Your Retirement Season Starts Now
How to Prepare With Confidence
Retirement is not one moment. Retirement is a long season where your income changes and your money needs to work in a different way.
Many people arrive at this stage with a mix of excitement and uncertainty. They have spent decades working, raising families, paying mortgages, and trying to make the right choices. Suddenly the paycheque is smaller, the decisions feel bigger, and every mistake feels harder to fix. A full retirement plan can cost several thousand dollars. Commission based advice might feel conflicted. Many people tell me they do not know where to start, so they begin with nothing at all. That is tough, and it is completely normal.
You are not alone if you have tried searching for a retirement calculator NZ resource or a retirement estimate to make sense of your numbers. You are not alone if you have Googled how much do I need for retirement or how much money do you need to retire in NZ. These searches show that people want clarity. They want to make decisions they feel comfortable with. They want a sense of control at a time when income becomes limited and mistakes feel more expensive.
A simple way to understand retirement is to think about where your income goes during your working years. Your income goes to yesterday through debt repayments. Your income goes to today through everyday spending. Your income goes to tomorrow through savings and investing. Retirement works the same way, except your income is smaller and ideally you are not paying for yesterday anymore. The question becomes straightforward. How will you fund today and tomorrow when your income drops to NZ Superannuation.
I visual of where your income goes when working, when retired, and highlighting that there is likel
There are many options. You might reduce your expenses to create more room for today. You might work part time to create breathing space. You might downsize your home and free up equity. You might rent out space. You might build investment income. You might simply have a large amount of savings. Every option has trade offs. The key is understanding what your personal gap looks like, and which combination of strategies feels right for your lifestyle.
This is why the Massey University New Zealand Retirement Expenditure Guideline often creates stress. The guideline suggests people may need upwards of one million dollars for retirement. This number feels massive for most households. It is also based on a study of roughly 300 people, so it should be viewed as a guideline rather than a rule for every Kiwi. The truth is simple. You understand what you need by doing a budget. A budget shows what life costs. A budget removes guesswork. A budget gives you permission to spend with confidence because you know what your money is doing.
Once you understand your costs, you can start to understand your drawdown. Your drawdown is the money you take from your savings to support your lifestyle. This requires planning because the goal is to avoid running out of money early while also avoiding the fear that stops you from spending at all. Many people spend far less than they need to because they are scared of making a mistake. Others spend too quickly without a structure. A balanced approach helps you live well now while protecting your future self.
A helpful way to think about your drawdown is to separate your assets into two groups. Growth assets support long term spending. Income assets support short term spending. Shares, balanced funds, and diversified investments tend to grow over time and protect you from inflation. Cash and bonds tend to provide stability for the next few years of spending. When these two parts work together, you give your money space to grow for later while still holding enough secure money for the next few years of life.
People preparing for retirement often face a unique set of challenges. They are unsure who to trust. They feel overwhelmed by choices. They worry about losing money. They have never had to turn a lump sum into an income. Many of them do not want a full financial plan because it feels expensive, or they worry about being pressured into products. This is why I offer general one off sessions with no products, no commissions, and no pressure. People want clarity, not complexity. They want someone to walk through the numbers with them so they can move forward without fear.
You might have searched for where to find financial advisors specializing in retirement planning near me or where to find retirement seminars and webinars near me because you want a place to start. Start by understanding the basics. Start by learning your numbers. Start by building a simple picture of today, tomorrow, and what matters to you in this new season. Retirement is not about guessing. Retirement is about planning. Retirement is about giving yourself permission to enjoy the years ahead because you know you have a structure that supports you.
That is how retirement preparation begins for you, the Maverick way.