Only 54% of Australians believe their superannuation will be enough to see them through their retirement according to MLC’s Australia today report.

However a staggering 76% of those with financial planners or advisers and 63% of those with accountants, agreed that they would rely on their superannuation in retirement.

How much does a comfortable retirement cost?
With the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) estimating couples need $58,922 pa for a comfortable retirement and $34,064 pa for a modest retirement, and singles need from $23,000-$43,000 pa for a modest to comfortable
retirement, those who aren’t prepared will face a significant shortfall.1

The cost of confidence is high
It seems we need a very high asset value to feel prepared for retirement. According to Australia today, just over half of people with assets over $1 million dollars, excluding the family home, feel very or fairly well prepared for retirement. Meanwhile, only 34% of people with between $500,000 and $1 million net investable assets feel very or fairly well prepared and only 7% of people with less than half a million dollars feel prepared. It’s an extraordinary amount of money – the cost of achieving confidence in your retirement plans is high.

Australians are topping up their super
Most likely due to this uncertainty about having enough super, and the potential tax advantages, many Australians are topping up their retirement savings. Twenty-nine per cent of respondents made additional contributions to their super funds in the 12 months preceding the release of Australia today.

Retirement preparation is more than having a super lump sum
Many Australians are accumulating sizeable super balances but are still feeling unprepared – probably because retirement preparation is about far more than having a super lump sum. Many of us will need help working out how to invest the money
intelligently and how to spend wisely to make it last.

Knowing whether your super will be enough requires help from a financial professional; unless you’re prepared to do a lot of research yourself. You need to work out how your money will be invested while you draw down from it, how much
you need to support the lifestyle you choose and how that lifestyle will change as you age.

How you can access your super once you retire2
When you reach preservation age, you can access your super as long as you are
permanently retired (or have reached age 65). If you haven’t permanently retired,
you can still access part of your super via a transition to retirement pension.

How much will you get?

• Your final retirement benefit is determined by:
• your employer’s contributions over your working life
• your own additional contributions
• your investment returns
• the tax you pay, and
• the amount of fees.

How you get paid is up to you
You can choose to take your super as a lump sum, or as retirement income stream, or a combination of both. If you choose to receive your super as a regular income stream by rolling it into account based pension, the money that you’re not accessing
in an account based pension continues to work for you in a tax effective environment.

When can you receive the age pension?
From 1 July 2017, the qualifying age for the Age Pension will increase from 65 years to 65 years and 6 months. The qualifying age will then increase by 6 months every 2 years, reaching 67 years by 1 July 2023.

If you were born between                                   You qualify for Age Pension at age
1 July 1952 to 31 December 1953                              65 years and 6 months
1 January 1954 to 30 June 1955                                66 years
1 July 1955 to 31 December 1956                              66 years and 6 months
From 1 January 1957                                                    67 years