Planning is essential as you head towards your long weekend. Some people simply want their questions answered while others benefit from personal financial advice about their smartMonday account. Our smartCoach team can provide you with the support you need.

Our smartCoaches can answer your questions about:

• contributions (how much to add to your super account)
• insurance (and how it could change over time)
• investment choice (explaining our LifeCycle investment option, choice options in a pension account)
• pensions - including transition to retirement pensions, account based pensions and government Age Pension.

Importantly, they can also talk to you about retirement adequacy - how much you have now and how much you might need to reach your goals.

We know that people who plan for retirement have better outcomes. Money impacts many areas of life, from health and wellbeing to social connectedness. We encourage all smartMonday members to reach out to a smartCoach for support at this important stage.

Specifically, planning earlier can help you take advantage of compound interest, tax rates and opportunities to grow retirement savings over time. It can also help you to understand super and feel confident in your planning.

This is particularly important if you are a Friday member (in your 50s), and haven’t had a conversation with a smartCoach about your account and planning for retirement. We know that a lot of people haven’t spent too much time planning, so if you haven’t gotten around to it, you aren’t alone. Don’t feel worried, take action.

• Review your investment strategy and options
• Understand contributions and strategies relevant to you, to grow your balance
• Know how and when you can access your super
• Understand insurance options, and how insurance changes as you age
• Project your financial readiness for retirement (sometimes this is referred to as retirement adequacy)
• Understand how a smartMonday PENSION works
• Understand how the Age Pension works

• Speak in jargon (if they accidentally do, or you don’t understand something, it is always OK to ask)
• Assume you understand a lot about superannuation or pension
• Judge your financial decisions or situation
• Charge you any fees without clearly explaining why they apply
• Sell you something - the team is here to help, not to convince you to buy anything!

Your smartCoach meeting can take place over the phone or video. It’s up to you. The meeting will take approximately 45 minutes to an hour.

You don’t need to understand complex terms or know exact dollar amounts. Your smartCoach will walk you through the details and try to understand what’s important to you to support your goals and plans.

Before you meet with a smartCoach think about:

• when you’ll stop working
• if you’ll work reduced hours in retirement
• what plans you have during retirement
• your current income and expenses (it doesn’t have to be exact)

Fees for smartCoach services, when talking about your smartMonday account, are included in your membership. However, more comprehensive advice about smartMonday PENSION may attract a small fee. There are three types of advice that you may need:

1. General and factual information about your smartMonday account - at no extra cost

2. Personal advice about your smartMonday accumulation account - no fee applies

3. Pension and TTR advice which includes discussion about the Age Pension - a fee may apply: if you would like to talk to a smartCoach about your personal circumstances and take into account the Age Pension and how that would impact your super and retirement, there is a small fee of $330* (including GST) which would be charged. This fee will be clearly explained to you if it is needed - no surprises

*Subject to change, fee accurate at 1 January 2023

Advice about matters outside of your smartMonday account (such as the Age Pension) incur a fee which cannot be taken from your super. Legislation limits advice fees being deducted from a superannuation account to matters that are superannuation only.

We will send an invoice to any member who needs to pay for additional advice - only after confirming with you that this fee will apply.

Comprehensive financial advice may be sought by any member, at any age, outside of their smartMonday account. If you are looking for a financial adviser, the MoneySmart website is a great place to begin.

If you are considering retirement within the next five to seven years, then personal advice from our smartCoach, taking into account your eligibility for Age Pension, is something to consider.

If you are further away from your long weekend - we can still help, and encourage you to get in touch. As legislation can change at any time, if you're planning further in advance, then the smartCoach team can talk to you about your account, and will be less likely to need to charge a fee. Remember, there is no cost to get in touch to discuss your account.

We’d love to hear from you!

• 1300 COACH 1 (1300 262 241)
• email smartcoach@smartmonday.com.au
• Live chat with a smartCoach on our website when the speech bubble pops up