A Nobel prize winner in Economic Sciences once stated that retirement planning was the nastiest, hardest problem in finance. Unknowns relating to life expectancy, future investment returns and inflation add surprising complexity to a deceptively simple question:

"Can I afford to retire now and enjoy my desired lifestyle with confidence that I won't run out of money before I die?"

This book takes you through the retirement planning journey by covering the following key areas:

* Person: Establishing the cost of your current and desired lifestyle.
* Plan: Building a financial plan to evaluate the feasibility of your goals.
* Product: Creating an investment engine to deliver the returns your financial plan requires.
* Retirement income withdrawal strategy: Constructing a withdrawal strategy and the various "levers" that can impact your plan sustainability.
* DIY or pay for advice: Key topics to consider if you are a DIY retirement planner. If planning to pay for financial advice,
how to find an adviser that best fits with your needs.

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?

This book is for people who find themselves in a situation like those outlined below.

Peter has worked at the same company for three decades. He is now in his mid-50s and hates his job with a passion but has never had the courage, motivation, or inclination to do something more stimulating and rewarding.
Ideally, this book would have been available years ago, and Peter could by now have created and implemented his "escape plan". Hopefully, reading it now will provide the necessary stimulus for him to take the plunge before it is too late.

Anne was planning to stop work and was looking for a retirement plan. She had been offered a free financial planning service and decided to go ahead (who can turn down a free offer?). Anne is a bright, analytical person and soon realised that the financial planning exercise she was receiving was suboptimal. She decided to stop wasting her time and terminated the process.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the same mindset and background as Anne and therefore might struggle to determine whether they are receiving good financial planning. This book will give plenty of pointers to help you.

James is currently working for a large consultancy and he and his wife, Mary, had been a client of a financial adviser for several years but had been feeling for some time that they were receiving a service which did not offer value for money. Their adviser met with them once a year to talk about fund performance, something that James described as a "postman delivery service" for which they were paying a substantial sum every year.
Despite working with the same adviser for many years their adviser had not once asked what their money was really for, what their hopes and dreams were for the future and what they were really trying to achieve.
If you are another 'James' reading this, I hope it inspires you to seek out someone who can help you build a vision for the future.

Alice has been invested with a wealth manager for several years and is happy to pay what many would describe as high fees as she feels she is unable to get those great returns elsewhere.
Hopefully, this book will help people like Alice realise a financial advice relationship can deliver so much more than supposedly "great returns", and also to establish just how great those returns are likely to be.