Retirement planning

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One weekend, a few tools, and suddenly your living room feels like a brand-new space. Retirement is perfect for giving your home the attention it deserves. These practical DIY ideas for retirees make it easy to improve its functionality and enjoy the process.

Financial needs and goals transform over time; the ambitions of a new graduate differ from those of a middle-aged person with a family. Wealth planning is a lifelong journey that evolves, making a comprehensive financial plan for every stage essential.

Are you considering selling property in retirement? Whether it’s an investment property or something inherited from a relative, the profits could significantly boost your lifestyle. Here’s what you need to know about property sales and CGT for retirees.

The financial future of your family starts with a conversation. These conversations help your children and grandchildren make informed decisions and avoid common pitfalls. Here’s how to navigate intergenerational financial dialogue.

Are you worried about outliving your retirement savings? How long your funds will last throughout your later years is highly dependent on your spending habits and desired lifestyle. Planning ahead is key to enjoying a financially secure retirement.

Just like us, dogs might trade fetching balls for more naps as they age, but the bond we share only grows stronger. From routine to better mental health, pets provide innumerable benefits to retirement years. Here’s what you need to know about their care.

Whether your retirement dreams are grand or simplistic, life rarely goes to plan. Understanding the three phases of retirement helps clarify the financial planning process and reveals unique opportunities and challenges for each stage of the journey.

Are you considering making the leap from landlord to resident? Before you stop collecting rental income and move into your investment property or holiday home, it’s crucial to understand the financial implications. Here is what you need to know.

Whether you have a sprawling backyard or a small patio, you can transform it into a relaxing, tranquil retirement oasis to enjoy for years to come. Keep it simple yet effective with these creative gardening tips to help you cultivate a serene and beautiful space.

Are you approaching retirement with an active mortgage? It’s time to assess your financial situation. While the right strategy for you will depend on your individual circumstances, here is some general advice for navigating this critical phase.

As we plan for retirement, our home becomes a focal point – do we adapt it for our changing needs or make a move? This decision includes social, emotional, physical and financial concerns, all crucial in creating our ideal ‘home sweet home’ for the golden years.

Traditionally, older generations have been labelled as late adopters when it comes to embracing new technology. However, in today’s world, modern seniors are not only embracing technology but also recognising its potential to significantly enhance their lives.

Not all retirement adventures happen on cruise ships. Some of the most imaginative, life-changing journeys happen while turning pages. Retirement is the perfect time to catch up on a good book or two. Or an entire library.

Retirement isn’t just an end. It’s a beginning. While many dream of travel, some crave more than seeing serene beaches and historic landmarks. Good news – there are plenty of adventure activities out there for active retirees

In retirement, will you savour life’s opportunities, travel and cherish moments with loved ones without regrets? Or will you meticulously safeguard every dollar for enduring financial security? It all boils down to the psychology of money.

Retirement is a highly personal milestone, and everyone envisions it differently. Regardless of your plans, the key question is… when? If you’re considering retiring before 67, you might be curious about the secrets to early retirement.

Close your eyes and picture your retirement dreams: from gondolas in Venice to Bali’s waves and beautiful Viennese symphonies. If travel is in your vision, let’s discuss why it’s so crucial to protect your adventures with travel insurance for seniors.

Just as a golfer has a strategy for each round, retirement requires financial readiness to embrace its possibilities. We shine the spotlight on our client Dick Kirby, who was ready and able to give back to golf for over 40 years, culminating in a well-deserved OAM award.

Preparing for retirement involves mastering the nuances of a different financial landscape. It’s not an all-or-nothing endeavour. You can ease into it with a transition to retirement (TTR) income stream.

If you’ve made careful financial preparations, your plans for retirement can simply be ‘living the dream’. Here is the story of Jan and Mark, who lived life in the fast lane before retirement and show no signs of slowing down five years after calling time on their careers.

If you have calculated the exact amount needed for your retirement but are unsure about how to achieve that goal, have you thought about downsizing before retirement? There is a lot of power in downsizing.

