Thinking about retirement

We can help you plan for retirement and meet financial challenges when you’re retired.

You may be at a point in your life where you’re thinking about retiring. This could mean you’re reducing your work hours or stopping work completely.

There are many things to consider about life in retirement. Some of these things could include:

• where you want to live when you retire
• if you want to travel overseas or around Australia
• if you want to keep your car
• if you’d like to join a social group
• if you’d like to do volunteer work
• if you’d like to start your own business.

Where to live when you retire

Where you want to live when you retire depends on things like:

• whether you own your home
• the costs of any major housing renovations or maintenance
• your health
• your connection to family and the community.

Travel when you retire

If you’re planning to travel when you retire, you might want to think about:

• where you want to travel
• how often you want to travel
• how long you want to travel for
• the costs involved.

For some people, retirement means less travel. If you have a car but will be driving less, you may want to consider whether you’ll keep your car. Some things to think about include the:

• costs of running your car
• ease and cost of public transport in your area
• community transport services in your area.

Start your own business

You may decide to start your own business. There are many things to consider:

• what’s involved in starting and running a business
• whether you have a valid business idea
• whether you have the necessary skills
• whether self-employment is right for you.

There are programs to help people start and run successful small businesses.

Plan for your retirement

Good planning can increase your financial security in retirement.

Once you’ve worked out how you want to live, consider setting up a suitable financial strategy. Ideally, your strategy should provide things like:

• regular income to meet your regular expenses
• access to long-term capital growth
• a cash reserve to cover emergencies
• a balance between risk and return.

We can help you create a strategy that is unique to you and will help you reach your goals.

Source: Services Australia