7 Steps to Estimating Your In-Retirement Cash Flow Needs

 Like many of my posts I'm sharing links to excellent advice from other writers. Christine Benz from Morningstar offers suggestions on how to plan for spending needs in retirement. 

"Ultimately, it may be difficult to forecast your actual income-replacement needs with a great deal of precision. Even as you attempt to anticipate every in-retirement expense to the penny, unforeseen expenditures such as healthcare costs can buffet spending around on a year-to-year basis. But because anticipated income needs are such a key ingredient in the retirement-income puzzle, it's helpful to come up with as realistic a figure as possible while also being realistic that your own expenditures are apt to vary over time."

The 7 steps are: 

Step 1: Find a Realistic Baseline

Step 2: Subtract Your Savings Rate

Step 3: Subtract Any Tax Reductions

Step 4: Subtract Any Anticipated Housing-Cost Changes

Step 5: Factor in Lifestyle Changes

Step 6: Add Higher Healthcare Costs

Step 7: Add Inflation and a Healthy Fudge Factor

For all the details: https://www.morningstar.com/articles/839519/7-steps-to-estimating-your-in-retirement-cash-flow-needs