AJBell fund advice

cfw1994

Scallypud said:

cfw1994 said:

Curious.
My magic spreaddie suggest that you should be fine, even if you only average 2% to last until you are 100.   
Maybe I have misread the numbers.   If so, let me know!

Sample below - assuming you want 18k at todays money, rising at 2% (3rd column - note it says 'inflation, but today inflation is under 1% !!).
If you would like a copy to play with numbers, let me know - it is pretty basic really.
If you get 3%, happy days, all good: the last column shows how much the two pots you describe end up each year, after taking the income in the "£ Amount Required" column:

If I have misunderstood some of the numbers, let me know.   
I have put the State pension as if it gets a 2% rise each year - slightly lower than how things stand today - remember, as things stand, there is a "triple lock" protection that guarantees the state pension would increase by the greatest of the following three measures:

• Average earnings
• Prices, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
• 2.5 per cent

That ignores your cash fund - as you say, use that for a year, keep some as emergency funds to draw on during any really bad years.
Of course the "Growth" column will vary from year to year, perhaps wildly, so it is wise to play with it and drop some negative years in, particularly early on, but if you can keep some cash funds (ours are in Premium Bonds), and have the ability to "pause" the drawdown, then you can help mitigate downturns.

In terms of "advising you where to invest" - you will NOT get that here: advice comes with the need for regulations and training, and although there are one or two such advisors here, they would not give you a simple answer given the little information we all read here - plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance  

If I were unsure of things, I would probably pop it all in a Vanguard LifeStrategy 80, or perhaps LS60, to capture the essence of "invest in the world".
YES, there is a lot more information , as dunstonh & others outlined, that would be needed to get to the bottom of what the best thing for YOU is, but who knows what tomorrow can bring!

But that is just my personal suggestion, just an invisible individual on the internet!   

Love this. Simple but informative

Glad you like it: I thought it did illustrate things fairly easily 

In answer to @BritishInvestor, where I said "plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance": well, reading up the thread, I saw requests for a range of things:

• What drawdown strategy are you following? 
• Total return or yield? 
• Will you be segmenting your portfolio for different time periods? 
• Will you operate a cash account within the pension or outside of the pension?   
• What sort of volatility level are you aiming for?

I & many who have been here for a while understand these terms.  A relative newbie may not.   

All things I would expect an IFA to ask, and of course charge a % to assess and give advice.....& they might then construct a portfolio of 10-20 funds, as we often see in this forum....but I would ask if that is often needed?
The very building of those complex things, in my mine, often helps maintain the "mystery of finance".   Makes the "average person" feel they are incapable of doing it, so maybe they should pay someone else to do it for themselves.
Of course, some people have complex lives, & absolutely warrant that work.....but I feel many do not: maybe a simpler option will be more than sufficient - and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves.   

Each to their own, of course, & as I pointed out, nothing anyone gives here is "advice".

As Mordko suggested, getting a simple multi-asset fund (or my suggestion - look at Vanguard LS60 or LS80) could likely cover things perfectly well.
My spreadsheet was used to illustrate how the money *could* play out over the years ahead.

Care to comment?

BritishInvestor

cfw1994 said:

Scallypud said:

cfw1994 said:

Curious.
My magic spreaddie suggest that you should be fine, even if you only average 2% to last until you are 100.   
Maybe I have misread the numbers.   If so, let me know!

Sample below - assuming you want 18k at todays money, rising at 2% (3rd column - note it says 'inflation, but today inflation is under 1% !!).
If you would like a copy to play with numbers, let me know - it is pretty basic really.
If you get 3%, happy days, all good: the last column shows how much the two pots you describe end up each year, after taking the income in the "£ Amount Required" column:

If I have misunderstood some of the numbers, let me know.   
I have put the State pension as if it gets a 2% rise each year - slightly lower than how things stand today - remember, as things stand, there is a "triple lock" protection that guarantees the state pension would increase by the greatest of the following three measures:

• Average earnings
• Prices, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
• 2.5 per cent

That ignores your cash fund - as you say, use that for a year, keep some as emergency funds to draw on during any really bad years.
Of course the "Growth" column will vary from year to year, perhaps wildly, so it is wise to play with it and drop some negative years in, particularly early on, but if you can keep some cash funds (ours are in Premium Bonds), and have the ability to "pause" the drawdown, then you can help mitigate downturns.

In terms of "advising you where to invest" - you will NOT get that here: advice comes with the need for regulations and training, and although there are one or two such advisors here, they would not give you a simple answer given the little information we all read here - plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance  

If I were unsure of things, I would probably pop it all in a Vanguard LifeStrategy 80, or perhaps LS60, to capture the essence of "invest in the world".
YES, there is a lot more information , as dunstonh & others outlined, that would be needed to get to the bottom of what the best thing for YOU is, but who knows what tomorrow can bring!

But that is just my personal suggestion, just an invisible individual on the internet!   

Love this. Simple but informative

Glad you like it: I thought it did illustrate things fairly easily 

In answer to @BritishInvestor, where I said "plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance": well, reading up the thread, I saw requests for a range of things:

• What drawdown strategy are you following? 
• Total return or yield? 
• Will you be segmenting your portfolio for different time periods? 
• Will you operate a cash account within the pension or outside of the pension?   
• What sort of volatility level are you aiming for?

I & many who have been here for a while understand these terms.  A relative newbie may not.   

All things I would expect an IFA to ask, and of course charge a % to assess and give advice.....& they might then construct a portfolio of 10-20 funds, as we often see in this forum....but I would ask if that is often needed?
The very building of those complex things, in my mine, often helps maintain the "mystery of finance".   Makes the "average person" feel they are incapable of doing it, so maybe they should pay someone else to do it for themselves.
Of course, some people have complex lives, & absolutely warrant that work.....but I feel many do not: maybe a simpler option will be more than sufficient - and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves.   

Each to their own, of course, & as I pointed out, nothing anyone gives here is "advice".

As Mordko suggested, getting a simple multi-asset fund (or my suggestion - look at Vanguard LS60 or LS80) could likely cover things perfectly well.
My spreadsheet was used to illustrate how the money *could* play out over the years ahead.

Care to comment?

It might be useful to differentiate investing (which, these days, can, and should be, straightforward) and retirement planning, which isn't necessarily always that straightforward.

"and of course charge a % "
It's hopefully going to be a fee these days.

"and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves."
In theory, I don't necessarily disagree, but what is often the case on forums is people tend to jump to "solution" mode, when the "real" objective hasn't really been uncovered.

One could argue that anyone that comes on here asking for guidance and is currently paying an adviser should consider why they are paying an adviser in the first place. Seems a waste of money to me.

[Deleted User]

BritishInvestor said:

ZingPowZing said:

But the opportunity cost of following Edwards' book rather than tech stocks over the last four years - that's something you will never claw back.

You sure about that?
"Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Composite stock market index rose 400%, only to fall 78% from its peak by October 2002, giving up all its gains during the bubble. "

Not absolutely. When was Edwards' book published?

Prism

I would be very careful with such a high withdrawal rate in the early years. Even with a 3 year cash buffer you could be looking at turning that 250k into less than 100k in eight years time. I would be looking at a lower withdrawal rate.

BritishInvestor

Prism said:

I would be very careful with such a high withdrawal rate in the early years. Even with a 3 year cash buffer you could be looking at turning that 250k into less than 100k in eight years time. I would be looking at a lower withdrawal rate.

I think there are 2 pots.

NottinghamKnight

BritishInvestor said:

cfw1994 said:

Scallypud said:

cfw1994 said:

Curious.
My magic spreaddie suggest that you should be fine, even if you only average 2% to last until you are 100.   
Maybe I have misread the numbers.   If so, let me know!

Sample below - assuming you want 18k at todays money, rising at 2% (3rd column - note it says 'inflation, but today inflation is under 1% !!).
If you would like a copy to play with numbers, let me know - it is pretty basic really.
If you get 3%, happy days, all good: the last column shows how much the two pots you describe end up each year, after taking the income in the "£ Amount Required" column:

If I have misunderstood some of the numbers, let me know.   
I have put the State pension as if it gets a 2% rise each year - slightly lower than how things stand today - remember, as things stand, there is a "triple lock" protection that guarantees the state pension would increase by the greatest of the following three measures:

• Average earnings
• Prices, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
• 2.5 per cent

That ignores your cash fund - as you say, use that for a year, keep some as emergency funds to draw on during any really bad years.
Of course the "Growth" column will vary from year to year, perhaps wildly, so it is wise to play with it and drop some negative years in, particularly early on, but if you can keep some cash funds (ours are in Premium Bonds), and have the ability to "pause" the drawdown, then you can help mitigate downturns.

In terms of "advising you where to invest" - you will NOT get that here: advice comes with the need for regulations and training, and although there are one or two such advisors here, they would not give you a simple answer given the little information we all read here - plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance  

If I were unsure of things, I would probably pop it all in a Vanguard LifeStrategy 80, or perhaps LS60, to capture the essence of "invest in the world".
YES, there is a lot more information , as dunstonh & others outlined, that would be needed to get to the bottom of what the best thing for YOU is, but who knows what tomorrow can bring!

But that is just my personal suggestion, just an invisible individual on the internet!   

Love this. Simple but informative

Glad you like it: I thought it did illustrate things fairly easily 

In answer to @BritishInvestor, where I said "plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance": well, reading up the thread, I saw requests for a range of things:

• What drawdown strategy are you following? 
• Total return or yield? 
• Will you be segmenting your portfolio for different time periods? 
• Will you operate a cash account within the pension or outside of the pension?   
• What sort of volatility level are you aiming for?

I & many who have been here for a while understand these terms.  A relative newbie may not.   

All things I would expect an IFA to ask, and of course charge a % to assess and give advice.....& they might then construct a portfolio of 10-20 funds, as we often see in this forum....but I would ask if that is often needed?
The very building of those complex things, in my mine, often helps maintain the "mystery of finance".   Makes the "average person" feel they are incapable of doing it, so maybe they should pay someone else to do it for themselves.
Of course, some people have complex lives, & absolutely warrant that work.....but I feel many do not: maybe a simpler option will be more than sufficient - and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves.   

Each to their own, of course, & as I pointed out, nothing anyone gives here is "advice".

As Mordko suggested, getting a simple multi-asset fund (or my suggestion - look at Vanguard LS60 or LS80) could likely cover things perfectly well.
My spreadsheet was used to illustrate how the money *could* play out over the years ahead.

Care to comment?

It might be useful to differentiate investing (which, these days, can, and should be, straightforward) and retirement planning, which isn't necessarily always that straightforward.

"and of course charge a % "
It's hopefully going to be a fee these days.

"and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves."
In theory, I don't necessarily disagree, but what is often the case on forums is people tend to jump to "solution" mode, when the "real" objective hasn't really been uncovered.

One could argue that anyone that comes on here asking for guidance and is currently paying an adviser should consider why they are paying an adviser in the first place. Seems a waste of money to me.

Advisers still always seem to quote a percentage for their fee, which is partly psychological of course, it's only 0.5% whereas £2k a year sounds like quite a lot!

cfw1994

BritishInvestor said:

cfw1994 said:

Scallypud said:

cfw1994 said:

Curious.
My magic spreaddie suggest that you should be fine, even if you only average 2% to last until you are 100.   
Maybe I have misread the numbers.   If so, let me know!

Sample below - assuming you want 18k at todays money, rising at 2% (3rd column - note it says 'inflation, but today inflation is under 1% !!).
If you would like a copy to play with numbers, let me know - it is pretty basic really.
If you get 3%, happy days, all good: the last column shows how much the two pots you describe end up each year, after taking the income in the "£ Amount Required" column:

If I have misunderstood some of the numbers, let me know.   
I have put the State pension as if it gets a 2% rise each year - slightly lower than how things stand today - remember, as things stand, there is a "triple lock" protection that guarantees the state pension would increase by the greatest of the following three measures:

• Average earnings
• Prices, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
• 2.5 per cent

That ignores your cash fund - as you say, use that for a year, keep some as emergency funds to draw on during any really bad years.
Of course the "Growth" column will vary from year to year, perhaps wildly, so it is wise to play with it and drop some negative years in, particularly early on, but if you can keep some cash funds (ours are in Premium Bonds), and have the ability to "pause" the drawdown, then you can help mitigate downturns.

In terms of "advising you where to invest" - you will NOT get that here: advice comes with the need for regulations and training, and although there are one or two such advisors here, they would not give you a simple answer given the little information we all read here - plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance  

If I were unsure of things, I would probably pop it all in a Vanguard LifeStrategy 80, or perhaps LS60, to capture the essence of "invest in the world".
YES, there is a lot more information , as dunstonh & others outlined, that would be needed to get to the bottom of what the best thing for YOU is, but who knows what tomorrow can bring!

