Approaching and In Retirement

For families whose question has moved from building to sustaining.

You are within 10 years of retirement or already there. The question is no longer how much can be accumulated. It is whether what you hold will produce enough income for as long as you need it, in the currencies you actually spend, without being eroded by inflation or a poorly structured estate.

Drawing on a portfolio is a different discipline from building one. It depends on the order in which assets are sold, on holding enough short-dated capital that nothing has to be liquidated at a bad moment, and on a rate of withdrawal that the portfolio can sustain rather than one the household would prefer.

Scenario 1

The portfolio has to produce income now

Withdrawal rates published from long-run dollar and sterling data do not transfer to a naira portfolio, and applying them without adjustment is among the more expensive mistakes made at this stage. We calculate what your position can sustain against your actual currency mix and obligations, then structure the drawdown so that income arrives on a schedule rather than by liquidating whatever is convenient.

Scenario 2

The pension alone will not carry the household

Most retirement savings accounts were never sized against the lifestyle they are now expected to fund, and the choice at retirement between an annuity and programmed withdrawal is made once. It should be modelled against the rest of the position rather than treated as an administrative form. Voluntary contributions, the fund the account sits in, and the nomination attached to it are all worth reviewing while there is still time for it to matter.

Scenario 3

Inflation and currency do the damage quietly

A retirement funded entirely in naira assumes a stability of purchasing power that recent history does not support, particularly for a household with medical costs, travel, or children abroad. Building both naira-producing and foreign currency-producing assets ahead of retirement is considerably easier than correcting the mix afterwards, when there is no longer earned income to fund the adjustment.

What we do here

Model what the current position will actually sustain, in both currencies, against real household spending rather than a percentage.

Structure the drawdown sequence and hold a liquidity ladder so that nothing is sold at the wrong moment.

Review the retirement savings account, the annuity or programmed withdrawal decision, the nominations, and any remaining employer cover.

Complete the estate work while it is unhurried, so that what you have built transfers cleanly and the family is not waiting on probate for basic access.

Insights from us