How to Get Your Super in Shape for Retirement
Retirement planning rarely begins with a spreadsheet. It begins with a sinking feeling when you check your super and wonder if you’ve missed the window. We slow that panic down and start where it actually matters: getting clear on what retirement looks like for you in Australia, not as a vague dream, but as a real year of choices about travel, work, social life, cars, and whether downsizing is on the cards. When you can picture the life, you can price it.
From there, we get practical about budgeting for retirement. Most people don’t keep a budget, and even fewer want to revisit a year or two of spending, but that exercise turns guesswork into a plan. We talk through the old 70 to 75 per cent “rule of thumb” for retirement spending, why the early years can cost more than you expect, and how later spending often tapers off. We also bring in the ASFA Retirement Standard numbers as a useful benchmark for a comfortable retirement, and why inflation can’t be ignored.
We then tackle the harder edge of retirement advice: managing debt, what changes if you don’t own your home, and why renting in retirement can require more capital and more flexibility. Finally, we touch on emerging product solutions and why annuities are becoming part of the conversation again when the goal is longevity of income, even if it means less access to big lump sums. If you want more grounded retirement planning advice, subscribe, share this with someone who’s stressing about their super, and leave us a review. What’s the one retirement question you want answered next?