Planning is the key to be retirement ready… and so is getting advice.

You can avoid penny pinching in retirement because you haven’t saved enough money, but you do need to plan well ahead.

Here’s two top tips you’ll need to consider.

1. Figure out how much you’ll need

Find out how much income you will need by answering the following three questions:

• What are your retirement goals?
• What kind of lifestyle do you want?
• What is your life expectancy?

While it’s fairly easy to set goals and lifestyle expectations for retirement, estimating how long you will live can be a bit more tricky, but is crucial to retirement planning decisions. It can help you decide on your risk profile, your personal asset allocation and even when to stop working to ensure you have enough funds for your retirement.
Although there are tools that you can use for calculating life expectancy, your financial adviser can help guide you through the process too.  It could also depend on the longevity history in your family.  Your adviser can help you come up with an estimate of your required retirement income based on your lifestyle expectations, tailored risk profile and how many years you’re likely to spend in retirement.

2. Ensure you’ll have enough income

With an estimate of how much you’ll need, your adviser can make recommendations to help you meet your required retirement income. These may include growing your retirement fund by investing some or all of it.  It may also mean depositing more into superannuation or building wealth outside of super.
Investment products usually carry risks. It’s important that you choose instruments that suit your personal risk appetite and need for returns.
If you prefer to have a regular and stable flow of income in retirement, there are definitely options available for you.
Seek professional advice on how this can be done and how you can get appropriate outcomes.  We’d love to help!