For the past year, since the first of the Baby Boomer Bulge reached the age of 65 years, the estimates are that 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring each day – yes, that is correct – each and every day. Also, from reliable statistics around 70 – 80% of all Baby Boomers have realized they have or will have inadequate savings, investments or income to see them through their increasingly long years of retirement.

Doing the math, this calculates to around 7000 of the 10,000 retiring per day probably know they are on a financial slippery slope in the years to come.

The media is full of articles and interviews asking, pondering, gazing at navels and thoughtfully pronouncing about “How much is enough?” or “How much do you need to retire?” bringing forth such solid definite answers of “$2-3 million dollars” to “70% of your pre-retirement income” etc.

These erudite answers to me have always seemed to be geared to filling newspaper columns, or radio or TV time and accomplishing little, because it would seem obvious the correct answer is the very definite “It depends”.

How much you need to retire depends on what you wish to do in your retirement and often these pronouncements of the amount of money needed in are based on the experience of our parents’ retirements. Their accepted retirement lifestyle was to settle down at home and potter around the garden and knit sweaters for the grand-children, generally leading a quiet and peaceful existence, until you shuffled off this mortal coil.

But times have changed. We are living longer – and more importantly living well for much longer. I am in my mid-sixties and many of my friends have parents in their mid to late eighties, who are still globe-trotting, are curious and mentally as sharp as tacks. One of these parents is leading hiking trips at age 86 years, and an acquaintance of mine has just completed her first sky-dive at the age of 77 years!

Times have changed and are rapidly changing in many, many ways.

So how much do you need? Well, as I say – “It depends”.

Pottering around in the garden and knitting sweaters for your grand-children is a wonderful way to spend your later years, if this is the retirement lifestyle of your dreams.

And with this lifestyle, you will spend far less than the person or couple, who have planned to fulfill their extensive Bucket List by exploring the planet from the Arctic to Antarctic and all points East and West, whilst staying at four star hotels and eating at gourmet restaurants, which leads us naturally to asking a few questions –

1. What would your perfect lifestyle be in retirement?
2. If you wish to live your perfect retirement lifestyle, have you calculated how much it would cost annually?
3. Have you calculated your Net Worth?
4. Do you know how long your Net Worth will allow you to live your dream lifestyle in your later years?
5. Can you afford to live this retirement lifestyle until you are well into your nineties?
6. Have you included long term care costs or insurance into your calculations?