FINANCIAL PLANNING

How can I ease into retirement and still meet my financial goals?

The years before you retire can be challenging. While you are probably looking forward to having more time to do the things you enjoy, you may not be ready to stop working. And many people are also concerned about whether or not they have saved enough super.

Accessing super contributions

By law, all super contributions are locked away or 'preserved' until you reach your preservation age. Your preservation age is based on your date of birth. Once you reach your preservation age, you can begin drawing a pre-retirement pension. You will need to check with your super fund as not all funds offer pre-retirement pensions.

What you need to know

Once you reach your 'preservation age', you may be able to draw pre-retirement pension – a regular income stream drawn from your super savings. With a pre-retirement pension you can put in place a transition to retirement strategy to help you ease into retirement and boost your super in a tax effective way:

• You could reduce the number of hours you work and supplement your income with payments from your pre-retirement pension. This would give you more time to do the things you want, while maintaining your lifestyle
• Or you could continue working full-time but take advantage of the potential tax concessions on offer to boost your super balance. For example, you might keep working full-time while drawing a pre-retirement pension from your super balance. You could then salary sacrifice to super the same amount, or more. This would maintain your after-tax income while reducing
  

Count on us

A Count adviser can help you:

• Plan for your retirement
• Put in place a transition to retirement strategy