AFR – 20 February 2025

Sustainability has a very different meaning when retirement is around the corner

AFR – 20 February 2025

You can use your earlier years to focus on growing your savings and assets, before then analysing how best to administer them. “Getting your investment choices right in your 20s, 30s and 40s can actually have a big impact due to the value of compounding,” says Joshua Lowen, insights manager at SuperRatings. “In your 50s and 60s, it turns to ‘What do I need to live off in retirement and how am I tracking?’”

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For many, removing the factor of employment from their daily grind will put into perspective the things they want to carry over. “Some examples include working out what a normal day in retirement might look like, how their relationships might change now they are no longer working, can they maintain their current home or will they need to move, and how to maintain their social network,” explains Lowen.

Factor in everything from day-to-day to sporadic outlays, such as weekly grocery shopping, travel, that boat you’ve always been keen on. “Set up a retirement budget for both regular and larger one-off expenses,” he adds.

It’s easy to focus purely on superannuation for your retirement blueprint, but Lowen says that there are actually “three pillars” that should be top of mind. “[These are] superannuation, personal savings and government aged pension,” he says. “Maximising each of these will best support retirement goals.”