Will Your Money Outlive You?

Imagine this: you and your partner are both 40, have £250,000 in the bank, and save

£2,000 a month. You want to retire at 55 on £60,000 a year, pay for two children (now

2 and 5) to go to university, and buy a retirement home in 15 years.

Right now all your savings sit in a bank paying 1 % interest.

The uncomfortable truth? You run out of money at 55.

Something has to give. You either lower your retirement expectations or change your

strategy today.

Let’s test a few tweaks:

• Invest instead of save: Assume a 7 % annual return. Your savings now last until

65. Better, but still not enough.

• Increase contributions: Bump your monthly saving from £2,000 to £3,000. Now

your money lasts until 73.

• Index your savings to your income: Raise your savings by 5 % each year as your

income grows. Suddenly your money lasts until 99.

The lesson is stark: leaving cash in a low‑interest account while aiming for a

high‑spend retirement is a recipe for disappointment. To make your wealth outlive

you, you need to invest wisely, save more than you think, and keep increasing those

savings as your earnings rise.

Planning isn’t about running endless “what if” scenarios. It’s about making deliberate,

proactive choices today so you don’t run out of options tomorrow.

If you don’t know when your money runs out, or whether it outlives you, now’s the

time to find out.