The question isn’t whether you’ll retire — it’s whether your money will be there when you do.
There’s a conversation we have with clients more often than you might expect. It usually starts with something like: “I think I’m on track… I hope.”
Hope is a beautiful thing. But it’s not a retirement strategy.
Whether you’re counting down to your last day at the office or you’re years away and just starting to take this seriously, 2026 is as good a time as any to stop leaving your future to chance. Because retirement isn’t the finish line, it’s the starting gun for a phase of life that could easily span two, three, even four decades.
Think about that for a moment. You could spend as many years in retirement as you did building your career. That’s a long time for a poorly constructed plan to unravel.
The Lifestyle Budget: Your Most Honest Conversation
The first step in any solid retirement plan is one that most people avoid: an honest look at what their life actually costs and what they want it to cost once they stop working.
A commonly used benchmark is that you’ll need around 70% of your pre-retirement income to maintain your lifestyle. But that’s just a starting point. Your real number depends on your debt situation, medical needs, travel ambitions, and whether you’re planning to help support family members down the line.
Here’s a practical lens: if you intend to draw roughly 5% of your capital per year and want that income to sustain you for 30 years, your target nest egg needs to reflect that. The numbers can be sobering, but that’s not a bad thing. A reality check today is far less painful than a shortfall tomorrow.
A Framework, Not a Formula
Retirement planning works best when it’s built around your life, not a generic template. That means working through some key questions together:
• What does your ideal retirement actually look like?
• How much capital do you realistically need to fund it?
• When do you plan to stop working, and is that timeline achievable?
• How long does your money need to last?
• What’s your tax position, your estate plan, your medical cover strategy?
None of these questions has a universal answer. But they all deserve real ones, and that’s where having a trusted advisor in your corner makes a tangible difference.
Living Annuity or Life Annuity? It’s Not One-Size-Fits-All
When retirement arrives, the law requires that at least two-thirds of your retirement savings be invested in an annuity. The choice you make here has lasting consequences, so it’s worth understanding your options clearly.
A living annuity gives you control. You choose your drawdown rate (anywhere between 2.5% and 17.5% annually), and whatever capital remains when you pass away goes to your beneficiaries. The trade-off? If your drawdowns are too aggressive or markets disappoint, you risk outliving your savings.
A life annuity (also called a guaranteed annuity) does the opposite — it pays you a fixed income for as long as you live, regardless of market conditions. There’s no capital left for your estate, but there’s also no sleepless nights wondering if the money will run out.
Neither is inherently better. For some clients, a hybrid approach — combining elements of both — offers the best balance of certainty and flexibility. The right answer depends entirely on your personal circumstances, risk appetite, and what you need retirement to feel like.
The Pitfalls That Catch Even the Well-Prepared
A plan is only as strong as its execution. Even retirees who’ve done the preparation can stumble in the following ways:
Drawing too much, too soon. Bumping your drawdown rate to 8% or higher might feel manageable in the short term, but the compounding impact on your capital over time can be devastating. Sustainability matters more than comfort in year one.
Going too conservative. Fleeing all risk in retirement feels prudent, but if inflation is quietly eroding your purchasing power while you sit in cash, you’re losing ground in slow motion. Holding some exposure to growth assets — like listed equities — remains an important part of a long-term retirement portfolio.
Doing it alone. Retirement is one of the most financially complex transitions you’ll ever navigate. Tax implications, withdrawal sequencing, and estate considerations aren’t areas where guesswork serves you well.
Design the Life You Want — Then Build the Plan to Fund It
The best way to approach retirement isn’t to fear it or over-engineer it. Think of it as designing the life you want, and then reverse-engineering the financial structure that makes it possible.
You’ve worked hard to get here. The goal now is to make sure your money works just as hard for you.
If you’re approaching retirement this year or simply want to sense-check where you stand, now is the time to have that conversation. Not next quarter. Not when things feel more settled. Now.
At mCubed, we help our clients build retirement plans that are clear, realistic, and built to last. Because the only thing worse than not having a plan is realising too late that the plan you had wasn’t good enough.
Get in touch with the mCubed team today.