But that is just my personal suggestion, just an invisible individual on the internet!   

Love this. Simple but informative

Glad you like it: I thought it did illustrate things fairly easily 

In answer to @BritishInvestor, where I said "plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance": well, reading up the thread, I saw requests for a range of things:

• What drawdown strategy are you following? 
• Total return or yield? 
• Will you be segmenting your portfolio for different time periods? 
• Will you operate a cash account within the pension or outside of the pension?   
• What sort of volatility level are you aiming for?

I & many who have been here for a while understand these terms.  A relative newbie may not.   

All things I would expect an IFA to ask, and of course charge a % to assess and give advice.....& they might then construct a portfolio of 10-20 funds, as we often see in this forum....but I would ask if that is often needed?
The very building of those complex things, in my mine, often helps maintain the "mystery of finance".   Makes the "average person" feel they are incapable of doing it, so maybe they should pay someone else to do it for themselves.
Of course, some people have complex lives, & absolutely warrant that work.....but I feel many do not: maybe a simpler option will be more than sufficient - and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves.   

Each to their own, of course, & as I pointed out, nothing anyone gives here is "advice".

As Mordko suggested, getting a simple multi-asset fund (or my suggestion - look at Vanguard LS60 or LS80) could likely cover things perfectly well.
My spreadsheet was used to illustrate how the money *could* play out over the years ahead.

Care to comment?

It might be useful to differentiate investing (which, these days, can, and should be, straightforward) and retirement planning, which isn't necessarily always that straightforward.

"and of course charge a % "
It's hopefully going to be a fee these days.

"and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves."
In theory, I don't necessarily disagree, but what is often the case on forums is people tend to jump to "solution" mode, when the "real" objective hasn't really been uncovered.

One could argue that anyone that comes on here asking for guidance and is currently paying an adviser should consider why they are paying an adviser in the first place. Seems a waste of money to me.

In order:
Investment v Retirement Planning.  Well, if you have straightforward needs (want £X,000 for Y years, then £Z for the rest of your life), and a pot of £A,000....that complex planning you hint at is not that complex really.   
Clearly you might want to 'stress test' things - hence the simple spreadsheet approach, allowing you to drop in a -20% year (or two, or three, or -30%, or -40% - how much planning do you want to plan for, & how much would the FA/IFA do?)

A fee versus a % to manage?   That would be refreshing, but what I read suggests the vast majority still charge a % under management - you think not?

Forums are never going to dig into the "real" objective - they are a way to ask a question and get an answer, not know the subtle nuances of the OPs life!

I suspect there are plenty here who use a financial advisor but come on here for either confirmation, or to figure things out (& perhaps 'go solo' later).   Always ways to waste money!

[Deleted User]

NottinghamKnight said:

BritishInvestor said:

cfw1994 said:

Scallypud said:

cfw1994 said:

Curious.
My magic spreaddie suggest that you should be fine, even if you only average 2% to last until you are 100.   
Maybe I have misread the numbers.   If so, let me know!

Sample below - assuming you want 18k at todays money, rising at 2% (3rd column - note it says 'inflation, but today inflation is under 1% !!).
If you would like a copy to play with numbers, let me know - it is pretty basic really.
If you get 3%, happy days, all good: the last column shows how much the two pots you describe end up each year, after taking the income in the "£ Amount Required" column:

If I have misunderstood some of the numbers, let me know.   
I have put the State pension as if it gets a 2% rise each year - slightly lower than how things stand today - remember, as things stand, there is a "triple lock" protection that guarantees the state pension would increase by the greatest of the following three measures:

• Average earnings
• Prices, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
• 2.5 per cent

That ignores your cash fund - as you say, use that for a year, keep some as emergency funds to draw on during any really bad years.
Of course the "Growth" column will vary from year to year, perhaps wildly, so it is wise to play with it and drop some negative years in, particularly early on, but if you can keep some cash funds (ours are in Premium Bonds), and have the ability to "pause" the drawdown, then you can help mitigate downturns.

In terms of "advising you where to invest" - you will NOT get that here: advice comes with the need for regulations and training, and although there are one or two such advisors here, they would not give you a simple answer given the little information we all read here - plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance  

If I were unsure of things, I would probably pop it all in a Vanguard LifeStrategy 80, or perhaps LS60, to capture the essence of "invest in the world".
YES, there is a lot more information , as dunstonh & others outlined, that would be needed to get to the bottom of what the best thing for YOU is, but who knows what tomorrow can bring!

