Retirement planning can be a daunting and overwhelming experience, no matter what stage of life you are in. As a Dandenong resident looking to plan retirement, you know that seeking advice and preparing in advance is the best way to ensure your big dreams are met.
Aurora Wealth provides retirement advice to Dandenong residents, helping you to achieve your retirement goals.
Our Dandenong financial advisory team can help you determine the best plan for your retirement.
When do you plan on retiring?
In Australia, there is no set age for retirement but there is a minimum age before you can access superannuation funds or government-issued pensions. Some factors that influence retirement are your employment opportunities, health, and your superannuation plans. Our Dandenong financial planners help you strategise your ideal retirement age.
Factors that might affect when you choose to retire are:
- Your health
- Financial situation
- Employment opportunities
- Individual goals
- Superannuation plans
What’s your current financial position?
Your current financial position will be the gauge as to the next steps you will need to take for future financial planning. Our financial planners can assist by assessing how much is in your savings account, your current assets and investments (including super), and creating a strategy based on your retirement goals. Assessing your assets also includes whether you’ll carry any existing debts into retirement. We’ll work with you to try to plan how to reduce debt before retirement to alleviate the financial and mental stress, once you no longer receive a disposable income.
Our Dandenong financial planners are available to help you consolidate debts; compare what you owe against what you earn and spend; advise on payment plans to avoid charges; identify where additional payments can be made; and investigate different providers with lower interest rates and fees.
Assessing your current financial situation will include factors such as:
- How much is in your savings account
- How much you’ve invested, and where it’s invested
- What assets you currently have
- How much is in your super and how that’s invested
What are your ongoing spending needs?
The amount of money required for retirement differs from person to person based on a variety of factors. There are some key questions you can ask yourself to work out how much money you’ll think you need when you retire.
These include:
- What sort of lifestyle do you want to live in retirement?
- How much income will you need to fund that lifestyle?
- Will you be taking regular holidays? Are they going to be local or international?
- Will you be going out for dinner?
- Would you like to spoil your grandchildren?
- What kind of social activities do you plan to do?
There’s a lot of information out there that will tell you that you need a certain amount of money to retire comfortably. In truth, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and this figure will depend on you and the lifestyle you want to live. Our Dandenong financial planners will be able to help you work this out.
Everyone’s ideal retirement looks different. Some may want to live simply, while others imagine lavish holidays. Most people don’t want to spend their retirement wondering how they’ll afford their daily living costs and bills. Knowing what you want to spend your money on could help you determine how much you’ll need and allow you to budget accordingly. Personal financial planning is key to living comfortably without worries during retirement – talk to one of our financial planners today.
What will your living situation look like?
It’s important to think about where you’ll be living during retirement and consider what events might cause you to change your living situation. There is no one “cost-effective” solution for where to live during retirement, where you choose to live will depend on the lifestyle that you want.
Some common choices for retirees are:
- Downsizing
- Moving to a new location
- Home sharing
- Over 55’s or retirement living
- Aged care
- Caravans and RVs
Knowing where you want to live during retirement can help you set a budget for how much you’ll be spending on accommodation during this time. This is why working with our financial planners is key when it comes to your retirement planning.
What changes as you get older is how financial planning takes place. For example, you may start in your 20s by putting away a few dollars here and there to create good habits. Ultimately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but the older you get, the more you should be thinking about the best way to set yourself up for life after work.
An experienced retirement financial planner, such as Aurora Wealth, will be able to help you create a plan and advise you on where to invest your money, depending on your age, position and goals.
Why having a good retirement plan is important:
- Having a plan gives you a measuring stick with which to gauge how you’re going can reduce procrastination. It is a confidence boost when you see that you’re moving towards achieving your goals.
- Planning encourages you to think about timelines. Knowing the age you want to retire will give you a clearer understanding of what you’ll need to work towards and in what timeframe.
