3 Stress Free Retirement Tips

Moving into retirement is a pretty exciting time for most. Perhaps you’ve wrapped up a small business, or you’re at the end of a long career and looking forward to relaxing a bit. If you’re like many Australians, things like travelling, eating out and home improvements are all part of the big picture¹ of your retirement. However, even if you have clear goals and plans for what you want to do in retirement, you may not have as clear a picture of what you don’t want.

Unless you are chatting with a professional planner, you might not have plans in place to deal with what could go wrong during your golden years. It can be part of human nature to avoid thinking about or dealing with things that make us sad or anxious² which is understandable, as everyone wants a stress-free retirement. Getting there means identifying what might cause stress during your retirement years, and converting those things into positive goals.

Here are some examples:

Don’t say: “I don’t want to end up in a dingy run-down nursing home!”

Instead say: “If I need to go into aged care, I would like this particular standard of living”

Make it happen: When you’re planning for retirement, plan for aged care as well. Start by building a picture of where you would be most comfortable if you had to move in to aged care. After that, start doing some research on ways to fund a higher-than-basic level of aged care.

Don’t say: “I’d hate to be held back by health problems”

Instead say: “I’m going to give myself the best chance at living a healthy and active life”

Make it happen: No one can eliminate the risk of disease, disability or general ill health – especially as we get older, the likelihood of certain conditions may increase. There are things you can do to give yourself a much better chance of living with mobility, independence and energy. Look at how health insurance can help you to access a different standard of treatment, so you have a better recovery experience in case of illness or accident. You may also want to look at building active hobbies into your retirement budget.

Don’t say: “My budget is so tight – if something unexpected happened, I’d be wiped out!”

Instead say: “These are the things that are important to me. I’m going to make a plan to protect them.”

Make it happen: When you’re looking at big-picture goals, like your retirement super balance, it’s natural to think about how much wiggle room you have. There are some simple ways to help you feel safer about your position into the future. Start by reviewing your insurances, which is the main risk management tool for many people. Reducing or eliminating major debts could also give you the security and peace of mind you’re looking for. You might consider paying off your mortgage or credit card debt to give yourself a bit of space in case of an emergency that can’t be covered immediately by insurance or savings.

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_{*The advice is limited to BUSSQ products and is advice on insurance, investment choice, contributions and retirement. The cost of this advice is included in the administration fees and costs. BUSSQ members also have access to tailored retirement advice which is advice on transition to retirement and retirement income streams. If the advice given extends beyond a member’s BUSSQ super account, an additional fee is payable which will be detailed in the Statement of Advice your advisor gives you. Personal advice is provided by one of our financial planners who are Authorised Representatives of Industry Fund Services Limited (IFS) (ABN 54 007 016 195 AFSL 232514). IFS is responsible for any advice given to you by its representatives.}

^{¹ Refer to budget line items in the ASFA Retirement Standard https://www.superannuation.asn.au/resources/retirement-standard}

^{² To read more about this phenomenon, which is called ‘avoidance coping’, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoidance_coping}