super

WHAT TO DO IN YOUR 50S & 60S

EASING INTO RETIREMENT

Preparing to retire is demanding mentally, emotionally and financially. The key to living well in retirement is getting each of them right. For many people, retirement is a process rather than a date. Over time, work gives way to other activities and this becomes your Transition To Retirement (TTR).

Your Super savings can help with a gradual shift to retirement with a TTR Pension. Originally intended to help people cut back on working hours leading up to a traditional retirement at age 60, a TTR pension can also be a powerful tool to boost your retirement savings. If you are over 55 and not already contributing the maximum ($35 000 per year), you may benefit.

You can use a TTR to:

supplement your income, if you want to cut back on your work but not retire
maintain your after tax income when you increase your Super contributions and maximise your retirement savings

In both cases, you move some or all of your super balance from an accumulation account (which pays tax on its earnings) to a pension account (which doesn’t pay tax). The pension account then pays you a tax effective pension, which adds to your after tax income to replace the income you give up by working less or by contributing more to Super.

What's in it for me?

It can enable you to add thousands to your retirement savings without having to cut back on spending today. It can also let you access income from your super without giving up work completely. For example a 55 year old with a Super Balance of $300 000 and earning a salary of $100 000 could increase their Super Balance by $4 708 in one year with no change in their take home pay – simply by salary sacrificing $16 000 of salary and replacing it with a $12 863 of tax effective pension. This could be repeated every year until retirement. The benefit will increase to $7 731 once they turn 60 and the pension is received tax free.