What sort of income do you need for retirement?

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I have to admit that I am not quite retired yet (but I am fast approaching it) and I was pondering what one would actually need in terms of income whilst in the state of retirement! Lets face it pretty much any income that you earn is going to eb taxed in one way or another and is it really income that you need? I suspect not! What am I burbling on about then?

Well here is the issue, I suspect that if one were to be able to exchange some effort or skill or expertise for what one would otherwise buy with the income from a part time job, then that would be better than the income itself would it not?

If I earn (say) $100 per week from a part time job and I lose (say) $20 in tax then the net benefit to me is only $80 (and fair enough, you say we shoud all pay our fair share of tax). The problem is that the employer that paid me my $100 (or $80 to me and $20 to the IRD) does not get any benefit at all from employing me (which might explain why it is so difficult for retired people to get part time work).

What if instead of this my employer gave me a credit card (with a limit of say $500) and said that as I was on company business I should be able to fill up my car and effect other car repairs and purchase food or other comsumable goods or to be able to entertain the customers that I meet in the course of my duties. And I could use this credit card up to a maximum of $100 per week but I would not be paid a wage at all.

I would be better off and the employer would be better off (GST deductions) and everybody would be happy!

What do you think?

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