RESCUE YOUR RETIREMENT

Are you nearing retirement? (Or perhaps you know someone in that boat?)

If so, you’ve spent your entire working life hoping to get towards this point… the point in your life when you can afford to stop working. And what’s happening around the world right now is the perfect catalyst to make sure you are doing everything you can to ensure your money is going to last the distance.

There are a few key things to get right when it comes to managing your retirement savings.

It’s important to have your money in low-fee products. When we look under the hood, people are often gobsmacked by just how much they are paying in fees on their retirement savings and how much they can save by switching to a new provider (or using the lower cost options already available to them).

How you have your money invested, known as asset allocation, is of huge importance in retirement. Let us start by stressing that you don’t have to have all your money invested the same way. This simple fact is something that is often not understood by many people, and once they do understand this, then the decision-making process becomes a lot clearer.

When it comes to how you invest your retirement savings, the key is to invest the right money in the right investments for the right timeframe. Money can be assigned for short-term, medium-term and long-term needs and then invested accordingly. A sound investment strategy based on some logic and reason, gives retirement savings the ability to deal with the ups and downs which will inevitably occur. And when you review your asset allocation, don’t fall into the common trap of getting too conservative, as it’s the growth type assets that are essential in order to sustain your retirement nest egg over the decades ahead of you.

Next up is diversification. We all know the saying ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ and when it comes to your retirement savings, diversification is the ultimate risk-management tool. It is actually very simple to implement!

The last thing to point out is that the greatest fear for retirees is running out of money. It might sound obvious, but not running out of money simply boils down to living within your means. But we don’t know what we don’t know, and for many retirees they can find themselves in a situation where they are spending too much and are on the path to running out of money. In some cases, people can afford to spend more and are depriving themselves of a better lifestyle, for fear of running out of money.

There are some good rules of thumb around this, which are explained in the ‘Full Time Living’ module (8.ii) in the Wages to Wealth program. We call it Full Time Living because when you retire, you no longer have to work, and all your attention is simply on enjoying each day.

The list above address things that in our opinion are critical to financial success in retirement. Get those things right and it becomes a lot easier to pass the ‘sleep at night test’ throughout retirement.

Don’t let your retirement be at risk. Get on top of things now and sleep easy going forward. If you’re unsure or need a helping hand, we are here to help. Shoot us an email anytime at [email protected].

Cheers,

Dan and Dave