General Financial Planning

Not yet immediately thinking about retirement and hence not yet in the state of mind you are. Hence, please take my view with some grain of salt - as I just don‘t yet experience how imminent retirement feels. But my view is that such exercise is counterproductive.

In my view, you need to achieve two things:

  1. Know whether you can afford to retire
  2. Have a simplistic, Age and Mental Detoriation Proof mean of periodically checking if you were still on track

The complicated Excel will probably just pseudo factualize what you already know when reviewing your financials for 5 minutes. In your case, it re-confirms you were good to go - in other other cases it re-confirms what a Financial Adviser after reviewing the Tax Declaration, Pension Statement and 3rd Pillar thinks - like if it was going to get tight.

Once you (rightfully or not) jump into retirement, you will anyways need to de-complexify things over a few years (dissolve Pillars, Get a Pension/Annuity). Once you managed this (probably multi-year) transition - things become relatively simple: how much do you earn (pensions), how much do you spend, what liquid assets do you have. Unless you realise you would run out of money in the next ~ 20 years aka by 80-85 (not assuming asset growth); you just keep your lifestyle at the same level. If you realise you run short of money, you review whether you can cut expenses and if not just keep going and make it to a Problem of your 85 year old me. Don‘t do trackers you simply can’t maintain as you age.

Once you are 80+, you can in my view (unless you completely overdo and burn your wealth in 10-15 years only and run into excessive wealth burndown bucket woth social security)… you can simply take a more latin approach and say. Don‘t ask me how but I trust it will work out. If you from 65 slowly but linearly burn down your wealth in 20+ years and then realise you only have AHV and Pension left once 85… trust me there will be a solution and you won‘t eat catfood. Clearly, this assumes you keep AHV and Pension and stay in Switzerland/Europe. It further assumes your spouse was of similar age. If you don‘t have a pension - well then you shall probably just put lets say 500k aside that you keep until 75 and then convert into a Leibrente/SPIA. Will be the worst financial invest you ever make but still the best thing to do (as its 100% age and mental health proof).

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