Can I go now or should I wait a couple more years..

TheBlock

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Just looking for some comments on the following...

Age 53
Mortgage Free
Cash on Hand (Savings and will include 25% from DC pension) €300,000
Investment to ARF €560,000

Spouse Salary €1,600 Net per month Part Time (Will continue for forseeable)
My Salary €1,000 (This is freelance work I will be doing and is estimeted on the low side)

3 Kids, two still to go to college.

I would expect to need between €40K -€50k per annum. €40,000 is comforrtable €50,000 allows for more travel etc.

Is this do-able using drawdown from ARF and cash on hand?

Any advice comments welcome.
 
Hi

A few more details would help here:
  • Is the 1k freelance now or post retirement? Unclear if that's current salary or a future income. If future how long will you keep it up
  • Do you both expect full State pension? (you probably need to keep paying PRSI contributions)
  • Assume your expenditure incl sending 2x kids thru college and will drop thereafter?
  • Does spouse have a pension?
  • is you house your forever home (suitable for old age etc)?
  • Other potential large expenses budgeted for (kids weddings/health etc)?

Even with state pensions in minimum 13 years time, and assuming you keep up both the incomes until then and reduce expenditure as you get older, its a tall order. That's without factoring in a possible market downturn where your fund would not be big enough to weather a storm

50+O
 
Thanks for the quick reply.

1k is post retirement and should be a minimum until 67.

Both expect full state pensions. Will keep up PRSI payments.

Yes on college for kids

No spouse pension.

Might have to keep going or look at something more part-time.

Forever home, nothing to be done to it.
 
It's probably just about do-able alright.

You would have a joint annual income of around €30k per annum from your freelance/part time work. You could then spend around €20k a year from your cash lump sum/savings, leaving your ARF alone until you hit 66.

At that stage, you could start drawing around €24k a year from the ARF and your State contributory pensions will (hopefully!) kick in.

But it all looks a bit on the tight side to me, with very little margin to pivot if anything goes wrong.

In your shoes, I think I would keep going for a few more years - at least until your pension pot hits €800k and/or your kids are living independently.
 
yep agree with Sarenco. I had calculated similar, the worry would be the limited buffer.

That said continuing to work thru to 67 in P./t and freelance roles, if secure incomes, this does add a lot of stability. Should there be an unexpected event/market crash etc, perhaps you could cut your cloth - look at your minimum required spend. e.g. Reducing to €30k Exp where needed could be all the flexibility that's needed to sustain through tough periods.

You didn't mention what you do now, I am assuming in a PAYE that you would be leaving to do freelance. Given we are still in lockdown, perhaps setting a target now for 1-2 years, will allow you to establish the freelance stuff ready for when things settle down, continue to build the pension pot and give you a countdown as motivation.

50+O
 
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