Why Save for Retirement?
 

With today’s average life expectancy, it’s not unrealistic to expect to enjoy 20 or even 30 years of active retirement. Your choices in retirement are only limited by two things – your health and your savings.

With good planning, sound financial advice and sensible investments, you’ll be on track for the kind of retirement you want. We can help you ensure you have enough money to cover all your retirement needs, so you don’t have to compromise your dreams.
 
        How Can I Save?
 
Saving for retirement can be very easy.  We can work with you to get you on the path to the retirement you want. 

Workplace savings schemes

Some workplace savings schemes offer generous terms where your employer matches your contributions, subsidises fees, or both. It is wise to take advantage of these benefits if you have access to such a scheme.

Personal savings schemes

Personal savings schemes, such as superannuation schemes or unit trusts, are an easy way to save for your retirement. Along with reducing debt, starting a regular savings plan should be high up on your list of priorities.

It’s very easy to put it off until tomorrow but the earlier you start the better - even a small amount saved each month can grow surprisingly by the time you reach retirement.

Contact Us about starting a retirement savings plan that suits you.
 
        When Should I Start?
 
The earlier you start providing for your retirement the better. Retirement may seem a long way away, but it takes time to build a retirement fund. Your investments will work harder for you if you allow them more time to grow. 

A little can go a long way

You can start a retirement savings plan with just $50 a fortnight.  By investing even small amounts regularly, you can use a strategy called ‘Dollar Cost Averaging’ to take advantage of market volatility over the long-term.

What is Dollar Cost Averaging?

Investment markets rise and fall. Saving a set amount at regular intervals helps you counteract the effect of ups and downs in market prices.

It works because your regular investment will always buy more units when the market is down, and fewer units when the market is up. Dollar Cost Averaging lets you benefit from share-based funds’ natural volatility, because investment markets generally rise in value over the long-term.

Dollar Cost Averaging helps you because:

  • You can use market volatility to your advantage over time;
  • You don’t have to ‘guess’ when investment markets will peak or fall; and
  • You can smooth out the effects of market fluctuations.
You can use Dollar Cost Averaging to your advantage in a retirement savings plan. It complements the core principles of successful investing, but is no substitute for them.
 
        How Much Will I Need?
 

Once you’ve decided to start saving for your retirement, the next step is to work out how much money you’re likely to need. You may receive a retirement pension from the Government, and this may be enough to live on, but probably won’t cover the extras that you may want in order to live a more comfortable lifestyle.

As a rule of thumb, you’ll need two-thirds of your pre-retirement income to maintain your standard of living in retirement. However, everyone’s circumstances are different – it depends what expectations you have of retirement. You need to work out when you want to retire, and whether you’d like a modest retirement at home or whether you want to travel the world. This will help you work out how much you’ll need to save to achieve the sort of retirement you’d like to have.

Once you’ve decided what kind of retirement you’d like, we can give you some realistic options for getting there.

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