- It can guide you towards making the right investments. While some investments are riskier than others; there are times when risks are a good idea (ideally when there is time to make adjustments). Working with financial planners can help you mitigate risks and invest your money in a way that works towards your retirement goals. It is important to speak with a financial planner about investments while you are still working to give time to make adjustments if needed.
- Partnering with our Dandenong financial planners is a safe way to create a good savings strategy, instead of simply putting a chunk of your income into a savings account. A retirement, savings and investment strategy takes into account a holistic picture of your income, superannuation, budget and remaining working years.
Retirement plans ensure you have adequate finances to have a stable life after you retire from work.
- Setting realistic goals – Our financial planners can help you set realistic saving goals, keeping you on the right path and limiting procrastination.
- Reducing stress – By consulting financial planners, you could reduce the amount of stress you place on yourself by calculating how much you need to retire comfortably. Our Dandenong financial planners can provide clarity so you can focus on what matters most to you.
- Creating a tailored plan – Financial planning can help you to look at your current situation: including income, debts and assets, and then create a tailor-made financial plan to help you have a worry-free retirement.
- Giving you confidence – Peace of mind starts with confidence. Committing to financial planning gives you a clear focus and strategy, so you can feel confident knowing you’re on track for a secure retirement.
- Expertise – Work with expertise you can trust. Our lead retirement financial planner, Michael, has over 15 years of experience helping clients in a wide range of financial situations reach their goals.
- Your current savings – The amount you’ve saved for retirement will impact how comfortably you can spend your money.
- Your lifestyle – Your lifestyle will have a large influence on how long your money lasts. This can include any travelling or holidays you’re planning to do, or your hobbies.
- Your current debts – If you currently have unpaid debts, you have to consider how much you will have to pay off when you aren’t receiving an income.
Our financial planners can help you assess how much you will need to have a comfortable retirement and work with you to develop a plan to help you achieve that goal.
There are a few options for government assistance that you can apply for during your retirement to help provide extra income. If you qualify, it depends on your age, assets and income. They can include:
- Age Pension – read more info here
- Pensioner Concession Card – read more info here
- Low-Income Health Care card – read more info here
- Housing – You will need to consider what payments you will have to make, whether you are renting or own your own home. You will also need to think about putting funds aside for any renovations or unexpected repairs.
- Car – You will need to think about your current car and if it would need any repairs or maintenance in the future, or if you would like to purchase a new car.
- Family – You will need to think about your spouse, any children and your family, and the financial support you might wish to give them in the future.
- Health – You will need to consider any health issues that may arise in the futur,e including appointments and treatments.
- Lifestyle – Your retirement is an opportunity for you to try new experiences and hobbies, as well as continue to enjoy the ones you are currently doing. You will need to consider the cost of your hobbies in your retirement plan.
Providing financial advice is what our Dandenong financial planners are great at. They are available to help guide you best when it comes to managing your expenses and your income to ensure that you can have financial freedom after you retire.
Our experienced retirement financial advisors
Leading the way at Aurora Wealth is our expert financial advisor, Micheal Anderson. Micheal has worked in the finance industry for 18 years and has spent 15 of these as a financial advisor. He has achieved the designation of Certified Financial Planner and is a registered member of the Financial Planning Association of Australia.
Outside of the office, Micheal is a father to three children and enjoys being outdoors and staying active.
Micheal is passionate about helping all his clients reach their financial goals and hopes to see the result in happiness and fulfilment. At Aurora Wealth, we take a deep dive into your goals and aspirations, creating a personalised retirement plan. We handle your financial planning to help ease the stress so you can focus on what is important to you. Our financial plans are flexible, changing depending on your needs.
We are based at Narre Warren and service the entire Casey area, including Berwick, Dandenong, Lynbrook, Cranbourne, Hallem, Clyde, Keysborough, Doveton and Lysterfield. We can meet with you in person at our office or your home, or online via Zoom or Teams.
