Introduction

Increased housing costs and low wage growth are seeing more Australians carry higher levels of debt into retirement. Repaying this debt can place a major drag on retirement cash flows and hinder the achievement of retirement goals. These may include maintaining an adequate quality of life through retirement, and leaving a benefit to the next generation that is unencumbered by outstanding debt.

Introduction

Don’t have a Will? You’re in good company. Less than half of Australian adults do. Even then, many Wills are out of date or invalid. The upshot is that hard earned wealth may be fought over by family or distributed by government formula, and not end up with the preferred beneficiaries.

Introduction

Most of us had retirement dreams, and couldn’t wait to finish work. So once retired, why haven’t we started ticking items off the bucket list? There’s no time like now for living your dreams.

When Tony and Chris retired they had grand plans involving a campervan, Kakadu and a rescue-dog.

Their great Australian road-trip was happening the very next year, after they, “just got few things out of the way”.

Introduction

There’s a common view that as you approach retirement you should tilt your investment portfolio towards more conservative investments. This means favouring things like term deposits, annuities and cash management trusts while reducing exposure to more volatile assets such as shares and property. The thinking is that preservation of capital is key, as without an earned income it is hard to recover from any downturns in the share or property markets.

Introduction

Retirement: you’ve made it! And one of the rewards for all your hard work is that you can now access your superannuation. Suddenly a world of opportunities opens up – a Caribbean cruise, major home renovations or maybe helping your kids reduce some of their debt.