Expert advice on planning your retirement, income and pension
Assessing your needs
The first step in planning for retirement is a thorough assessment of your personal circumstances, your financial position, goals and plans for your retirement lifestyle, your interests, and your overall health.
With this information we can start the process of building a strategy to help you to enjoy your retirement years.
It is important to start this process well before the actual date of your retirement, there are many opportunities that can be lost if you wait until after you have actually finished work. It is extremely important to contact us before you actually finish work.
Prior to age 67, even if you are not employed, you have the chance to move values into superannuation to minimise tax and maximise Centrelink benefits. Some good oportunities exist now even if you are not employed up unyil your 75 birthday, call to discuss.
Portfolio design
A good investment plan starts with a good strategic portfolio design, something that is right for you, does not need to changed too frequently but at the same time something that can be changed if needed. The key issue is that retirement is all about cashflow, not about investment wealth but the two go together. Our job is to help you to get the balance right.
Account-Based Pensions
This is the new name for what we once referred to as Allocated Pensions.
Most people that retire will be best advised to utilise an Account Based Pension if they qualify. We will assess that for you.
This pension, like the Allocated Pension before it, gives a retired person fantastic flexibility and tax advantages
The beauty of a Account Based Pension is that it is virtually a DIY superannuation plan without the pressure of taking full responsibility for its operation. The choice of investments is very wide and through this choice we are able to help enhance your returns that underpin your retirement lifestyle.
Annuities
An annuity is a financial instrument issued by a life insurance company that accepts a sum of money from a person and then pays an agreed sum of money to the annuitant over an agreed period of time. Its key feature is its degree of certainty. Annuities are gaining in popularity these days and there are times when we need to consider their inclusion in a persons retirement planning. Annuities give certainty of cashflow and can greatly assist a person to qualify for a Centrelink pension.
Self-funded Retirees
We reserve the use of this term to describe people that fund their own retirement from non-superannuation or pension sources and who do not rely fully on Centrelink benefits.
These folk usually have the added burden of keeping a close eye on the potential tax impact of any investment or income decision, unlike people in the Account Based Pensions facility where they are exempt from tax.
Our service to self-funded retirees is detailed and ongoing, we are constantly watching portfolio performance to ensure tax-effective income flows are maintained.
