Are you looking to retire in 2017?
We often find that it’s only as people near retirement that they really start thinking about their finances – especially when they start looking at everything that retirement offers, like making time for a hobby, more travel, volunteering projects or spending time with family. If you are considering retiring or reducing your working hours, but are concerned about having enough money to retire on, it’s not too late to seek some professional retirement planning advice to give you peace of mind.
Here are just some of the things a financial adviser could help you with that could make a real difference to the quality of your retirement.
Working out the best time to retire.
This depends on how much money you have in super and other investments to live on in your retirement.
We often find there is a real difference between people’s expectations around the income they’d like to retire on and the investments they have that can actually generate this income.
What we can show people is the positive impact that working another couple of years can have on their final super balance, and what this could mean for their retirement income.
Increasing your final retirement amount.
Are you feeling overwhelmed about how to increase your savings as retirement gets closer?
We can suggest a number of tax-effective ways to fast-track your savings some of which may not impact your cash-flow that much at all.
Saving as much as you can in the last few years before retirement can make a significant difference in how much income you’ll have in retirement, and also how long this income will last.
Avoid making a rush decision.
In an effort to increase your savings right before retirement, it can be very easy to make financial decisions that, at face value, look quite reasonable but may cost you a whole lot more.
Rather than rushing in and making immediate decisions we encourage people to take their time and assess their whole situation before doing anything.
When people approaching retirement come and see us, we always spend time upfront with them to understand their situation and their goals so that we get things right.
Make sure you’re invested appropriately.
Having the right investment mix for your age and risk profile will help build your funds and give you the opportunity to increase your savings ready for when you retire.
We see some people that have been invested too conservatively for much of their life. Often their super has been put into cash and fixed income investments at some point, and they’ve never actually changed it. So that’s something we would look at.
And for those people that are closer to retirement, we’d look at whether or not they are over-exposed to growth assets, as the impact of negative returns can be felt more deeply when you have a limited amount that needs to last a long time.
Consider different types of income.
Many people planning for retirement often see term deposits as the only way to generate a consistent, stable income.
With interest rates already dropped, term deposits are less and less attractive especially when you take inflation into account, which make things even harder for people with fixed incomes.
We can look at income options available, for example, transition-to-retirement pensions, annuities and credit funds, and structure things to make the most out of the amount of income each person receives in retirement.
We can also look at whether they would be eligible for any Government entitlements, as these can make a big difference too. For more information on your retirement or any financial planning matters contact Liberum Financial today on 3233 6470.
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