Disclaimer:  I am not a financial planner (except for myself). This is how I did it for me.  

 

I used to have my full process up here with a screenshot of my spreadsheet, but it was creating more questions than it was answering for people.  So I simplified it.  If you want the details please just contact me and I'll be happy to go over the numbers with you and send you links to the tools I used.  ​

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Step 1 - Define goals.

1. Not have to change my lifestyle.  This meant I would need to keep my income minus my expenses the same.  I also needed to increase my earnings over time to keep pace with inflation.

2. Travel more.  Means I need to make more money.

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Step 2 - Figure out current income and expenses.

I built a spreadsheet with a column showing my current income and expenses.  Then I added columns for retirement at different ages.  At the bottom it calculated my net income (was I making or losing money) .  Figuring out future income  was the hardest part.

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About the biggest shock was how little the pension provided.  

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Step 3 - Solve for zero

My expenses in retirement were higher than my income, so I had to get either the expenses down (no) or the income up (yes).  Because I wanted to put my real estate income back into more real estate, I didn't count that.  Instead I did several things:
 

1. I took a seasonal job.  Something fun that I did for 5 months.  So really it's just semi-retirement, I guess, but it sure beats what I was doing before.

2. I started doing some consulting and started a coaching program for people who want to move up or improve in their government Jobs.  That's at fscobie.com.

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Some are surprised that my real estate is not in here.  It could have been, but at this stage of my life I am working on growing my real estate portfolio and I didn't need to.  Later on down the road, I will add some of the income from real estate into my lifestyle.

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Again, if you have any questions about anything, contact me and I can try and answer your questions.