Contact

News & Insights

Will I outlive my retirement savings?

The 4% rule

One simple test to see whether your savings will last throughout retirement is to apply the 4% rule. This states that if you begin by withdrawing 4% of your savings balance in your first year of retirement, and then adjust subsequent withdrawals to account for inflation, your savings should last 30 years. Though the rule isn’t perfect, it can serve as a reasonable starting point for evaluating the health of your nest egg.

Let’s say you expect to need €3,000 a month as a total retirement income, and that your State Pension will be €800 a month plus a works pension of €1,200 a month. This means you’ll need to withdraw the shortfall of €1,000 a month from savings, or €12,000 per year. If you multiply €12,000 by 25, you get €300,000, which is the savings target you should aim for. If you are approaching retirement, or are newly retired but don’t have that much in savings, you’ll need to make some adjustments to avoid running out of money further down the line. This could mean initially adopting a more frugal retirement lifestyle, so you don’t need as much monthly income, or working part-time to supplement your income.

The above assumption also makes no account of interest or investment returns on your savings, and this is important. If you simply held the €300,000 in a non-interest bearing cash account, then you are not giving yourself any chance of growing that capital to make it last longer. Although you should generally be taking a more cautious approach with your savings and investments as you reach retirement, this doesn’t mean that all your savings should be in risk-free investments. This critical area is where a financial adviser can carefully direct you as to how much of your savings you should allocate to investments where the value can fluctuate. Remember, if you are 65 now, then you can expect to live for 18-21 more years. You therefore require a long-term investment strategy despite now reaching retirement. Your financial adviser can then advise you on a suitable investment plan that will include both risk-free cash deposits plus a risk-assessed investment portfolio that is designed to give you a happy, worry-free retirement and not one where you outlive your savings.

This communication is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice, investment recommendations or investment research. You should seek advice from a professional adviser before embarking on any financial planning activity. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the information contained in this communication is correct, we are not responsible for any errors or omissions.

Other News

Expats can stay strong in face of Brexit

It may have been close run thing but the UK has voted to end its membership of the European Union and now is an appropriate time for all concerned to consider the implications.

Fortunately, and despite the atmosphere of doom and gloom that has seemingly engulfed the country since the result, there is no need for any particular panic or even urgency. The exit process is expected to be long and drawn out, and although most experts predict it as inevitable there is still some realistic prospect of a renegotiation, particularly in light of David Cameron’s resignation.

Read More

Mine was consumed, how about yours?

Dave Diggle - Blacktower Financial Management

A couple of years ago my Bank was taken over by La Caixa.  To be honest, this was one of the easiest changes I have had to deal with in Spain and therefore, in this regard I was lucky.  Especially as the previous bank took 6 months to assess a loan application I had made, to finally arrive at a negative answer. By the time I’d got that answer I’d already made 5 repayments to an obliging bank.  ‘Opeless.

We have seen many banks be swallowed up here in Spain since the crisis and I will remind you, the Spanish banking industry was seen as a fine example at the beginning of the crisis in 2008, because its purposeful structure should have prevented contagion (spreading or transfer of problems of a systemic nature).  Instead, individual institutions took the risk rather than having it spread throughout the industry and that is why some 7 years later we are still seeing takeovers of failed banking businesses. Time has dictated that maybe it wasn’t such a shining light.

Read More

Select your country

Please select your country of residence so we can provide you with the most relevant information: