How to be be debt-free by retirement

The majority of income earners in SA will have to seriously downgrade their lifestyles when regular income stops coming in at retirement, cautions Phillip Kassel, a financial adviser at Liberty.
 
"Most employees earn approximately 480 pay cheques in their working lifetime between the ages of 25 to 65. The average person can expect to live until at least 85. This means they need to use these limited pay cheques to fund a retirement income of at least 240 months," explains Kassel.

"At this rate it is hard enough to meet basic day-to-day expenses in retirement without being saddled with debt repayments. So any successful retirement strategy must include a debt repayment plan."
 
Ideally, all your debt should be cleared by the time you are 45, says Kassel. This would then allow enough time to boost your retirement fund contributions, instead of paying interest over to the bank.

In the worst-case scenario, Kassel suggests the aim should be to have no debt by the age of 60. This means that, from at least the age of 45, debt repayments should be a top priority.
 
Three essential elements to be debt-free by retirement:  
 
A home loan should not be an ATM
 
By the age of 45, there are only 15 years left to achieve the goal of being debt-free. Individuals buying a home at the age of 45 should ensure that the loan term does not exceed 15 years.

Investors with an existing bond should not draw down capital from an access bond, unless there is a plan in place to settle this debt in a shorter time.

This is particularly important for those looking to use this capital to pay for home renovations or their children's education.
 
Eliminate short-term debt
 
Short-term debt could derail retirement planning, so paying this off is highly important.

Draw up a list of all the short-term debts and calculate the date the last debt will be paid off. If you find your debts will not be paid off in time for retirement, you should make significant lifestyle changes now to accelerate debt repayments.

Debt consolidation might be a solution as it reduces multiple payments to one payment over a shorter period. It is essential, in Kassel's view, that no further debts are taken on during this time.
 
Be realistic about university fees
 
During this time, breadwinners will be sending their children to university. If there are no savings and investments set aside for tertiary education, don't be tempted to make additional debt.

Be realistic about affordability because children should not have to carry the burden of financially supporting their parents during retirement.
 
"Children could apply for bursaries, apply for student loans or turn to family for financial assistance," says Kassel.

"Of course, the main breadwinner could assist in paying off the interest on these loans, but the child should take full responsibility for the student debt when they start working."

It may be tempting to cash in investments that are growing at 10% to 12% per year to pay off debt with higher interest rates. However, this will result in missing out on the power of compound growth on the retirement investments.
 
"You may be tempted to cash in R100 000 of your investments to repay short-term debt. If you rather focused on paying off the debt by budgeting and cutting back on your lifestyle, you could probably pay off the debts within five years with a payment of R2 900 per month, or by using your bonuses and tax rebates to pay it off even faster," Kassel explains.
 
Over five years at an interest rate of 25%, you would spend R174 000 to settle the R100 000 of debt. It takes discipline to start saving R2 900 per month once those debts are paid off.

In the meantime, if the R100 000 is growing at 10% a year, it doubles in value every seven years. So, after seven years it is worth R200 000, after 14 years it is worth R400 000 and after 21 years, it is worth R800 000.
 
"The same applies to home loans. While cashing in your retirement fund to be mortgage-free means you don’t have a mortgage repayment, you still need retirement funds to pay for your day-to-day expenses.

"Don’t pay off debt with your nest egg. Make the necessary lifestyle changes instead," says Kassel.

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