do we develop a PLAN that gets you to where you would like to be and achieve going forward?​

It Starts with your GOALS..​

STEP 2 : Determining Your Goals

Why is it so important to have Goals?

Goals will give you Focus and Direction.


It is important to:

  • STEP 1 : Write down ALL of Your Goals.

It is SO important to actually write down your Goals as this creates positive intent for achievement.

  • STEP 2 : Put DATES to ALL of your Goals.

If you actually think about WHEN you would like to achieve your goals this creates perspective in your mind.

  • STEP 3 : Put a monetary COST or VALUE to ALL of your Goals.

Putting numbers to your goals allows you to get a feel for the extent or size of your goals.

  • STEP 4 : Your Goals or Milestones MUST BE MEASURABLE.

If they are not measurable:

  • You wont know if you are on track to achieve your goals,
  • You wont know how far you have gone,
  • You wont know how far you still have to go
  • You wont know if you are even headed in the right direction!!!

How close are you to reaching your goals?

Bond Repayments
23 %
BOND
Kids University Savings
41 %
Education Fund
Holidays Fund
48 %
Holiday Fund
Retirement Savings
33 %
Retirement Savings
Other Debt
67 %
Other Debt

STEP 3 : Building Your Plan.

Once you have established what your Goals are, you can then start planning towards those goals.

Your needs and requirements will change as you move through the different stages of life.


Let's start with the BIG picture.

Your life can be split into 4 primary phases.

Each stage of life has special and specific needs. Take a look below.

Youth

(Creating Capacity)

Enjoying your Youth

  • Mom and Dad take responsibility for your life and needs.
  • Get a good education and learn about life.
  • Pocket money teaches you about the value of money.
  • Learn about savings, needs and wants and charity.

Young Family

(Concentrate your Attention)

Starting out in life

  • First job.
  • New car.
  • Getting married.
  • Starting a family.

Things to be aware of:

  • Financial Risk to your family:
  • New Car debt.
  • Home bond debt.

Building your Wealth:

  • Planning & Building your Pre-tax savings
  • Planning & Building your Post-tax savings.

Mature Family

(Organizing your Wealth)

Fa​mily & Lifestyle

  • At the peak of your career
  • Family are growing up and off to varsity
  • Children becoming more self sufficient.
  • You have more time for yourself & your spouse.

Fa​mily & Lifestyle

  • Your wealth should be growing fast.
  • Your costs should be dropping
  • Your debt should be reducing if not at zero
  • Your need for risk cover should be reducing.

Retirement

(Securing your Wellness)

Lifestyle & Changes

  • You're handing over the baton at work.
  • Kids leaving or left home.
  • More time with your spouse.
  • Time for your hobbies.
  • Time for travel, Grandchildren etc.

Financial Independence

  • Your wealth should be in place.
  • Your savings provide for your income needs.
  • No liabilities.
  • No direct need for risk cover.

From a "Wealth" perspective, your life can be divided into 2 primary phases:

Pre-Retirement

Pre-Retirement: - (Your Accumulation Phase)

In this part of your life, you earn an income which you then use to provide for your living expenses and lifestyle and hopefully you also allocate some of the income to your Savings.

Post-Retirement

Post-Retirement: - (Your Savings provide for your Lifestyle needs)

In this part of your life, you no longer have an income and your Savings then become responsible for providing you with an income for the rest of your lives.

Based on a FULL understanding of your and your families needs and requirements, we then develop a tailor made plan for you, which will look something like this.

(The below is a case study and is for illustration purposes only.)

CASE STUDY : 

Here is a very short summary of the family's position and lifestyle to put you in the picture:

Mum and Dad have both just retired. Dad is 60 and Mum is 58. The kids are now self sufficient and out of the family house and it's time for Mum and Dad to enjoy their retirement.

