New Super Laws

New Super Laws

What you will be getting? Don’t you just hate jargon? And when it comes to finance there is a lot of it about. Take the recently legislated Retirement Income Covenant (RIC), known as the Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle Framework and Other Measures Act 2022....
What is your risk tolerance?

What is your risk tolerance?

How to find your sweet spot Retirement Essentials’ financial adviser, Nicole, says that risk tolerance to her is about the difference between anxiety and peace of mind. ‘When I talk to clients about it I often refer to the ‘sleep test’ in retirement...
Your car and your retirement

Your car and your retirement

Your car and your retirement: Five things it helps to know At Retirement Essentials we consider ourselves lucky to have a ‘secret sauce’ when it comes to the detail of maximising your retirement. Pardon the pun, but you could in fact call our secret sauce, a great...
Right advice – get a life

Right advice – get a life

Can the right advice help you get a life? It did in Laurie’s case. A divorced 64-year-old painter, Laurie is tired of working full-time, but he needs his full-time salary – or the equivalent – to live an enjoyable life. His daughter wants him to spend more time with...
Home Equity Access Scheme Revamp

Home Equity Access Scheme Revamp

Two significant retirement income changes became law on 1 July. With most of the attention firmly focussed on changes to Age Pension and deeming thresholds, they were easy to overlook. But they could, over the longer term, definitively change the way Australians fund...
Cutting household costs

Cutting household costs

Ten ways to save on your bills You may already be an enthusiastic budgeter. Or you may be a spendthrift. Either way, as prices head skyward, it’s always helpful to keep your household expenses as low as possible. Today we share how to save money in the ten highest...
Discount and concession cards

Discount and concession cards

Which one is for you? When it comes to saving money in retirement, it’s fair to say that discount and concession cards can make a huge difference. The difficulty is that there are so many different types of cards for retirees that it becomes confusing as to which card...
Handling an inheritance

Handling an inheritance

Will Steve lose his pension? This week we received a question from Steve who is due to inherit a sizable amount of money. But he’s worried that this will be to the detriment of his part Age Pension entitlement. Here’s what he asked us. Steve: Hi, I’m a 68 year old...
The greatest fear in retirement

The greatest fear in retirement

Running out of money – But does it really happen? They say the secret to a happy life is to only worry about the things within our control. This is an even more interesting concept when applied to funding your retirement. What can you control? And what is...