How much do you need to retire? This is the endless question, isn’t it? With a thousand variables. Let me just give you the Australian numbers. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) estimates that for a modest retirement, a couple needs an annual income of $46,620. I don’t think that’s going to cover my insurance, let alone my food bill—let alone my children’s car insurance.

For a comfortable retirement, a couple is supposed to have $71,723 per annum, which, of course, is after tax. I don’t think most of us would survive on that.

There’s also something called the 4% rule, which retirees use. The idea is you can earn 5% somewhere—be that in the stock market, bonds, or term deposits—so if you withdraw 4%, you’ll never actually reduce your capital.

So, how much do you need to live off the 4% rule? If you have $1 million, that gives you $40,000 per year. To earn $80,000 per year for a comfortable retirement, you need $2 million.

You can see the 4% rule doesn’t get you very far. I’m going to need about $500,000 a year, which means… I don’t know how many millions I need! But that is one of the gauges retirees use—the 4% rule. Clearly, you need a lot of capital to live off 4% a year.

So how much do you need? Marcus Today surveyed its thousands of members, and we got about a thousand replies asking, What is your retirement calculation?

Obviously, this depends on who you are and what you expect to live on, but the numbers broadly fell into two categories:

• People who weren’t affluent and didn’t want a lavish lifestyle mentioned $60,000 per year after tax as their number.
• At the other end, some people said they wouldn’t survive on less than $500,000 per year—which, of course, is out of this world for most.

Most people landed around $100,000 per year. Some said $200,000 per year. And this is after tax, in retirement—so this is when a lot of costs are gone. Your kids are gone, you own your house, you have no mortgage.

Ultimately, your number depends entirely on you and your personal circumstances.

This is why, in the financial world, there’s a distinction between general advice and personal advice. General advice talks broadly, but if you want specifics, you need to go to a financial planner.

Most of us should probably—this isn’t an ad for financial planners—but most of us should at some point go and see one.

A financial planner’s job is to take into account your assets, age, earning ability, ambitions, and financial needs, and come up with a plan. The plan is a great starting point.

Whether it’s right or wrong, the most important part of getting to retirement is knowing where you are. A financial plan delivers certainty—and certainty means you can sleep at night.

I deal with stocks all day. The worst thing about volatile stocks is that they keep you awake at night. There’s no certainty, and that’s very uncomfortable. A financial plan provides a level of certainty.

I think everyone should see a financial planner at some point—just to get an idea of where they stand, whether they’re ahead or behind the eight ball, and how long they need to work to get to a comfortable position for retirement.

Most people think about retirement at 60. But all the rules around superannuation and retirement age are old government numbers—they’re all about tax.

Yes, a financial planner can help maximise your tax position, avoid unnecessary tax, and move assets around efficiently. But in reality, retirement is a personal decision.

If you’re behind the eight ball, you can work as long as you like. If you’re extremely successful, you can retire whenever you want.

Superannuation, retirement ages—it’s all just a tax consideration. You need to understand that. You’ll probably have to see a financial planner at least once. And ultimately, what you are planning for in retirement is peace of mind.

Now, if you don’t want to see a financial planner—I know a lot of people don’t because they think it’s expensive—there’s another issue: there aren’t enough financial planners to go around.

Financial planners have become expensive because of regulatory changes. The number of planners has shrunk enormously. But the cost of seeing one is almost certainly worth it for the peace of mind it brings.

If you really don’t want to see a financial planner, then just start.

This might sound silly, but in the survey of Marcus Today members, we received thousands of pieces of advice. One of the most common mistakes people made when planning for retirement was simply not starting.

Just start. If you have a partner, start the conversation.

Open a spreadsheet. Put in your earnings, your tax, your assets, your future plans. Factor in inflation. Estimate what you’ll need in the future for the lifestyle you want.

Just having this one document—especially with a partner—will start hundreds of important discussions.

Happiness is about expectations met. Laying out expectations and planning for them is key to peace of mind in retirement. And a simple spreadsheet is often enough to start that process.

The most important piece of advice from the thousand retirees who responded to our survey?

Just start.