  • Monthly Incomes: The table adjacent shows that both spouses receive an income from their Living Annuities plus they draw from their Discretionary savings to make up their required income to cover their Monthly Living requirements.
  • Monthly and Lifestyle Expenses: Once again, the table adjacent gives an approximation of the family's lifestyle expenses. Other expenses which have been built into this plan but not shown here are provision for Annual and Overseas holidays. (There are also various other inclusions to ensure a real and comprehensive picture is built of the family's situation and requirements but as you will understand these are not shown for sake of a simpler illustration.)
  • What they own and what they owe: (See Current Family Assets and Liabilities table) The family have a home that is fully paid for. They pay cash when they replace their cars every 8 years. They will never take on debt at any point during their retirement.

NOTE : 

  • Although this example is rather simplified, it is based on very real data, underlying returns & inflation assumptions.
  • The intention is to give you some idea of how you can plan your finances and ensure that you can fully understand your position and build a plan that will allow you to be informed and build a life that makes you happy.
  • Ensuring that you always keep to your planned lifestyle and live within your prudent spending pattern. (It is always important to review your position on an annual basis)

Current Monthly Income:

Earner

Frequency

Amount

Comments

Spouse A

monthly

R13,896

escalate at inflation

Spouse B

monthly

R3,387

escalate at inflation

Discretionary

monthly

R7,384

escalate at inflation

To​tal

monthly

R24,667

Current Lifestyle Expenses

Expenses

Frequency

Amount

Comments

Living Expenses

monthly

R17,600

escalate at inflation

Medical

monthly

R2,700

escalate at 2% above inflation

Car expenses

 As req'd

Cash provision

every 8 years

Holidays - Local

Annual

R10,000

escalate at inflation

Holidays - Overseas

Every 3 yrs

R60,000

escalate at inflation

Current Family Assets & Liabilities:

Asset/ Liability

Amount

Monthly provision

Comments

Home

R1,500,000

Living Annuity Spouse A

R3,421,097

R13,896

Monthly transfer to couples Bank account.

Living Annuity Spouse B

R833,917

R3,387

Monthly transfer to couples Bank account.

Discretionary savings

R3,683,875

R7,384

Monthly transfer to couples Bank account.

Car replacements

Paid in cash

replaced every 8 years

The graphs below show the projected Nominal and Real capital Investment values for the family we have described above.

You will notice that they will be able to maintain their lifestyle and will have sufficient savings/Capital to last them through to age 90.

Doing these types of calculations for yourself will help you ascertain what you need to do to ensure that you are in a position to retire financially comfortable.


The outcome and benefits of your Planning.


You will be able to answer a number of critical questions such as:

  • How much should I be saving right now and into the future?
  • How much do I need to save in order to retire Financially Independent and Secure for the rest of my/our life?
  • Am I currently on track to reach my financial Goals?
  • What are the best ways for me to save?
  • Do I need Risk cover and if so what type and how much?
  • What Estate Planning should I be putting into place, based on my planning and wealth profile into the future?
  • And many many other questions that you may have....

STEP 4 : Implementing your Plan.

It is vitally important that you implement you plan at all stages during your life.

A Plan with no Implementation is useless and irrelevant!!

This is where the Rubber hits the Road"...  Where you take ACTION.


So, how do you actually  apply and Implement this planning in your life?

Below are some examples of Families in different phases of their lives..

These illustrations will give you some guidelines as to what YOU could include in YOUR Financial Planning...  

As well as your next ACTION steps...​

  • Close to retirement / retired

You are about to Retire or already Retired.


Retiring or retirement is a wonderful time of life where you get to spend more time with you spouse and the special people in your life and doing the things you have always planned to do.

Unfortunately for many people this picture is maybe not as rosy as I have described above.

BUT...​

If one has planned correctly along the way and implemented and stuck to the plan, things should work out well.

So, what are the things you should be looking at in this phase of your life?

From a Personal Perspective:​

  • Retirement means handing over the baton at work to the next generation,
  • Your children are probably getting ready to leave home or have already left,
  • You have much more time with your spouse,
  • You have time for your hobbies and travel and the grandchildren too.
  • And I am sure that you can think of a list of other wonderful things that you plan to or are doing in your retired years.

