1 Start Your Retirement
9 Steps
- Take stock of your current financial situation and start preparing a balance sheet showing your financial position at retirement.
- Login to your super account and check how much you currently have.
- Ask your super fund to provide an estimate of your super balance at your planned retirement date.
- Estimate how much your other financial assets like shares or investment properties (if any) will be worth when you retire, and consider whether you should sell any of them to contribute the proceeds to super and benefit from tax-free earnings in the retirement phase.
- Add up all your outstanding debts (including your mortgage) and other any financial liabilities.
- Subtract the total of your debts from your financial assets to work out your likely net financial position at retirement.
- Develop a plan for paying off any existing debts – either before or after retirement.
- Revisit your planned retirement date. Think about whether you can still afford to retire at that time, or whether you will need to work a bit longer to pay off debts or accumulation more super.
- Consider speaking to a financial adviser if you’re concerned about your income in retirement. Your super fund may be able to offer you retirement planning services, or you can seek independent financial advice.