Learning to save is a fundamental skill required for building a strong financial future. During times of economic uncertainty, like the present, having savings is even more important. If you’re ready to get started, here are some practical tips for boosting savings.

With careful financial planning, retirement presents an exciting chapter filled with newfound freedom and limitless opportunities. For people like Val Little, the very definition of thriving in retirement lies in continuous learning and service to others.

When it comes to retirement travel destinations, New Zealand is a popular option. And it’s not just because they are our neighbours across the pond. Here are the five top places to visit in New Zealand.

When it comes to retirees and capital gains tax, there’s a lot to consider. But don’t let concerns about capital gains tax spoil the serenity of your golden years.

Up for an adventure post-retirement? It’s time to hit the road. If caravanning in Australia after retirement sounds like a great way to wind down after a long and demanding career, then read on.

The change in superannuation downsizing limit is a key driver in helping older Aussies to boost their income in retirement. Here’s how the lower age limit can benefit your retirement.

You’ve made it to retirement, you are probably more financially secure than ever and you’re feeling generous. But there are some considerations to make before gifting assets during retirement.

Aged care is a hot topic for retirees with many couples not following the same timeline when it comes to requiring aged care assistance. Often, one person will require aged care support before the other, making aged care an important consideration for retirees.

Wondering if your investment property rent will be enough to hold you up in retirement? We discuss investment property rent and retirement outcomes in this comprehensive article.

Investing in property to help fund your retirement can be a solid strategy, but investing is all about balancing the possible risks and perceived benefits. Find out if property investment for retirement is right for you.

Every quarter, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) releases an update to their Retirement Standard. First produced back in 2004, the Standard provides crucial information about Australian retirement costs.

Grandparents hold a vital role within the family dynamic. If you are a Pop or a Nanna who enjoys a loving bond with your grandchild, you already know how special that is… but today we want to highlight the true value of grandparents.

Did you know that you can access some of your super before you actually retire? The Transition to Retirement (TtR) strategy is designed to provide you the benefit of a partial pension payment to supplement a reduction in working hours.

FIRE stands for ‘Financial Independence Retire Early’ and at its core it focuses on saving and investing as much money as you can while you are young so that you can retire far earlier than normal.

It might sound crazy… but money isn’t everything. Yes, it’s important to be financially secure, but for you to have a happy and healthy retirement there are many other factors that you need to consider.

If you are planning to retire in the coming year, you might already be knee-deep in details and logistics… but we’ve put together a list of some of the best places to retire in Australia. Here are some ideas of locations you could consider.

Everyone has different dreams for their retirement but regardless of what your retirement looks like, there’s always a need for financial stability. We consider cash flow in retirement and look at steps you can take to help minimise financial stress.

During these challenging times, the pandemic has not only shaken societal norms but has also made some Australians rethink their plans for retirement. But here at First Financial, our clients have been able to maintain a positive outlook.

Carers play a vital role in our society. They provide essential care for people with a disability or mental illness, with debilitating medical conditions or who are elderly and need additional support in their day to day lives.

When it comes time to retire, you want the transition to be smooth and stress-free. It’s important to arm yourself with some knowledge of how taxation works within retirement and how different income streams are taxed.

There is never a good time – or age – to be out of work. But for those over 60, it can feel particularly painful. If you have lost a job or been made redundant, the hardest part is knowing what to do next.

We discuss whether implementing the new reduced minimum for your pension payment is a viable option for this financial year. Reducing your retirement income is an important decision that can impact your lifestyle, so we have outlined some of the points to consider.

Happiness… the state of being happy, cheerful, contented. Enjoying a pleasurable or satisfying experience. It is definitely something that we all strive for – to be happy. And when we reach our retirement, we really want to make sure that we achieve it!

Have you imagined a retirement filled with amazing, exotic locations or the endless summer? Travel is always on the top of our clients’ retirement goals list… so in this article we explore a range of travel options.