From a Financial Perspective:​

  • Your Wealth and Savings should be in place and should be at least sufficient to provide for your financial independence,
  • You should have NO liabilities at all,
  • You should have in place and made provision for good medical services and support. (Medical Aid).
  • You should be able to live that life that you had always planned and you should NOT have to stress about money or Income (cash flow).

So, how do you get this right and how can you know where you stand currently and plan correctly for the future?

Below is a button which will give you access to a FREE short 3 set video series which will give you a great outline as to how to approach your Planning from here on out.

We suggest that you take a look at these little videos as a starting point. After all, this is your whole life savings you are thinking about and you would rather be in a position of knowledge and be able to make the right decisions.​

Interested in taking a look at the short 3 set video series, click the button below.


You may like to make contact with us directly. 

STEP 5 : Keeping on course.

Implementing your Plan is just the start. Your Planning is for life and needs to be kept relevant at all times.

This is often a very overlooked part of ones planning. In order to build the ongoing review process into ones daily life, we have set out below a recommended review process. We implement this process with our clients and aim to build it into their lives as a "good" lifestyle habit.

Our Suggested Review Process.


Ongoing - Monthly Reviews:

Savings & Withdrawals:

If you are nearing Retirement: you MUST ensure that you determine your exact current and projected retirement position and hence, determine that you can in fact retire comfortably as you had planned.

If you are already Retired: it is vitaly important to ensure that you test and stick to your recommended income/withdrawal parameters, based on your best case planning outcomes.

Keep up to date :

There are 2 main area you want to be alert to on an ongoing basis:

Economic : Ensure you have a good understanding and feel for what is happening from an Economic perspective, both locally in South Africa as well as around the world.

Legislative : Keep up to date with current and new legislation that is introduced and that could or would affect your portfolio or portfolio structures..

Quarterly Reviews:

   There are 3 areas to review at this point.

Portfolio Performance:

A : Compare quarterly, annual and since inception values within your portfolio. This will give you an overview of portfolio performance which can then be compared with indices and markets generally to assess performance.

B : It is important to take a Longer term focus and outlook for your portfolio. No one Asset manager, asset class or fund is always a winner. We would suggest you evaluate your funds performance based on a 3, 5 and 10 year performance record.

If you are Retired: it is important to ensure that you test and stick to your recommended income/withdrawal parameters, based on your best case planning outcomes.

Economic :

Review the broader economic outlook for South Africa and the world (Past as well as Future).

Watch our Blog posts for regular updates on Economic reviews and commentary that will help give you perspective on markets locally and internationally.

Legislative :

Keep up to date with current and new legislation that is introduced and that could or would affect your portfolio or portfolio structures..

Annual Reviews:

There are 5 areas we would recommend you review at this point in time.

Portfolio Performance:

As per your quarterly review, compare quarterly, annual and since inception values within your portfolio. This will give you an overview of portfolio performance which can then be compared with indices and markets generally to assess performance.

Financial Planning :

Review your Financial Plan and compare current costs etc (Income, Expenses, Lifestyle, family situation and changes, etc) against projected values in the Plan to ensure that you are on track or ahead of your planning goals. If adjustments need to be made, implement after due analysis.

Estate Planning :

Review your estate planning and Wills at these meetings. It is vitally important to make sure that should your circumstances change in any way, that you ensure that your Wills and Estate planning documentation are updated to accommodate these changes.

Medical Planning :

Most medical schemes allow you one review per year. Make sure that you carefully assess what your needs have been over the last year and ensure that the Plan that you are on is the correct plan to take you and your family forward through the year ahead. If you feel that you may need other facilities in your plan, investigate what options are on offer and adjust your plan according to your needs.

Asset Risk Planning :

It is important to review your asset values annually and to ensure that your insured values are in line with your current assets values. If not, this could lead to a problem should you need to claim. You also don’t want to be paying a higher premium than what is necessary.

So, there you have it. 

If this all makes sense and you would like to implement similar planning into your Financial Life, you can make contact with us below.

Like to know more about our Lifestyle Financial Planning services?

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Have questions or would like to get in touch with us..

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