This is one of the most important questions to ask before starting retirement planning. For a lot of my younger clients retirement is so far off, it can be hard to estimate, but here I’ll share a bit from the experience of already retired clients. 

Myself, I’m in my 40s, so I have no personal experience with retirement. What I do have though are dozens of retired clients, living a broad range of retirement lifestyles. Some are in early retirement, some in late retirement, some are content with very frugal retirement lifestyles, some live lavishly. Some retired in their 70s, others as early as in their 50s. There’s a lot to consider here, and there’s no true answer that fits everyone. What I can tell you though is that you need to think beyond the old 80% of your pre-retirement income need “rule of thumb”.

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