Retirement Planning
Retirement planning comprises a number of important areas and the question ‘How much is enough?’ is certainly a dominant and important one to address. There is no right or wrong answer, and no standard amount that will suit everyone. We will help you understand what retirement may need financially, when this may reasonably be reached and explain your choices.
Our role is to help you identify and quantify what lifestyle you would like to live in retirement, plan for changes with regard to your residence, discuss how much support you will need to provide to family members including your parents, decide how much you wish to support your children potentially in advance of an inheritance at the end, and many other areas. There are a number of factors that will make every individual’s plan for retirement unique, as the most important question is how you would like your retirement to look like, not what your neighbour’s retirement looks like.
However, retirement planning is not only about accruing sufficient wealth. For many people the thought of retirement is daunting. ‘How can I avoid losing a sense of purpose?’ and ‘What am I going to do with my time?’ – these are important questions to gradually start thinking about and finding answers to the closer you get to your possible retirement date.
The superannuation environment is often mistakenly seen as an investment, whereas in fact it is a tax structure only – a very lowly taxed environment to hold wealth that we will assist you maximise.
There is no difference in holding your CBA, BHP and TLS shares inside super or outside super apart from how the gains and the income are taxed. Of course, many default superannuation funds do not give you the option to control your investments and in certain circumstances this may be suitable.
However, to form an investment strategy based on ‘My super has not performed well, I don’t think I should put more money into it’ should make you think twice and seek professional advice, as for most people the superannuation system should be the dominant hub to accumulate and grow wealth tax efficiently.
The system is so good, that the Government has put limits on it, i.e. contribution caps! No matter what changes are going to be made to the taxation of superannuation, it will always be more tax effective than personal tax rates outside of super.
We are not concerned about any changes ahead, nor should you. As with any legislative changes, they will be incorporated into our advice and we will work out the best possible solution for you.