I had an interesting chat with a financial planner yesterday.
He seemed to take a fairly negative view on future growth - he said that expecting 14% over the long term was overly optimistic, he suggested 10% was more appropriate (referring to an indexed portfolio.
Also tried to throw water on the idea of early exit from the workforce. He basically suggested that super was the best way to go, plough everything into superannuation until your super is big enough to have a comfortable retirement at 60, then worry about building a nest to tide you over from whenever you want to "retire" until age 60.
He is not particularly fond of leveraging, or direct residential real estate investment.
It was actually a little depressing talking to him, as I have always had a more optimistic view. He did say something that rang true with me, that you should ensure that if the worst crash we have ever seen hit the share market you wouldnt be wiped out. He made the point that if you are geared to 50%, and the market drops 50%, its all she wrote for you.
Definitely has made me have a think about whether my expectations are too high, or leveraging over 50% is too aggressive to be sustainable...
Anyone have any thoughts on this?