Kaye Fallick

Kaye is a retirement commentator and coach, with 25 years’ experience writing about retirement income. She has authored two books on life stage changes – Get a New Life and What Next? – and enjoys regular radio and podcast appearances. Her favourite mission is to offer plain English explanations of complex rules so that all retirees can benefit. She is based in Melbourne but enjoys escaping to Italy whenever possible.
How do income needs change as you age?

How do income needs change as you age?

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We were delighted to receive some great comments to last week’s newsletter, as well as some really good questions. Two that stood out were in response to Amanda Hardy Lai’s article, How much is enough for a comfortable retirement?

Having read Amanda’s article Linda asked a very logical follow-on question:

‘How do you calculate how much you need in retirement funds once you are 70, 75, 80 or older?

(It’s) anxiety provoking not knowing whether you have sufficient funds left in pension funds to survive to an advanced old age after you retire. Please can you do an article on that giving some actual figures for Australians in their seventies, eighties and nineties compared to what you would need at 65?’

And Maree endorsed Linda’s question with one of her own, commenting:

‘Really good question Linda.
It would be great to get actual insight on how much 70, 75, 80 and older people spend per year, what their situation is e.g. their health, where they live, home or care home, whether they had any unexpected expenses that they didn’t plan for e.g. major home repairs, health issues, replacing major appliances and how/if they managed to do all this and continue living a comfortable retirement.
Did they have enough to do any overseas travel, how often, did they go on holidays within Australia, how often?’

Will Carol be okay? Or will she need to work ‘til she’s 80?

Will Carol be okay? Or will she need to work ‘til she’s 80?

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It’s always fun catching up with Retirement Essentials’ adviser, Nicole Bell. She’s a great example of someone who loves what they do, probably because most days she helps people to achieve their retirement wish lists. Nicole is an avid swimmer, the mother of a 15-year-old, and has a husband wants to live on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. Meanwhile she spends her working hours helping people like Carol to get the financial monkey off their backs. When asked why she enjoys her role so much, after 22 years in financial services, she replies:

‘The favourite part of my job is the end of an appointment when the client is so relieved, smiling and telling me that no one has ever explained it that way before. They walk away confident with their own decisions and with a clear path forward. And I get to reassure them and say, at least you now know what to do.

‘Every day I get to meet really lovely people – and so many of these people come back for further meetings; they trust us. We’re not trying to sell them anything or get them to change their super fund. We’re here to explain, guide and support them in their quest for information, strategy options and reassurance. That’s why I felt so happy about being able to help Carol who is a single woman who’s suffered a from a few financial setbacks in recent years.’