Retirement income strategy on the back of a fag packet

enthusiasticsaver

I am not sure I would have been happy to trust back of the fag packet calculations when it comes to working out income for possibly 30 to 40 years or deciding when to finally hang up the working towel but I am sure that many go into too finer detail.  No one can predict the future, investment performance cannot be guaranteed, none of us know how long we are going to live or what windfalls or disasters lie around the corner. All any of us can do is make calculated guesses.  
I would like to think we did something between the fag packet calculations and the detailed spreadsheet analysis.  We worked out what we would comfortably need to live off and aimed for that by recording and updating pension income predictions but it helped that most of our pensions were DB so not as much guesswork needed. Now we use an IFA to handle our DC investments and tell us how much we can draw out each year in addition to the pensions. 

LHW99

Perhaps a slightly different viewpoint:

I have plenty of spreadsheets now, as nearing retiring (though not going to be early in fact). I update one weekly, others monthly or annually.

However, at the start of the journey I kept much less detail and did two main things - put away as much as I could afford, without making normal life difficult / boring and kept an eye on legislation / tax changes so that I was aware what the most efficient places to put money would be (even if I didn't have any to put there).

Much less actual planning than many, because even in my 20's I knew that what I was doing then would be unlikely to be what I would be doing by 40, 50 etc. I was aware there were plenty of curved balls out there, and I wouldn't dodge them all.

IMO keep your planning flexible early on, and only gradually firm up the plans.