Page 100 - Smart Money

Chapter 4

have the fountain out the front and a good sales pitch, but ask them if they
invest in what they recommend. Ask them what the worst-case scenario
is. Ask them how much experience they have, and make sure that you’re
comfortable with the person you are going to be dealing with potentially
for 10, 20, 30 years. I call it the ‘mum and dad’ rule – would you send
your mum and dad to them and know that they are going to look after
them?

Retirement planning
Very, very basic retirement planning starts the day you open your
superfund, because that is going to be a key component. People in their
teens and 20s don’t think that way, but that is the basics of it. Retirement
planning is generally the culmination of planning that you have hopefully
done throughout your working life.

Pre-retirement planning starts a minimum of five to seven years prior to
your planned retirement, and ideally longer than that. But there are things
to do in your 50s – as you repay debt and turn your focus to building your
superannuation, make sure that your estate planning is airtight. Look to
minimise your tax on an ongoing basis, enhance your returns, build your
super, and get it to a point where the day you walk away from your job,
your super is in a position where you can start utilising it to generate
income or provide you with income on a sustainable basis.

Transition to retirement is a very good strategy, but governments do
change the rules periodically, so that’s a good strategy right now. Making
superannuation contributions is a good strategy. Investing money into
super for the future is a good, long term strategy. After that, it is just
about all those generic investment strategies – getting the money in the
right place, and giving it time.

$ Centrelink assistance – if you are eligible for it, you should aim to
get Centrelink Assistance

$ Minimise your tax legally – in retirement you should aim to either
pay minimal tax, or in an ideal world, no tax

10