Retirement boils down to ‘magic number’: Adviser

Boutique Advisers’ Katie McDonald cited statistics from the Melbourne Institute that 53 per cent of couples and 22 per cent of single people are on track for a comfortable retirement.

She added that, according to the retirement standard set by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), the amount of money required for a ‘comfortable retirement’ is $60,042 a year for couples and $42,953 for singles.

Further, Ms McDonald said women in particular are more at risk because their average super balance at retirement is 52.8 per cent less than men’s.

“Now is the time to act and work out your magic number; in simple terms look at what your income is now, subtract your main debt and what’s left is the magic number you’ll need to maintain your current lifestyle,” she said.

“It’s not as difficult to achieve as many people think and there are some great new government initiatives out there to help you catch-up and boost your super fund.”

Ms McDonald noted there are plenty of figures thrown out there in terms of funding retirement and, depending on the lifestyle the client wants, everyone has their own magic number.

But she also said the good news is that as long as the client has a few decent working years left, it’s not too late to turn around their future finances even in their 50s.

“In fact, your 50s is a great time to boost your retirement nest egg as you’re often at your peak earning capacity and added expenses like childcare fees will have eased,” Ms McDonald said.

Adrian Flores

Adrian Flores is a deputy editor at Momentum Media, focusing mainly on banking, wealth management and financial services. He has also written for Public Accountant, Accountants Daily and The CEO Magazine.

You can contact him on [email protected].