John Leahey’s passion for music has filled his life. From a child who watched his father entertain friends, through his university band years and now still gigging in retirement, soulful melodies have always been his soundtrack.

While many of us expect to enter our retirement as part of a couple, there are also many people who find themselves newly single at this point in their lives.

Shirley O’Connor and her daughter Kathleen O’Connor-Lee started SoKo Designs over a decade ago. The bespoke baby linen venture has grown from its humble beginnings to have a dedicated regular client base and provide an extra source of income.

Retirement is the perfect time to start something new. You’ve worked hard for many years building your wealth and creating the foundations for a strong financial future… so it’s time to do the things you’ve always been interested in.

Recent Age Pension changes, made by the government, have presented new possibilities to many older Australians. We have seen the media focus on cuts to deeming rates which offer a potential increase to payments and greater eligibility.

When preparing for retirement, the most important question you need to ask yourself is, ‘How much income will I need?’ It is vital that you have a clear understanding about your income requirements so that you can live the life you want when you are no longer working.

We help our clients live the life they want into their retirement. And when the time comes to change living arrangements, our team is also able to assist with aged care advisory services.

Karen and Gary’s shared love of animals is the daily inspiration behind their dream retirement. Having just returned from the trip of lifetime to South America, they are living the wonderfully busy retired life they started planning twenty years ago.

For most of us, discussing our own inevitable demise is not the most comfortable conversation. But making time to plan your estate and keep it updated can provide both you and your loved ones with precious peace of mind.

Retirement is a brand new chapter in your life. For many of us, it’s the opportunity to do all the things we didn’t have time for when we were busy building a career and raising a family.

A retirement village provides this for seniors who are able to live independently but with the added reassurance of access to emergency health services and the security of an on-site manager nearby. Read more here.

We all know retirement is coming, so it makes sense to be prepared. And once you are in control of your finances you’ll feel more secure about your future and what you spend. In this blog we’ve put together some money tips to help with budgeting and cash-flow in retirement.

In this blog we’ve outlined some key tips to help with the challenging decisions around aged care. First and foremost remember you don’t have to do this on your own. An aged care specialist adviser will work with you to make sure you get the best living solution for your particular circumstances.

We all want our retirement years to be fulfilling and stress-free. But if you’re having to count the pennies every week, those years begin to feel very different. A retirement plan will help alleviate that worry.

We all want a happy, stress-free retirement. Ensuring you have sufficient income is fundamental to delivering that goal. But working out whether or not you have enough to last you the rest of your life can often be confusing and stressful.

A transition to retirement income stream helps ease you into retirement with more time to do the things you love while still earning an income. It’s critical that a TTR pension is part of your overall retirement strategy.

Choosing what to do with your accumulated superannuation is a core part of retirement planning. Getting reliable and trustworthy advice is vital. In this blog we take a look at an investment vehicle which is geared towards giving retirees a flexible, tax-free income stream.

It’s a simple question. But with a market choice of over 5,000 managed investments and around 2,200 stocks, the answer is most definitely not. Which is why working with a financial adviser is the best decision you can make.

If you want to provide an income in retirement that grows each year, lasts your lifetime and then leaves a little something to the kids, you need to be thinking 20 times what you spend in a year.

There are now a number of ‘dual’ facilities on the market where they offer you a Retirement Village unit initially, and as your level of care increases you move into Residential Aged Care – all within the one facility.

Aged care is rapidly moving to a ‘user pays’ system, with government policy to keep everyone in their own home for as long as possible to reduce the burden of residential aged care due to increasing pressure on the budget.

From 1 January 2017, government changes to the age pension are likely to reduce many age pension recipients’ entitlements.

An astounding number of Aussies are moving away from relying on traditional means of funding their retirement in favour of establishing property portfolios.

Aussies are an adventurous lot. With more retirees choosing to jetset and enjoy their wealth rather than immediately settle, we also put a great emphasis on where we call home at the end of the day.