Planning Your Retirement Budget

Top tips for preparing your retirement budget*

1. Assess your priorities.

Begin by assessing your priorities. Think about the costs of the travelling you’d like to do, or the hobbies you’d like to spend more time on.

2. Take a closer look at your income and spending.

List out your basic living expenses and any financial commitments you have, like your mortgage or loans. Your bank statements, bills, credit card statements and receipts will help you see what income you have coming in and going out.

Keeping an eye on expenses

Once you have your budget in place it’s important to monitor your spending and refine things as necessary. One way to see if your budget accurately reflects your expenses is to keep your receipts (paper or electronic) for a period of time – say, one to three months – and then assess them against your budget. You may find some costs, like healthcare, may be greater than you thought as these can increase over time.

It’s important to remember that your spending habits may also change leading up to (and during) retirement.

A realistic budget can help you forecast spending and may help you think about unexpected expenses. It may be a useful tool to help with your longer-term financial planning and making the best use of your retirement income.