Smart Retirement in Bali Course
(See Financial Planning lesson below)
Hello again dear readers. It’s been a while. I finally finished developing my course called, “Smart Retirement in Bali”:
For those of you who are not considering Bali as a retirement destination, I’ve included the Financial Planning lesson below, since that is relevant to anyone who wants to prepare for a fulfilling retirement.
Section 1 - The Difficult Stuff
- Overview of Bali as a Retirement Destination
- Budgeting
- Financial Planning
- Visa Requirements
- Housing
- Healthcare & Insurance
- Getting Wired in Indonesia
- Coming up. Section 2 - The Easy Stuff
Section 2 - The Easy Stuff
- Foreign Language & Culture: Basic exposure to Bahasa Indonesia and Balinese society
- Local food options and issues
- Transportation
- Safety
- Weather
- Sports & Activities
- Community & Camaraderie
- Redesigning Life for Retirement
- Summary
Financial Planning
We all want both clarity and certainty when it comes to our financial future. And as the video above points out, we also want to know whether or not we will have enough money until we die.
Also in the video is a reference to the Monte Carlo simulation, which, based on your inputs, makes a massive number of projections and gives you the most likely outcomes (percentage-wise) towards having enough money until the end of your days.
I recommend you take the simplified Monte Carlo simulation here in order to get a sense of how long your money will last.
After running the simulation for yourself, where do you stand? Are the projections 80% certain that you’ll have enough money? In the above video the presenter, Azul, asks whether getting from 80% to 90% is worth another 7 years of work. Where do you stand with regard to financial certainty? This will help you make a retirement decision that you can live with comfortably.
A more thorough tool is a website called NewRetirement. The free account has a lot of options (although there are reminders to upgrade throughout the product). The site also predicts the likelihood of how much money you’ll need throughout the rest of your life.
On a practical level we can increase the likelihood of having enough money if, at the very least, we take care of our health. Visit healthcare professionals for check-ups and engage in preventive care. As previously mentioned, prepare a financial “cushion” for medical emergencies. By staying active we not only save money on visits to the hospital — we increase our positive attitudes and our daily outlook.
Housing choices. The term “downsizing” comes up a lot for older folks, but for good reason. Can we live with less? What are the positives and negatives of your current situation? Perhaps make a list. If you own a home, think about those maintenance items and whether you still want to deal with the headaches into your 70s and 80s.
Estate Planning. Planning for the eventual distribution of your assets may sound morbid, but it is essential for not only you, but your loved ones.
A platform for all of your records, from your “digital estate” to your will, to funeral wishes and more, is very useful. I use everplans, but there are others. For $112 AUD per year you can assign “deputies” to various records and designate whether they can access the record now or after you die. You can invite the deputies now and they can familiarize themselves with whatever records are accessible to them.
Here’s a free blueprint of around 80 important tasks that are worth recording while you have your full faculties. The more effort you put into “tidying up” your connections to the physical and digital worlds, the happier your loved ones will be when you are no longer around to explain things to them.
Exercises:
Watch the above video
Run the Monte Carlo simulation. Start with the simple one and then move on to the NewRetirement website (free version is fine)
Assess whether you will have enough money until you die. Whatever percent the Monte Carlo simulation gives you, if the number is not high enough, add 7 years of work for each 10% increase. Decide on what percentage is enough for you to confidently retire
Prepare a blueprint for when you are no longer able to pass on critical information regarding key aspects of your life — from access to your digital passwords to what kind of care you’d like for your beloved pets
By addressing these key areas sooner rather than after its too late, you can better navigate your post-work years with confidence, as well as enjoy a fulfilling retirement lifestyle.
There is a lot to do for this lesson. Both in terms of tasks, as well as reflecting on your financial future. If you feel uncertain, you are not alone. As Robert Burns famously said, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
The key takeaway for you, after preparing all of the above is, “Am I confident enough to begin this new chapter of my life.”
Later,
Neill