Retirement is a key stage in life, and requires careful planning. With the right preparation it can be relaxed and fun, affording lots of free time to pursue your interests. However, without taking the time to consider the effects of retirement on your financial situation, it might prove a struggle to survive. When you start contemplating retirement, retirement plans are a great place to start.
You will need to consider your retirement income (see Calculating Retirement Income), and determine if you are on target to achieve the pension you want or need to consider ways to close a pension gap. There are considerable benefits to saving for your retirement, not least the tax incentives offered by the government. For more information see Tax Incentives for Saving. Ensuring a retirement income can seem a personal concern, but it is important to consider the effect that the decisions you make will have on your family. This theme is explored in Pensions and Family.
For information on the Age Pension system, including government benefits, see Age Pensions. For details on Superannuation including self managed super funds, see Superannuation. You may have concerns about the security of the super fund you choose to invest in. How can you protect your savings against loss? This is detailed in pension protection, which includes an article on the pension crisis.
For more information about Pensions and Retirement see:
