Super milestones
Different stages of your family life and relationships will obviously affect your financial position.
Settling down, starting a family, getting divorced or other changes could have a big impact on your super's bottom-line.
Moving in together
Many couples decide to pool their resources when entering into a long-term relationship. This may, or may not include, sharing your super.
When moving in with a partner, it’s worth having some conversations about money.
You may like to review your joint financial goals, create a joint budget, start thinking about how much you will need to save for retirement and consider updating your beneficiaries.
Starting a family
There is no doubt that children are expensive – from the time you may need to take off work at the start, to private school fees and other ongoing expenses.
When kids come along, it’s an ideal time to review your financial position, your budget, your insurance levels - and naturally, your super and savings plans.
Getting divorced
If you are going through a divorce, your super savings could be affected.
Family Law legislation may allow your spouse to claim some of your super through an agreement or order made by the Family Court of Australia.
Your spouse can also have your superannuation interest flagged. This means that you may not be able to gain access to your super money until the flag is lifted or your super account is split.
You can find out more information about how your super may be affected by a relationship breakdown on the ATO’s website here.
Do you have enough insurance?
It is important to update your beneficiary nominations when there are changes in your personal life.
For example, entering into or ceasing a personal relationship, getting married or the addition of children.
If you want to ensure that your dependants have adequate financial support in the event of your death, you may need to review your insurance cover too.
Retirement planning
For people who plan for it, retirement can be a reward after years of working hard. It’s a new phase of life full of new opportunities.
But it’s an unfortunate fact that few Australians actually enjoy a comfortable retirement as many rely partly or solely on the basic retirement benefits provided by the Age Pension.
Most people find deciding what level of income they need in retirement, and how to organise it, quite challenging – that’s where we can help.