Retirement is something most of us are looking forward to — a time to relax and enjoy some time out after a lifetime of work. You might want to travel, have a “sea change” or just enjoy more time with your family and friends. Often, however, we don’t really think about how we will fund our retirement until close to the time.

In the past, many people have relied on the age pension to fund their retirement. While you never know what future government policy will be, the age pension is currently means tested and is designed to ensure a minimum standard of living for retirees. It may not provide an adequate income for you to maintain your current lifestyle, let alone any extras like holidays. This is why your superannuation is so important! It can mean the difference between a comfortable retirement and one spent living week to week worrying about money.

Superannuation may be your biggest investment outside of your family home!

While superannuation can appear complex, it doesn’t have to be and we can help you work through all the issues including:

• What’s the most suitable superannuation fund for you and perhaps also your spouse?
• What investment choice should your superannuation be in?
• Should you have any insurance through your superannuation fund and if so, how much?
• Should you be making personal contributions to your superannuation fund?
• If you do make contributions, what is the most tax effective method for you? Can you benefit from the government co-contribution scheme?

Kouteris Financial Services can help you work through all of these issues and come up with a strategy to suit you. We can show you a projection of your current superannuation at retirement and one based on our recommendations so that you get a clearer picture of where you could be at retirement.

We can also help with more complex superannuation strategies including:

Transition to Retirement

You may be able to take advantage of the legislation known as “Transition to Retirement”. This applies to superannuation fund members once they have reached their preservation age (between age 55 and 60, depending on when you were born) where they can use what otherwise would be non-accessible superannuation to commence an income stream without having to retire or leave their job. For example, instead of having to leave the workforce altogether, a person can reduce their hours of work and use their superannuation to commence a pension that supplements their reduced income.

You can also benefit from this strategy if you are not reducing your hours of work. It allows you to take advantage of the tax concessions applicable to commencing a pension whilst at the same time continuing to build your superannuation savings through a strategy known as Salary Sacrifice.

Salary Sacrifice is an accumulation strategy whereby rather than taking income in cash, an agreement is put in place with your employer to have part of your salary paid into a superannuation fund. As a result, the funds are only taxed at a maximum of 15% representing the superannuation contributions tax applicable, rather than your marginal tax rate. In addition, any investment earnings will also be taxed at a maximum rate of 15%. The superannuation funds however, are preserved (cannot be withdrawn in a lump sum) until a condition of release such as retirement is met. Transition to retirement allows you to access some of this superannuation via an income stream before you retire completely from the workforce.

Self Managed Superannuation Funds

You may wish to set up your own superannuation fund for a variety of reasons including the desire for a family fund, control over investments or estate planning purposes. We can help you set up a trust deed and bank account, arrange tax file number and ABN, creating and implementing an investment strategy and liaising with the fund administrator.

Business Superannuation

Kouteris Financial Services can also help with your business superannuation needs including help setting up your company default fund.