Good to Great: How to Scale With an Outsourced CFO

Whether you’re just starting your career or you’re counting the few remaining years until retirement, it’s smart to put your retirement plan under the microscope and find out if you need to make any adjustments. 

Everyone hopes to have a long and happy retirement, and this is a worthy and achievable goal. But ensuring that you can live the way you want during retirement requires careful planning and regular honing as life throws changes your way. For example, you may start salary sacrificing when you’re fairly young, but if you never nail down a targeted sum for your optimal retirement, it’s impossible to know if you’re saving enough.

But how do you go about reevaluating your retirement planning? What information should you gather in order to evaluate the health of your retirement plan?

 

Check Your Retirement Target

It’s difficult to hit a target if you don’t know where the target is. One of the toughest questions to answer is this: how much money do I need to save for my retirement? The answer to this question depends on a number of factors, and your target may differ significantly from your neighbour’s or brother’s target.

There are a number of online calculators that can assist you in determining a figure to aim for. They will require you to make some assumptions around your spending habits, expenses, potential future spends (like a holiday), estimated years of living and your estimation of investment returns. However, you need to keep in mind these are basic tools and we recommend seeking advice because if you get these assumptions incorrect, the outcome can be detrimental to your retirement.

 

Evaluate Your Superannuation Before You Retire

If you are currently employed in Australia, your employer is contributing a portion of your earnings base to a super fund of your choice. If you have worked for several different employers, you may have several different super accounts. Add up the total amount you have saved from your various super accounts and see how close you are to your target retirement savings amount. 

If you have more than one super account, consider consolidating them into a single account. Not only is it simpler and easier to manage a single super account, but it can also save you a significant amount of money in fees. Instead of paying the fees of several different accounts, you can pay the fees of one account, thus holding on to more of your precious retirement dollars.

 

The Best Super Choices for Retirement

In most cases, you’ll have several options when it comes to your super fund. Some funds are run by employers, some are open to employees in a particular industry, some are open to anyone, and some are self-managed. With so many choices, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

As you make decisions about which super fund to use, take a close look at the fees and charges associated with the funds, and check to see if they offer any benefits, such as death or disability benefits. Work with your Wealth Management adviser to choose a super fund that uses an investment strategy that works well with your unique situation, and compare funds’ performance to see which ones have had long-term success. 

As you put your retirement plan under the microscope, you may come across areas in which you’d like to make improvements. If you’d like to speak with an adviser about your personal retirement plan, contact us at Altus Financial. We can answer your questions and help you to develop a retirement plan that will help you to achieve your goals.