Australians are living longer and if you consider that if you retire, say, at 65 and live to the age of 90, then you will need to plan for a quarter of a century in retirement. Will your funds last that long? Living expenses may not be the only thing you will need to plan for over 25 years. What about the big ticket items like a new car or the occasional holiday?
A good starting point would be to work out your financial position (ie total assets less liabilities) this will form the capital you have available to fund your retirement. Next would be to put together an ongoing budget and planned expenses, this will give you an idea as to how much your retirement will cost.
You may find that there is a gap between your desired lifestyle and how much capital you actually have. At this stage you need to make some decisions:
- Earn more
- Spend less
- Saving more
- Investing in growth assets
An adviser can help put together a financial model for you so that you can get a clearer picture of your retirement dreams. Your retirement strategy is not a ‘set and forget’ plan, your needs and lifestyle will change as you get older which means your investments may need to change over time. This is an area where good financial advice makes a significant difference.
Have you considered any of the following:
- Instead of stopping work completely, turn down your working hours and implement a transition to retirement strategy?
- Converting your super into a retirement income stream?
- Investing some of your capital into growth assets such as property and/or shares?
- Diversify your investments to manage the risks involved in investing your capital?
- Downsizing your family home and invested your funds into your super?
- Utilising government benefits in your later years to help fund your ongoing expenses?
Speak to us today and we can help you put together your plan to help you achieve this and many of your other goals.
Let us know how we can help