But that is just my personal suggestion, just an invisible individual on the internet!   

Love this. Simple but informative

Glad you like it: I thought it did illustrate things fairly easily 

In answer to @BritishInvestor, where I said "plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance": well, reading up the thread, I saw requests for a range of things:

• What drawdown strategy are you following? 
• Total return or yield? 
• Will you be segmenting your portfolio for different time periods? 
• Will you operate a cash account within the pension or outside of the pension?   
• What sort of volatility level are you aiming for?

I & many who have been here for a while understand these terms.  A relative newbie may not.   

All things I would expect an IFA to ask, and of course charge a % to assess and give advice.....& they might then construct a portfolio of 10-20 funds, as we often see in this forum....but I would ask if that is often needed?
The very building of those complex things, in my mine, often helps maintain the "mystery of finance".   Makes the "average person" feel they are incapable of doing it, so maybe they should pay someone else to do it for themselves.
Of course, some people have complex lives, & absolutely warrant that work.....but I feel many do not: maybe a simpler option will be more than sufficient - and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves.   

Each to their own, of course, & as I pointed out, nothing anyone gives here is "advice".

As Mordko suggested, getting a simple multi-asset fund (or my suggestion - look at Vanguard LS60 or LS80) could likely cover things perfectly well.
My spreadsheet was used to illustrate how the money *could* play out over the years ahead.

Care to comment?

It might be useful to differentiate investing (which, these days, can, and should be, straightforward) and retirement planning, which isn't necessarily always that straightforward.

"and of course charge a % "
It's hopefully going to be a fee these days.

"and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves."
In theory, I don't necessarily disagree, but what is often the case on forums is people tend to jump to "solution" mode, when the "real" objective hasn't really been uncovered.

One could argue that anyone that comes on here asking for guidance and is currently paying an adviser should consider why they are paying an adviser in the first place. Seems a waste of money to me.

Advisers still always seem to quote a percentage for their fee, which is partly psychological of course, it's only 0.5% whereas £2k a year sounds like quite a lot!

Also, % is charged annually on the original value again and again and again. So the original Xk after a couple of decades will have lots of bites taken out of it.  And any growth is charged too with the total charges typically escalating well ahead of inflation.  While a property set up portfolio needs very little work, the adviser gets paid while he sleeps. Quoting % rather than GBP makes sense. For the adviser.

BritishInvestor

cfw1994 said:

BritishInvestor said:

cfw1994 said:

Scallypud said:

cfw1994 said:

Curious.
My magic spreaddie suggest that you should be fine, even if you only average 2% to last until you are 100.   
Maybe I have misread the numbers.   If so, let me know!

Sample below - assuming you want 18k at todays money, rising at 2% (3rd column - note it says 'inflation, but today inflation is under 1% !!).
If you would like a copy to play with numbers, let me know - it is pretty basic really.
If you get 3%, happy days, all good: the last column shows how much the two pots you describe end up each year, after taking the income in the "£ Amount Required" column:

If I have misunderstood some of the numbers, let me know.   
I have put the State pension as if it gets a 2% rise each year - slightly lower than how things stand today - remember, as things stand, there is a "triple lock" protection that guarantees the state pension would increase by the greatest of the following three measures:

• Average earnings
• Prices, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
• 2.5 per cent

That ignores your cash fund - as you say, use that for a year, keep some as emergency funds to draw on during any really bad years.
Of course the "Growth" column will vary from year to year, perhaps wildly, so it is wise to play with it and drop some negative years in, particularly early on, but if you can keep some cash funds (ours are in Premium Bonds), and have the ability to "pause" the drawdown, then you can help mitigate downturns.

In terms of "advising you where to invest" - you will NOT get that here: advice comes with the need for regulations and training, and although there are one or two such advisors here, they would not give you a simple answer given the little information we all read here - plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance  

If I were unsure of things, I would probably pop it all in a Vanguard LifeStrategy 80, or perhaps LS60, to capture the essence of "invest in the world".
YES, there is a lot more information , as dunstonh & others outlined, that would be needed to get to the bottom of what the best thing for YOU is, but who knows what tomorrow can bring!

But that is just my personal suggestion, just an invisible individual on the internet!   

