The plan in one page

A retirement plan that exists only in one person's head is not a plan. Written down, it should fit on a page.

What the page contains

The income picture. Social Security for each spouse, with claiming ages and expected amounts. Any pension, with its survivor election. Any annuity income. What the portfolio must supply beyond these.

The spending figure. Annual, split between essential and discretionary, with a note of what would be reduced first.

The portfolio. Target allocation, the accounts it is held in, and the rebalancing rule.

The withdrawal approach. The rate, which accounts are drawn in what order, and what triggers an adjustment in either direction.

The tax plan. The conversion strategy for the current phase, the thresholds being managed around, and how tax is being paid.

Healthcare. Which coverage, what it costs, and when it is reviewed.

The care position. Whether insured, self-funded, or unaddressed, and what the intention is.

Documents. Where the will, powers of attorney and directive are, and who is named.

Contacts and access. Institutions, professionals, and how digital access is provided.

Why one page

Because a plan that requires a folder does not get consulted, reviewed or followed.

And because the discipline of fitting it on a page forces every element to be decided rather than left vague.

"We'll figure out the withdrawals" does not fit. A rate and an order does.

The three audiences

Yourself, during a market decline. Something written when calm, stating what was decided and why, is the most reliable defence against acting on a recent experience.

Your spouse. In most couples one person manages this, and that person may not be the one who lives longest.

A page they could act on is a substantial protection.

Whoever takes over. A child, an executor, an attorney or an adviser, entering the situation with no context, generally at a difficult moment.

The annual review, in the same place

Alongside the plan, a short record of each year's review.

What was spent. Portfolio value at year end. The resulting withdrawal rate. Whether anything was adjusted, and why.

Five lines a year. After a decade it is the most useful document in the file, because it shows what actually happened against what was assumed.

What the plan should not contain

Forecasts about markets, interest rates or policy.

Anything dependent on a specific outcome occurring.

Complexity that only the author understands.

A strategy requiring frequent decisions.

Each of these makes the plan more fragile rather than more sophisticated.

The underlying position

Everything on this site reduces to a small number of things.

Save what you can, as early as you can, in accounts with sensible tax treatment.

Keep costs low, because they are the one certain element.

Delay Social Security if you can afford to, particularly the higher earner in a couple.

Use the low-income years before required distributions deliberately.

Keep enough in cash that a decline does not force a sale, and enough in growth assets that inflation does not erode the plan.

Build in spending flexibility and be willing to use it in both directions.

Plan for healthcare and care rather than hoping.

Get the documents done.

Keep it simple enough that someone else could run it.

And review it once a year, honestly, which is the part that makes all the rest work.

Where to keep it

Somewhere both accessible and known.

A printed copy with the other essential documents, and a digital copy your spouse or a trusted person can reach.

Not in an encrypted file whose password only you know, which is a common and self-defeating arrangement.

Reviewing it

Once a year, at the same time as the financial review.

Most years nothing changes and the exercise takes ten minutes.

The years when something has changed are the ones where having the previous version written down makes the change visible, which is the entire purpose.

The version for someone else

A final suggestion.

Write one paragraph at the top explaining, in plain language, what the plan is trying to achieve and why it is structured this way.

Anyone taking it over — a spouse, a child, a professional — will make better decisions with that context than with the numbers alone.

General information only, not financial, tax, legal or medical advice. Rules and figures change and vary by circumstance — consult qualified professionals about your own situation.