Kicking super goals in 2022
New Year, new goals. How about setting a personalised goal within your super, so you can enjoy a great life after work?
By Jodie Hampshire - 3 min 30 sec read
A little about Jodie
As the Head of Asia Pacific for Russell Investments, Jodie looks after clients in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and China. She has been with Russell Investments for 14 years, splitting her time between the Sydney and London offices. During her career, she has worked with a wide range of clients, including super funds and charities.
In welcoming 2022, it’s only fair to look back and give yourself a pat on the back for navigating the challenges and the uncertainties of the past two years. If some of that uncertainty has spilled over to your retirement planning—and you’re not sure how you’re tracking to your goals—you’re not alone.
Setting goals can be a great way to take stock of things at the start of a year. It can help to focus on what really matters and get organised on what you need to do to succeed. It’s the same with retirement planning. Setting a retirement income goal can give you the chance to understand where you are right now, work out where you want to be when you do retire and what to do in between to make sure you realise your goal.
Where do I start, we hear you ask and we have just the answer. It’s the GoalTracker® program, designed to take the stress and guesswork out of super. With GoalTracker, you can:
- visualise your future and work out a personalised retirement income goal for you and whether you’re on track to achieve it (using the MyTracker online tool),
- let us help you to invest your super based on what we know about you (using the GoalTracker investment option), and
- then go a step further and let us help you to build you a personalised investment strategy (using the GoalTracker Plus online service).
If that feels like a lot to take in, let’s look at one of our members, 60-year-old Jane (not her real name), who is steadily coming closer to her retirement income goal because of GoalTracker.
Helping Jane to set a goal
Two years ago, Jane had a super balance of around $420,000. She started off by using the MyTracker tool, sharing more information about herself and her financial position in and outside super. This included her income, expected expenditure and current savings.
Next, the tool took her through a range of eight lifestyle categories, including travel, leisure, dining out and more. Within each category, she could choose whether to cover the basics, live comfortably or be aspirational in retirement.
Based on these selections, the tool worked out how much money she’ll likely need to fund that lifestyle. For Jane, it was $44,000 a year—and that remains her retirement income goal.
Like Jane, even if you’ve never thought about it, the MyTracker tool can really help you to work out how much money you’ll need to pay for the lifestyle you want in retirement, turning your lifestyle choices into a meaningful retirement income goal.
But was she on track to get there?
Helping Jane to get her savings on track
Once Jane was done setting her goal, it showed her that she was on track to have around $35,000 a year to live on when she retired. This was a bit of a problem! She realised that she needed to do something to bridge this gap. But what exactly?
The MyTracker tool was able to help her with that as well. The tool allowed her to simulate the impact of taking different actions, such as choosing a different investment strategy, making additional super contributions, changing her planned retirement age and increasing the annual income earned. By using the simulator, she was able to narrow it down to what worked best for her personal situation. For Jane, the answer was in making additional super contributions.
Investing made easy
A word about GoalTracker Plus.
Not all of us are keen to sit and work out an investment strategy that is tailor made for us. Some of us have no interest in it, some of us lack the know-how and others simply can’t find the time.
So, if you do decide to let us invest your super to suit your personal situation, GoalTracker Plus is for you. It offers you personalised advice and makes recommendations about what mix of growth and defensive assets you should have to keep getting closer to your retirement income goal. It also comes with regular reviews and check-ins to make sure your strategy stays relevant to you.
Members like Jane who have used GoalTracker often say that it was fantastic, as the visual aids really made it easy to understand their situation and helped them realise what they need to do to get their super on track to their goal.
Top super tips for 2022
Given super is one of the most important assets you will ever own, it’s vital to start planning early and thinking about what your goals for retirement really are.
As we approach the new year, you can use GoalTracker to implement three steps to make sure you’re on track:
- Set a goal that is right for you
- Keep your personal details up to date
- Keep track of your progress
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