QUESTION:
We are doing some early retirement planning and hope you can help. I am 51, my wife is 49, and we are would like to retire when I am 53. We have a house in Sydney worth about $850,000, an investment property worth about $250,000, $530,000 in cash, $500,000 in super. All our property is paid off. We are likely to inherit a nice property in a NSW seaside town. I am making the equivalent of about $170,000 a year.
We would like to travel for about four years after retirement and intend to rent out our property during this time. We can travel cheaply and intend to base ourselves in cheap countries such as Thailand.
I reckon we should be able to live on our savings until I get to 60 at about $90,000 a year, live on our super at about $75,000 a year until about 67, sell the house and move to investment or inherited property and we will have about $72,000 a year until about 83 (including part pension). Does this sound reasonable? Any traps to watch out for?
ANSWER:
You have done extremely well to date and what you propose seems fine – just make sure that you have a good range of assets because you seem to be overweight in residential property right now. Involve a good solicitor for estate planning purposes to ensure you have current wills and Enduring Powers of Attorney in place.
