I want to … afford an early retirement 

Many of us look forward to retirement. It means that you can now explore new horizons, spend more time with the family or just slow things down and enjoy life at a more leisurely pace. Unfortunately, most cannot afford this but the ones that can have fostered good habits and planned very early on. So what are your options?

• Firstly, take a good look at your financial position. Take into account all your net assets both inside and outside of superannuation.
• Set up a budget and work out what you need to live on? You will require enough liquid assets outside of superannuation to fund your lifestyle until you meet your preservation age and are able to access your superannuation funds. Make sure you have enough funds to cover the entire duration of your retirement.
• Take care of your debt situation as not having employment income may compromise your retirement.
• Consider downsizing your home. Hopefully, the kids have now moved out and have their own family and any surplus funds could be used to help fund your retirement.
• Invest wisely, make sure that your investment is appropriate for your individual circumstances. Diversification will help minimise the risk of a financial loss.
• Consider not fully retiring but perhaps reducing your hours or (if applicable) start a transition to retirement pension.

For some people, early retirement may be due to sickness or injury which means that you should have adequate insurance provisions to help overcome this particular situation.

Have you considered any of the following:

• Investing in assets outside of super to fund the gap years between your retirement date and when you can access your superannuation benefits?
• Invest in assets that provide a consistent passive income stream.
• Factoring government benefits to help fund retirement in your later years?
• Starting a transition to retirement strategy?
• If you intend on selling your business, allocate some of the funds into your superannuation.
• Ensure that you have sufficient insurance to minimise the impact of ‘forced’ early retirement.

Speak to us today and we can help you put together your plan to help you achieve this and many of your other goals.