Didn’t retire with ‘enough’? Here’s how to make the most of it |
Didn’t retire with ‘enough’? Here’s how to make the most of it
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I spent the latter half of this week at the Financial Counselling Australia conference, and it really brought something into focus for me. Many Australians aren’t retiring in comfort.
We don’t talk nearly enough about what retirement looks like – or how to plan for it – if you don’t have a lot of money. We also don’t rave about financial counsellors enough and how they help people in tough situations, or who are deep in debt, to get back on track.
We tend to talk about retirement as if it’s something people move into by choice, confidently and with excitement. You’re expected to build up your super, pay off your home and step away from work with a fair bit of control over what comes next.
But that’s not how it’s playing out for everyone right now. In fact, close to half of Australians retiring today rely on the age pension for a significant part of their income, and only a third or so retire by choice.
So what does retirement planning look like for people who don’t have “enough”, who didn’t get the chance to plan or who step away from work because their health shifts or caring responsibilities take over?
In that world, it’s not about optimising your retirement and choosing the date. It’s about learning to live with choices that may have been forced upon you and making the best of the opportunities you do have.
It’s not so much about how much super you have as a lump sum, but how much income that generates, and what you choose to draw down.
Rebuilding your financial confidence is the first step, and the best way to do that is to understand how the financial systems that support retirement work, and how much money you can rely on coming in from passive income sources such as the age pension or superannuation.
The age pension in Australia can be accessed from 67 years of age if you pass the assets and income test. It pays $31,223 a........