Life after work
Retirement can be an exciting ‘what’s next?’ moment; an adventure, the start of something new, and your chance to build a lifestyle that suits you. Here’s a walkthrough of what to think about so you can start to see yourself in your own retirement picture.
1. Understand what you want in retirement
Retirement isn’t one-size-fits-all – think now about the life you want in retirement. Answer the following questions.
- What have you always wanted to do but never had the time? Volunteering, taking up a hobby, learning another language, helping with grandchildren?
- Where would you want to live? Where you are now, somewhere with less maintenance, maybe closer to family and friends, in an over 50s community?
- How active or social would you want your life to be? Would you want new challenges for yourself? Find new ways to exercise your body and mind?
- Finally – and most importantly – what would a great day in retirement look like for you?
Knowing what you want your life after full-time work to look like will help determine the financial targets you need to aim for.
2. Know your target
The
ASFA Retirement Standard Opens in new window
provides a great snapshot into how much super you need for retirement based on the lifestyle you want.
It sets out the amount of money you might need per year, based on expenses that are broken into different key areas:
- housing (e.g. utilities, groceries, rent, council rates, transport)
- health (such as insurance, exercise, and medical visits)
- staying socially engaged (like day trips and streaming services) and
- connecting with family (even down to NBN and a phone)
The standard then explains how much you need for a Comfortable lifestyle (e.g. top-level health insurance, specialist visits) vs a Modest lifestyle (e.g. basic private health insurance, cheaper basic car, budget haircuts etc).
It’s worth spending a bit of time looking at the
ASFA Retirement StandardOpens in new window
and using it as a starting point – making sure that it includes everything you might want, including the holidays you’d like to take or the car you want to drive.
3. Spend time with the calculators
The ANZ Staff Super website has several helpful calculators to do the number crunching for you.
Model My Super Opens in new window
Helps you model how much income you might receive when you retire, and how long it’ll last.
ASFA Super DetectiveOpens in new window
Tells you how much super you should have today based on your age.
MoneySmart Retirement PlannerOpens in new window
Estimate how much income you'll have in retirement, check if you are on track to meet your goals
Things you can do now
Regardless of whether your retirement is next year, in five years or 15, use the Federal Government’s
MoneySmart Budget PlannerOpens in new window
to work out where your money is going. This gives you visibility to better control your spending and enjoy life now as well as a slightly clearer picture of you in retirement.