Well that’s a provocative headline. It was a question posed in a recent article in the Financial Review. The full headline was… “Baby Boomers are loaded. Why are they so stingy?” Now like most newspaper headlines they are designed to get a reaction and...
In the Retirement Essentials April 2024 Retirement Pulse we asked you about your wellbeing in retirement, including your health, happiness and sense of financial security. This gives us both a better understanding of the lived experience of retirement and...
Many of us procrastinate when confronted with difficult tasks. At Retirement Essentials we see it often with people delaying applying for the Age Pension as they can’t face dealing with Centrelink. Another common area of procrastination is...
Many of us procrastinate when confronted with difficult tasks. At Retirement Essentials we see it often with people delaying applying for the Age Pension as they can’t face dealing with Centrelink. Another common area of procrastination is...
Keeping Retirement Simple - Part 1 I was looking into getting solar for the house to save on electricity bills and reduce our carbon footprint. I found it was pretty complicated, a lot to consider. Won’t someone make it simple for me? That made me think:...
Jenny and Daniel contacted us with a dilemma recently. They had received a windfall gain due to an unexpected inheritance. Often inheriting money also means a time of great sadness, but in this case they did not actually know the great uncle who had...
The most outstanding feature of Australia’s retirement income system has to be its complexity. During their working lives most people have managed just one source of income – their salary. If they have investments, this money typically adds to savings. But...
Currently about 76% of Australian retirees own their own homes. About 13% of these retirees still have a mortgage. These ratios are set to change dramatically over the next 10-15 years, with more than 50% of those currently aged 55-60 carrying mortgages,...
A couple of weeks ago I came across a Retirement Happiness Index. This index, launched by Challenger on 4 April 2024 makes for interesting reading. It indicates Australian retirees have plenty to keep us busy and engaged, we feel mentally healthy, but we...