At its core, retirement is a lifetime income challenge. When someone quits working, their lifestyle still requires monthly expenditures, but the corresponding paycheck disappears. Replacing that paycheck is the primary motivation for decades of saving in an effort to build the wealth necessary to continue one’s standard of living. To make matters worse, retirement expenses typically increase two-and-a-half times over a 30-year retirement due to inflation! Add this up and you can see why achieving financial independence is top of mind in personal finance.
There’s a myriad of literature written about saving, investing, and accumulating enough wealth to retire, but precious little about how to use those assets to support 30-plus years of living. The focus of this white paper is to discuss some of the challenges the prospective retiree faces and describes some of the strategies employed to meet those challenges. We hope you find it helpful and informative on your path to financial independence.