Robert and Michelle are aged 63 and 62 respectively.

Michelle has been retired for a few years now, but Robert continues to work.

Robert is considering winding up in the next 5 years, but is unsure what sort of retirement lifestyle he and Michelle would have.

Their main reason for seeking our advice was that they wanted to know whether they had enough money for Robert to retire now and still enjoy a comfortable lifestyle in retirement.

They came in for an initial consultation to discuss their retirement plans. We started by exploring what a ‘comfortable lifestyle in retirement’ meant for them and what they were envisioning.

They shared that their top priority was being able to spend more time in the UK as that is where their family is based and would like to go over every second year if possible for the next 10 years whilst they are still healthy enough to do so.

Both Robert and Michelle also enjoy a couple of rounds of golf each week. It is something that they would like to keep up throughout retirement as it allows them to keep active and continue their social connections.

Outside of these two priorities, they do not have any other things we need to consider as they tend to live fairly modestly.

We spent considerable time during our meeting putting some numbers around these items and really focusing in on UK trips and golf, as this was of high importance to them.

They were particularly concerned about whether they could afford to do the UK trips and what kind of impact this would have in the latter retirement years.  Whilst it’s high on their priority list, they don’t want to have to be restricted later in life.

I completed some modelling with them based on their current situation and the projections showed that they were able to do the UK trips for 10 years. However, their retirement goals would only be partially funded after 10 years. This was a huge concern for them as they wanted to enjoy their retirement and not be stressed about money in their old age.

We were able to recommend a retirement savings strategy that would utilise Robert’s remaining 5 years of working life to boost their retirement nest egg. This gives them a far superior outcome in retirement, allowing them to do UK trips, keep playing golf and still have the lifestyle they want in retirement following all of that.

This brought about an enormous sense of relief and not to mention, the joy of knowing that they would be able to travel without sacrificing their longer-term retirement plans.

We have scheduled a formal six month catch up to make revisions and adjustments to the strategy as necessary and make sure it remains on track. This helps them to keep their eye on the prize and keeps them motivated to stay on the course.