Love this. Simple but informative

Glad you like it: I thought it did illustrate things fairly easily 

In answer to @BritishInvestor, where I said "plus, that would rather take away the mystery of finance": well, reading up the thread, I saw requests for a range of things:

• What drawdown strategy are you following? 
• Total return or yield? 
• Will you be segmenting your portfolio for different time periods? 
• Will you operate a cash account within the pension or outside of the pension?   
• What sort of volatility level are you aiming for?

I & many who have been here for a while understand these terms.  A relative newbie may not.   

All things I would expect an IFA to ask, and of course charge a % to assess and give advice.....& they might then construct a portfolio of 10-20 funds, as we often see in this forum....but I would ask if that is often needed?
The very building of those complex things, in my mine, often helps maintain the "mystery of finance".   Makes the "average person" feel they are incapable of doing it, so maybe they should pay someone else to do it for themselves.
Of course, some people have complex lives, & absolutely warrant that work.....but I feel many do not: maybe a simpler option will be more than sufficient - and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves.   

Each to their own, of course, & as I pointed out, nothing anyone gives here is "advice".

As Mordko suggested, getting a simple multi-asset fund (or my suggestion - look at Vanguard LS60 or LS80) could likely cover things perfectly well.
My spreadsheet was used to illustrate how the money *could* play out over the years ahead.

Care to comment?

It might be useful to differentiate investing (which, these days, can, and should be, straightforward) and retirement planning, which isn't necessarily always that straightforward.

"and of course charge a % "
It's hopefully going to be a fee these days.

"and with some simple guidance, they might feel more able to control things themselves."
In theory, I don't necessarily disagree, but what is often the case on forums is people tend to jump to "solution" mode, when the "real" objective hasn't really been uncovered.

One could argue that anyone that comes on here asking for guidance and is currently paying an adviser should consider why they are paying an adviser in the first place. Seems a waste of money to me.

In order:
Investment v Retirement Planning.  Well, if you have straightforward needs (want £X,000 for Y years, then £Z for the rest of your life), and a pot of £A,000....that complex planning you hint at is not that complex really.   
Clearly you might want to 'stress test' things - hence the simple spreadsheet approach, allowing you to drop in a -20% year (or two, or three, or -30%, or -40% - how much planning do you want to plan for, & how much would the FA/IFA do?)

A fee versus a % to manage?   That would be refreshing, but what I read suggests the vast majority still charge a % under management - you think not?

Forums are never going to dig into the "real" objective - they are a way to ask a question and get an answer, not know the subtle nuances of the OPs life!

I suspect there are plenty here who use a financial advisor but come on here for either confirmation, or to figure things out (& perhaps 'go solo' later).   Always ways to waste money!

"Well, if you have straightforward needs (want £X,000 for Y years, then £Z for the rest of your life), and a pot of £A,000....that complex planning you hint at is not that complex really."

I think some people (even those that have worked in the area professionally in a full-time capacity for many years - both academics and practitioners) see it as a challenging task even for something that appears on the surface a simple question, but I guess you are a lot further down the road than most.

Some potential challenges/issues I've observed:

1. Lack of understanding of how bad things can get (based on historical data) and the impact on their chosen portfolio.
2. Taking far more risk than they need to.
3. Altering their spending plans at the slight market turbulence (Covid)
4. Conversely not knowing when an adjustment might need to be made
5. Little understanding of "rules of thumbs" such as the 4% rule and the impact of real-world factors such as inflation, asset allocation, fees, longevity etc.
6. Stress testing without really understanding what it is that stresses a retirement portfolio - inflation spikes are often ignored.
7. Use of more complex withdrawal strategies such as Guyton Klinger without understanding the potential downsides.
8. No understanding of the trades off between level of withdrawals, success rate and potential adjustments.
9. Not understanding the impact of various approaches (e.g. bucketing) on likely portfolio success.

With all that said, I'm not sure your typical IFA is really going to help with the above. 

"the vast majority still charge a % under management - you think not?"
I guess so, but I'm some exist out there that will charge something closer to a flat fee.

cfw1994

So....throw our arms in the air in despair, & work until we drop?
Certainly one approach!

or....accept that life can and does throw curveballs, figure out what you want to live on, take a stab when you get there (hint: it looks to me like the OP is pretty well there!) & plan ahead.

People post this kind of question for some guidance, ideas, something to help them.  

What constructive thoughts do you have for the OP?  
Violent disagreement with my suggestions?  
Alternative ideas?