Read how Keith uses PocketSmith to keep tabs on spending patterns so retirement stays comfortable and sustainable.
I have been a retired civil engineer since 2021, so I have been enjoying the good life for five years now. I worked with a civil engineering consultancy in the Australian Outback for 20 years. We still live in the Outback but have bought a small house in Tasmania, where we spend the summer enjoying the cool weather, fishing, the beautiful countryside, great festival events, and eating out.
Since we purchased the house in Tasmania, my son and his wife have also moved there, so we are able to spend quality time with them for six months of the year. We return to Queensland during the winter to get away from the cold, wet, short days of Tasmania in exchange for the cool sunny days of the Outback. We still have many friends in our town, so it is great to catch up with them and participate in our hobbies, such as woodworking and my wife’s artwork. My wife runs a small art business, so she keeps busy during winter.
I tend to look after the finances, the gardens and the sheds. My wife looks after the indoors and is a very good cook.
A business associate introduced me to PocketSmith, but I did use PocketBook previously. I found it to be very comprehensive and able to cope with our many bank accounts.
I have been using PocketSmith since July 2022.
My main uses of PocketSmith are keeping tabs on spending and how the retirement funds are going. We also use it to record expenses and sales of my wife’s art business.
Before retirement, we were able to track our expenses through our bank accounts and stay within our means. Since retirement, it’s been important not to overspend and deplete our nest egg. So recording and categorising our expenditure in PocketSmith makes it easier to catch overspending and plan for larger future costs such as holidays.
Net Worth is a favourite feature to ensure that the retirement funds will last. The Budget page is also very useful, but it does take some time to learn and use efficiently. The bank feeds are excellent, as is the automatic categorising. The Excel export feature is great for end-of-financial-year records.
Spend some time getting to know the system and all the features, as it makes the program much easier to use and more useful.
Use the Calendar to correct bank account forecasting and add in outside assets (such as pension funds and rental houses) and liabilities for Net Worth calculations.
The best money decision in the last couple of years has been to maintain a consistent financial position to ensure the longevity of retirement funds and for tax purposes.
