Christmas is a magical time of the year, but between the joy of giving and taking that much-needed holiday break, it’s easy to overspend. With rising living costs and financial pressures continuing to challenge household budgets, the New Year could...
Retirement Essentials congratulates the Australian Government on its 20 November announcement that it will take action to reform the retirement phase of superannuation to deliver a better retirement for all Australians. Such reforms are 100% aligned with...
At 69, Bill was working part time, earning around $46,000, while managing two debts: a $30,000 loan due in five years, and an $80,000 loan over 12 years. What Bill didn’t realise is that he was eligible for $14,000 per year in Age Pension support...
Recent findings about the Australian retirement income system show it has taken a small hit in world rankings. A small hit is not a catastrophe, but it does offer a cautionary warning that there may be better ways of helping retirees to help themselves. What...
Noel to the rescue Few people understand retirement income as well as Noel Whitaker. Today we are examining the pros and cons of Lifetime Income Streams (LIS) and Noel has helped us out with some Q&A on these relatively new products. But first, some...
Many people want to supplement their income with a bit of paid work after retiring from full time work. So, we can think about working – after full time work– as the (optional) fifth pillar of retirement. For our clients over 65, we find that a...
Is this the income top up you need? Using home equity as a retirement income seems to be the last well kept secret. But that, too, is changing as more industry commentators scrutinise the home wealth access products on the market and conclude that they do...
Keeping Retirement Simple – Part 5 Even if you don’t get it yet, the Age Pension is key to retirement planning for most people in Australia. Over half of older Australians get more than half their retirement income from the Age Pension. And...
Keeping Retirement Simple – Part 3 In the last Keeping Retirement Simple article, we discussed how your retirement horizon impacted the amount you can afford to spend. The longer you need to plan for, the less you can afford to spend each...