04 January 2012

How long before you retire?


For many of us retirement is only a few years away. Do you have enough in your superannuation, savings and emergency funds to allow you to live comfortably, without financial stress, in retirement?

If you expect to live on more than the Age Pension ($19,469, or $29,354 for a couple, as at September 2011), you need to find the income from your superannuation and non-super savings.

If retirement is fast approaching for you, start living on the basic age pension now. Have a trial run and see how you manage. Can you live on just $374 a week (for a single, $564 for a couple)? This will give you a pretty good idea of what you need to cut back on and what you will no longer be able to afford.

Try it for a month and see how you go. Then start cutting back on the unnecessary things now and sock that money away, into super if you can, otherwise into a good savings account, and build your retirement nest egg.

With Australians living longer and healthier lives than ever before you can expect to live in retirement for a good, long time. A little forethought and planning now will see you living in a comfortable retirement for a good, long time.

2 comments:

  1. We tried living off the pension amounts for a month after I was recovering from an operation. We realised we would survive but wouldn't want to have to rely on it.
    Thankfully we have saved extra into superannuation over the years and have a reasonable saving/emergency fund.
    l advise per to keep saving so you can enjoy retirement not have to worry about it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the great tip. With retirement looming on our horizon I was starting to get a little anxious. I am going to implement this straight away and whatever excess there is, just like Annette, I am going to put away for a rainy day. It will be tricky, but a really worthwhile exercise. Thankyou so much.

    ReplyDelete

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