50s: Redefine Your Priorities
50s: Redefine Your Priorities
Case Study: Investment Planning To Prepare For Retirement
Case Study: Investment Planning To Prepare For Retirement
by The Gloss
When you reach your 50s, retirement is no longer a distant concept, it’s close enough to start picturing clearly. And with that comes a lot of questions: are you on track? Do you have enough? Could you retire early, or would working longer give you more freedom later? These questions are incredibly common, and they’re exactly what led our client Jessica*, who is in her early 50s, to seek guidance. With a strong career behind her, meaningful assets, and a growing desire for clarity, she wanted to understand how to transition smoothly into the next chapter of her life.
Retirement looks different for everyone. At Goodbody, we start by understanding our clients’ needs and goals in retirement, working out how much you’ll need to achieve them, and providing a roadmap for a successful retirement.
You May Also Be Interested In
Our team assessed Jessica’s current financial situation. She had an emergency pot already set aside and started to look at what she could do with her excess cash. The total of her assets, excluding debt, was over €2,000,000.
While in a good position, a few things needed to change. Her salary, bonuses and stock options were solely reliant on her employer as she had not diversified her wealth. Her current pension was invested in low-risk portfolios that did not reflect her appetite for risk (see also: How Your Personality Affects Your Investment Decisions). Jessica’s primary mortgage was cleared, but she needed a long-term investment strategy for excess cash after her pension contributions.
We broke up all the actions into short, medium and long-term goals. A short-term goal was to sell 50 per cent of her vested stock options and invest in a wider portfolio to mitigate the risk. A medium-term goal was amalgamating legacy pensions to minimise fees and adopt an appropriate risk allocation for her main pension.
In terms of a long-term strategy for excess cash, she started a portfolio that was curated to be high-risk. Jessica didn’t have time to day-trade stocks herself, so she was best suited to active trading to access the best available opportunities. Her portfolio remained diversified and focused on high growth with each stock position targeting a net client return of 8 per cent + within 12 months.
She kept in mind that she would encounter life changes along the way and made sure to keep tailoring her investments to her circumstances. In doing so, she felt prepared for a comfortable retirement in the future.
Jessica’s experience shows that with the right plan, your 50s can be a decade of clarity. By reassessing her risk profile, diversifying her investments, and restructuring her pension, she achieved confidence and choice. You can do the same by asking the following questions:
• Are your pensions working hard enough for you?
• Is your wealth too concentrated in one asset class?
• Do you have a clear plan for the next 10–15 years?
• And most importantly, are your financial decisions supporting the lifestyle you want?
The answers can help you design a clear strategy. Whether you’re preparing for retirement, navigating career changes, or simply seeking more direction, contact us at [email protected].
*Names have been changed to protect client anonymity.
Related Articles from 50s: Redefine Your Priorities
Invest in You | Join the Investment Club
What if your best financial decade starts today?
You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices.