Living on savings

fatbeetle,

You have asked for any thoughts and advice with respect to your situation. I was in pretty much the same situation although I "retired" at around 50'ish although I can't be precise because I drifted into it rather than it being on a particular day.

The key thing I would keep in mind is not just where to invest your cash to maximise return, but firstly decide whether in your situation risks are are requirement at all. Very few people are fortunate enough in life to have enough cash in retirement to keep a reasonably good lifestyle. For that understandable reason much of the advice given for genuine reasons is how to exceed the dire rates given by banks by taking more speculative and riskier investments because the advice is from people in a different situation to your own. There are a very few fortunate people who have enough cash and very few of these people realise that they need not risk their cash at all simply because they have enough of it already. Many will say "you can never have enough" but actually you can and if you do, then risking it all and fretting about investments and whether they are safe is something you may have the luxury of not needing to do. I only offer this advice because I see people risking all their lifestyle because it didn't occur to them that actually they need not worry about increasing their assets and spend their time worrying about it and managing it. To repeat, very few are in this position but it sounds like you may be, and therefore your main concern should simply be to keep your cash safe and ensure you understand what you are spending.

We have kept a simple spreadsheet with all our "cashable" assets, and every so often I take the current balance and compare that balance over many years ie five or six, simply to judge whether my depletion of my sinking fund is concerning or not. If it isn't then that is that concern over.

Good like and best wishes in your retirement.

Do not make plans that rely on anticipated inheritances and of course your UK state pension will not be index linked if you live in Australia......so you might want to have some investments that will grow to replace the index linking.

Even if you have enough income it is risky to have zero capital just from a cash flow perspective. Also you say you will have more than enough income from your pensions and super so do you have a plan to invest the excess?

You should also file of one these with HMRC to make sure you receive the NHS and UK state pension free of UK tax.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/452963/aust-indiv2003.pdf

atush wrote: »

The op and his Aus wife are retiring in the UK, so thst would not apply

OK, then they should look into the UK taxation of Aus superannuation. The points about retiring with capital as well as income and having a plan for investing excess pension income are still worth thinking about.