![Bldingpermits](https://www.tricitiesbusinessnews.com/ext/resources/Special Headers/thumb/BldingPermits.jpg?1710127102)
By Ben Messinger
For many of us, retirement funding is a
central fixture of our financial plan and one of the most important
considerations is determining the income necessary to sustain a desired
lifestyle.
Knowing the true income need for your
lifestyle is the foundation of determining what capital resources must be
acquired, which is then used to determine a savings and accumulation plan. It
all starts with knowing “lifestyle income need.”
Lifestyle income need is your financial
plan’s point of origin. “For every complex problem there is an answer that is
clear, simple and wrong,” said H.L. Mencken, a cultural critic.
I’ve learned over the years that many
clients can easily answer the question, “How much have you spent per month on
average, over the past year?”
Unfortunately, that answer is often
wrong. It’s not their fault – it’s human nature to underestimate our spending.
In fact, every time I make a purchase, I find myself surprised by the total.
Recently I mailed a one-pound package and
bought a roll of stamps. The total for this purchase came to $66! Scale that
experience all the way up to encompass our total household expenses, and it’s
easy to see why we typically underestimate just how much our lifestyle actually
costs.
Often when someone makes an effort to
estimate income need, they begin at the wrong end of the equation by attempting
to itemize expense categories.
Without accounting for the unexpected,
this process is not only tedious, it’s doomed to fail.
The following is a very simple exercise
to estimate income need for your current lifestyle.
Step 1 is to identify your total bank account
balances at both the beginning and end of last year.
Next, total up all deposits – any income
you put into your bank account(s) – be it from paychecks, the boat you sold,
etc.
Now we’ll apply simple arithmetic to
learn some important things about your lifestyle.
Take your ending bank balance and
subtract your beginning balance. We will call this your balance change.
Is the number positive or negative? If
the number is positive, you lived within your means.
If it is negative, you spent more last
year than you earned.
Was last year an unusual year? Was there
a large, planned expense you saved up for over several years? Were there any
large, unusual expenses?
Now take the sum of all your deposits –
what we will call take-home income – and subtract your balance change. The
result should represent the amount of money you actually spent during the year.
This is an important number because it
represents the cost of funding your current lifestyle. No need to itemize. Last
year you did all the things you usually do, and that’s how much it cost.
Now there are just a few minor
adjustments to make.
If you have any major expenses today
which you do not plan to have in retirement, back them out. For example, if you
have a mortgage today that you will not have in retirement, subtract the
principle and interest portion, leaving the taxes and insurance portion.
Additionally, if you expect any new major
expenses in retirement, add them.
You now have a baseline number to begin
your retirement planning.
Why is this number so useful for
retirement planning?
The answer is simple: your current
lifestyle is the best proxy you have for your future lifestyle. People often
anticipate a different retirement lifestyle with less spending. I don’t believe
this is a prudent way to plan.
When you retire you will be the same
person you are today, and the lifestyle you are comfortable with now is the
same lifestyle you will likely want to continue.
With a good income-need estimate in hand,
you are now ready to begin the process of identifying the capital resources
necessary to provide that income when you commence retirement. But it all
begins with an honest and accurate evaluation of your current lifestyle
expenses.
Ben Messinger is a certified financial planner
and financial advisor with HFG Trust in Kennewick.