At the age of 45, my financial security is now weighing heavily on my mind. Will I have enough super to live on when I retire? Under the current laws in Australia, I won’t be eligible for the aged pension until I reach the age of 67. That means that I have to work for another 22 years, or find an alternative income stream that will allow me to leave work before the age of 67, and be able to financially support myself.
One thing that I need to manage carefully is my superannuation. When Hewlett Packard bought EDS, a former employer, our superannuation was rolled over to Plum Financial, who managed the super funds for HP. After I was retrenched, I was watching the super fund closely – and I came to the conclusion that most of the super funds are only in the business, and that is to make money for themselves and not the superannuation accounts. If your superannuation increases in value, then they get paid. If your superannuation takes a hit, and you lose money, they still get paid. So, basically, since I left Telstra, when outsourced to EDS, my superannuation hasn’t increased in value, but stayed stagnant. Which over a 11 year period, is pretty poor. So what was I to do? I did some research, and have moved my super across to ING Living Super which has very low fees, or none, depending on which solution you use. This now gives me more control over where my money is invested, and the only major cost to me is my time in managing the account.
However, the superannuation may still not be enough to support me in my retirement years, as I won’t be able to access the superannuation until I am 67 – which means that I may not be fit enough to enjoy the travelling that I would love to do. So this means I need to look at other sources to create an alternative income stream.
As it stands now, I am investigating a couple of strategies, that if prove successful, will allow me to leave full-time employment, and work for myself. I know the old adage, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!” Like anything in life – there are risk takes and risk avoiders. I used to avoid risks, especially when it comes to money, and as such, have always struggled. It is only recently, that I am becoming weary of the hum-drum of travel to a job where others control the work load and the direction my day takes. So, I’ve decided to see if these strategies will work and have invested some money. I haven’t invested a lot, and it is an amount that I can afford to lose if it doesn’t work.
As I learn more about these strategies, I’ll keep you informed.