Australia has an ageing population, and that means there is a growing focus on retirement planning and growing superannuation funds.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the median age of Australia’s population has increased to 37.3 years as of 2014, up from 33.4 years in 1994. This could have implications for the overall health of the country, including the size of the working sector as more people head into their twilight years to enjoy a life well lived.
While the median of 37.3 might not sound like an ‘old’ population, it’s worth remembering that it is only a median. There are half of the people in the country under that age, and half over.
No matter how old you are, it’s important to think about your financial future.
No matter how old you are, however, it’s important to start thinking about your financial future. You might be making contributions out of your salary each month, and even be adding to it personally on top of that. One of the best ways to take control of your wealth creation, however, is with a self-managed super fund (SMSF).
Once you’ve got enough money behind you to make this worthwhile (about $200,000), strategies such as investing in property or shares can be an alternative way to stabilise your retirement fund while diversifying your investment strategy. If you don’t know where to start, the team of SMSF experts at DBS Accountants can help.
Is an SMSF for everyone?
An SMSF can be fantastic for people who have enough time and money to organise and keep track of everything that needs to be taken care of, year in and year out. Essentially, it’s a fund in which you or a group of family members can place their super fund money and invest over a period of time with the sole purpose of creating wealth for retirement. The difference is, you make the investment decisions and you manage the super fund.
If there isn’t enough money in the fund to start with, it can be an expensive process and actually end up costing you more than you’re able to make from the scheme. That’s why professional advice is so important.
However, if you do have enough saved up from over your working life, and want to pool together with a group of others, that’s also a possibility. From this point, you’ll be able to set up and start your investment strategy rolling forward and collecting capital gains!
How are you thinking about spending your twilight years?If you don’t know whether or not an SMSF would be right for you heading into the start of this new financial year, talk to DBS Accountants today.
Rajeev Dixit is Authorised Representative 1239763 of Merit Wealth Pty Ltd, Australian Financial Services Licence 409361, ABN 89 125 557 002
This information has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of this, you should, before acting on this information consider its appropriateness having regard to your objectives, financial situation or needs.