How to manage super in your 60s

While Australians intend to retire at about age 65, on average we retire earlier, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics’ retirement data from 2020-21.

For those of us in our 60s, it’s the last stretch to get ready for our life after work, both for what we’ll do and our financial preparedness.

“At this age we can sometimes feel we don’t have enough super and there’s nothing that can be done about it. But that’s not always true. Even a 'low' level of super may be enough. The key thing is to work out how much we’ll spend in retirement,” says smartMonday senior smartCoach Johnny Ng.

That said, more super is often better, and safeguarding what you already have is a foremost concern in this decade of life. The critical step now is to review your level of investment risk. If you’re unsure about risk then read our article Building wealth is all about risk.

While you can expect lower rates of return from safer investments, you can also expect to preserve more of what you have if the market turns negative. Log in to your smartMonday homepage and review what you’re invested in and think about the level of risk – are you comfortable with it? Do you want to shift to a less risky option?

“This can also be a great time to make extra contributions, such as the downsizer contribution where you can add $300,000 to your super above the regular limits. There're several tax-effective ways to contribute to your super that could be good for you to know,” says Ng.

Retirement, or your 'possibility years', can be a path to joy and meaning your working life didn't allow. What can those years be for you?

If you need to, seek advice to know how much you’ll have at retirement, when and how you’ll receive your super benefit, if you should transition to retirement, what investment choice is best, and so on. You really want a plan in place at this stage of life.

Finding answers to your questions isn’t that easy. If you don’t have a financial adviser you can speak with a smartMonday smartCoach. While your fees already pay for their general guidance, you can pay an extra fee for a more personal forward-looking assessment on how to access and invest your smartMonday PENSION.

“You’ll want to check in on your super regularly. And the best way to do this is online. So make sure you are registered for your online account and log in every now and then to review your balance and other features,” explains Ng.

Just as a reminder, online you can review your insurance, switch investments, consolidate your super accounts and update your contact details. Take a quick look to ensure you’re happy with the status of your super. If you’re not, you can take action to change things.

“You also need to set or update your beneficiary. This is the person, or people, you want your super to go to if you die. If you don’t set a beneficiary, then the trustee of your fund will choose for you,” says Ng.

Nominating a binding beneficiary is the only true way to control who will get your super. To do this print our form, sign with witnesses and mail to us.