The theme this week on the One Minute Retirement Tip podcast is: Ask me anything! I’m answering your listener-submitted questions about what is weighing most on your mind as you prepare for retirement. 

Today, I’m answering the following question: How do I know if I have enough money to retire? 

Lucy writes: How do I know if I have enough money to retire? I know this is super generic and maybe you have a worksheet I could fill out to determine this?

I am 62 and my husband is almost 65 and already retired. He has a pension and very small retirement savings, so I feel I have to make up for it as I would like to maintain our lifestyle. 

There’s a lot to address in this question from Lucy. When Lucy says she is trying to “make up for it”, I assume that’s in her own savings through a 401k or some other retirement plan. 

Answering the question of if you have enough comes down to a few factors, but the most important is your spending in retirement. Is that going to be covered by your assets and income sources after you account for taxes and inflation? You also need to consider the age you retire, how your portfolio is invested, and a few other factors, but spending in retirement must be sustainable. 

I’ve seen people retire comfortably with $100,000 in assets, and I’ve seen people who needed well in excess of $1,000,000 to have everything pencil out, and the difference comes down to lifestyle and spending in retirement. 

Lucy asked if there was a worksheet that she could use to determine this. I do have a tool that you can use to give you a more concrete answer. It’s called the Retirement Success Forecaster. Using data from a simple questionnaire, I’ll be able to tell you if you’re on track for retirement, and if you’re not where you need to be, I’ll tell you what adjustments you can make today to live the retirement you envision.  

Getting a customized retirement forecast is easy. Just go to www.truenorthra.com/retirementsuccess/ to download your forecaster questionnaire.

Fill it out, send it back to me using the instructions in the forecaster, and I’ll send your personalized results for free - no strings attached. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance