Own Your
Future
Superannuation
SAVING FOR YOUR FUTURE
A good superannuation strategy can help you achieve a more comfortable retirement, outpace inflation, and enjoy a better quality of life in your golden years.
When you’re younger, creating your nest egg for retirement may be the last thing on your mind. In fact, super is so far off many people’s radar that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) holds billions of dollars of unclaimed or lost super.
According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia’s Retirement Standard, to have a ‘comfortable’ retirement:
- Single people will need $545,000, and
- Couples will need $640,000 in retirement savings.
Unfortunately, many Australians discover their super savings aren’t enough to maintain the same standard of living as pre-retirement, as they didn’t start building enough retirement savings early enough.
Luckily, it’s never too late to start investing in your future. With the help of our retirement planning experts, we can help you save for life after work.
Why it’s important to plan your retirement
- There are many factors that influence what your retirement will look like, such as your housing situation, expenses, and how you plan to spend your time.
- You may have to retire sooner than you planned, due to an unexpected event like illness or caregiving.
- People in Australia are living longer, which means your retirement savings needs to last longer.
Factors that can impact your super savings
Your gender and parenthood
According to the Future Face of Poverty report by AustralianSuper and Monash University:
- Women earn an average of $241 less per week than men, which leads to lower super contributions
- Women’s earnings tend to plateau beyond age 28, as many women take career breaks to care for children and other family members.
Taking time off work for parenthood or caregiving can adversely impact your superannuation contributions, but our advisors can help create a strategy to bring you back on track.
Book an appointment to explore your superannuation strategies
Working through ABN or ACN
If you’re self-employed or a business owner, paying super is your responsibility. According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), self-employed people tend to have lower super balances than their employees (PDF). With around 20% of self-employed people having no super at all.
Working with a superannuation expert can help you plan for retirement and boost your super savings. For example:
- Self-employed or business owners might be able to claim super as a tax deduction
- If you’ve had a good quarter, you could also pay extra bulk contributions or carry forward unused concessional contributions from previous years.
No matter where you are in your journey, you can speak to a financial advisor and
Why you should invest in your super
Superannuation could be your ticket to a comfortable retirement. With strategies like salary sacrifice, you can invest extra income into your super – helping you take advantage of tax benefits. It can also help you get compound returns, which put simply, can snowball your superannuation balance.
Contributing more money in your super can be a tax effective way to grow your wealth faster and more wisely. While the earlier you start feathering your retirement nest the better, it’s never too late to start. Our expert advisers can still help you plan a future you’ll be proud of.
- Salary sacrifice – An arrangement with your employer to contribute extra pre-tax earnings to your super.
- Voluntary contributions – Additional personal contributions to your super fund with your after-tax income.
- Spouse contributions – Super contributions you make for your spouse from your after-tax income, helping boost their super savings and potentially saving you on tax.
- Self-managed super funds (SMSF) – A self-run fund where you make investment decisions and are responsible for super and tax law compliance.
