In the same way we get experts to help with everything from our health to our car repairs, a financial adviser is there to help you with your finances. While an important step that can help accelerate your retirement journey.
It's not always easy to know where to start, what to ask and who to trust, so we put together a list of questions to kick-start your advice journey.
Understanding superannuation
What is super: A retirement plan? A tax strategy? Both? You want to understand how you can take advantage of the benefits super offers and maximise your contributions against all the loopholes. While you might not offset your tax entirely, you may get better bang for your buck than if you stuck to the usual 9.5%.
Questions you should ask:
- What are the benefits of investing in super?
- How can I contribute to my super?
- Am I putting enough money into super?
- Are there different types of super funds?
- What are the right investment options for me?
- How often should I review my super?
- What if I change jobs?
- How easy is it to take my super with me when I change jobs?
Super and Insurance
Insurance is one of the biggest benefits of joining any super fund. When you join Rest (and following your first employer contribution) you automatically receive cover for Death, Total and Permanent Disability and Income Protection if you find yourself out of work.
Tip: To find out what types of insurance you have and how much you're covered for, login to MemberAccess and click the Insurance tab.
Questions to ask:
- Can you calculate and recommend how much cover I should have?
- If I become sick or injured and cannot work, what type of insurance would cover living expenses such as mortgage repayments?
- Can you help me make provisions for my family should I become disabled, get sick or die?
- How do I know if my super includes insurance?
- I already have insurance outside of super. Do I need any more?
All things retirement
Super is all about the long-game; that being, making small contributions towards a comfortable retirement further down the track. The earlier you can start planning, the better chance you have of making the retirement you want.
What you should ask:
- When should I start planning my retirement?
- How do I know if I will have enough to retire on?
- How can I structure my investments to make sure I have enough to live on in retirement?
- What's 'transitioning to retirement' all about?
- How should I structure my retirement income so I can still receive social security entitlements?
- What happens if I die – how can I make sure whoever I nominate gets the money?
Rest members seeking advice on their super, retirement or tax can call our team at any time. Find out how.
