Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A where we
ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics and more.
I'm Sean Aylmer. Millions of Australians are approaching retirement and
as they do, their priorities around investing and superannuation change.
There's a lot of myths and misconceptions and unfortunately a
lot of mistakes are made as well. So today I
(00:27):
wanted to look at the top five mistakes made by
retirees or those approaching retirement and how they can be prevented.
Derek Gascoyne is a certified financial planner and the State
Manager Advice at Unisuper, a terrific supporter of this podcast. Derek,
Welcome to Fear and Greed.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Thank you Sawan, thanks for having me close to.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
My own heart this particular segment, Derek, myth number one,
or maybe it's not a myth, we'll find out aspiring
retirees subscribing to a world trouble myth that you can't
retire without X million dollars in suber Is it true
or not?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, it's going to be true for some, but it's
not true for everybody. And the classic number is always
a million dollars in super like everyone needs a million dollars,
But that's it's definitely not true for the mass. So
I'd probably say this that, you know, I think how
much you need and retire is going to largely be
defined by what your needs are going to be. So
(01:22):
you know, if you have a few hundred thousand dollars,
it's probably going to define what your needs are. However,
if you have needs which require a substance, much more
substantial amount of capital to kick off retirement with, and
obviously that's going to dictate what that number is. So
this is different for everybody. You know. I have some
very very well healed clients with you know, worth a
(01:43):
lot of numbers, you know, well into the seven digits,
but their cost of living is only about thirty thirty
five thousand dollars a year, so you know, they don't
need a million or two million or three million to retire.
They probably only needed a few hundred thousand. There is
some numbers that the Association of super Fund Australia bounce
around in terms of how much one needs to support
a comfortable lifestyle, which they define at around seventy three
(02:05):
thousand dollars a year for a couple and around fifty
two thousand dollars a year for a single. And if
you're a homeowner, they basically say, if you want to
support that, you need around six hundred and ninety thousand
of lump sum at the point of retirement to support
that for a couple and around six hundred thousand for
a single. So a far cry from the million dollar
figure and far cry from even bigger numbers that people
(02:25):
are reporting. Like I said, it's really all tied to
your needs, and as long as your needs are relative
to your means, then I think everyone should be able
for to retire.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Okay, misconception number two potentially or not about the age
pension and applying for it as soon as eligible. When
are people eligible for the age pension? And should you
jump in as soon as you are eligible?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Well, absolutely, I do think you should apply as soon
as one becomes eligible. I think the trick for most
people who is knowing when that is so the first
thing is you've got to be eligible first by age,
which for the major already of people who is going
to be from about sixty seven onwards, So that basically
is for anyone born after around January nineteen fifty seven.
They've got to be sixty seven before they can put
their hand up. But just because what is eligible doesn't
(03:11):
necessarily mean they're going to be entitled to something. And
I think this is where people get to bit a
little bit lost. It is a bit of a dark
science social security. So I think people are reluctant often
to jump in and ask the question. And of course,
you know sense Link being or Department of Human Service
has been the sort of custodi into this. They don't
go around and tapping people on the shoulders say we
(03:32):
think you should put your hand up now for the
age pensions. So I think it's really a case of
people being happy and comfortable to go and have that
conversation with Sentling and sort of say where do I
stand in a relation to this? It is complex, It
is misunderstood. A lot of people think and look at
what they're drawing, for example, from their superannuation to fund
their retirement. They think, oh, there's no way I'll get
(03:53):
an age pension based upon that, Or they look at
their assets and they'll say I think I'm just simply
worthway too much. But I think be surprising to a
lot of people to know exactly how eligible they might
happen to be and what they might be entitled to.
And you know, for all the clients have been dealing
with over the decades, you know, a lot of them say, look,
I'm really keen just to make sure I get even
just a few bucks of age pension, which gives them
(04:15):
access to the pension, a concession card which probably in itself,
with all the concessions and so forth, is worth a
good couple of thousand dollars as well. So I think
it's really just a case of people being prepared to
ask the question, and if they get knocked back, that
might give them a very good idea as to when
they actually might go and put their hand up. And
we know that there are some stats out there to
say that people can often wait as long as eighteen
(04:35):
months to apply for the age pension from when they
become eligible for it. And that's a lot of that's
a lot of benefits to say goodbye to because you
waited when you probably didn't need to.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Okay, so we've had good news so far here, Derek,
we've had You don't necessarily need a million dollars. You
should apply for the age pensions as since you candle,
though eligibility rules to apply obviously. The third myth or
otherwise under speed in retirement? Do people underspend in retirement?
Is it about trying to save money to leave to
your kids? Is it? I mean, my kids are going
(05:08):
to have guaranteed super all their working lives, so I
feel no particular inclination to leave money to them. Maybe
I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I look, some people feel like that, you know, that
they want to try and preserve what they've built to
act as a legacy. And interesting we did some We
published a report recently which looked at exactly this question,
and only around twelve percent of those asked said that
they were preserving or holding back on drawing down in
their superannuation in order to create a legacy for the
(05:37):
next generation. But for the other eighty eight percent who
said that they were holding back on drawing down in
their souper, it was largely driven by a fear of
running out of money. And you know, there's sort of
that rainy day fear. I suppose that they're putting it aside.
So's it's definitely something where I think people aren't because
they're not clear in terms of what their capacity is
(05:59):
to be able to spend in retirement. They're generally more
inclined to be more conservative from an expenditure point of view.
And again this is not a problem, and again probably
a good problem to have for some people. It's not
a problem experienced by everyone. But I've typically found again
that I think capital adequacy, you know, how much a
(06:21):
person can sustainably spend in retirement without sort of fear
of running out of money too early is often misunderstood
and often underestimated, and a lot of people will again
spend less thinking that they were going to sort of,
you know, burn their money through a little bit too soon. Now,
when I this is often a thing that a lot
of the younger retirees tell me. But then when I
(06:43):
meet with my much older retirees, the people who are
already sort of well through their seventies, for example, a
lot of them are saying, geez, I wish that I
had never held back on spending when I had the
chance to do so. You know, I chose not to spend,
but I didn't take that extra holiday that I could have.
I didn't upgrade the card to the one I wanted.
I went the model down or I didn't actually give
(07:05):
or support a child to the extent that I potentially
could have. And there's actually now a lot of regrets
emerging from that cohort. A lot of them are saying,
you know, I wish that I'd better understood my capacity
to be able to spend what I could. But now
I've got more money, probably than what I started off
retirement with, despite the fact I've been drawing down in
the process. But what I don't have anymore is actually
(07:28):
the time left in which to be able to enjoy it.
And our message to people is to really sort of
get as informed as possible in terms of what sort
of income they could reasonably expect to achieve and sustain
in retirement, and that gives them much greater clarity in
terms of what their ability is to sort of spend
their capital.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Right, that's really fascinating. I'd never thought of that myth
or otherwise misconception number four, failing to plan for their
non financial elements of retirement. I suppose that works into
the previous what you were saying. Then when I read
about retirement, I kind of get the idea of spending
up early. But health that's always a big one, are
(08:09):
they going to be big health costs when you're in
your seventies or eighties or nineties that you need to
put money aside for.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, you definitely do. We know age care in particular
is not a cheap exercise in Australia. Whilst it's heavily
subsidized by the government, it might not necessarily be to
the same extent for much longer. But yes, you're right.
I mean, I think in our sort of more active
care three years, you know, we should look at spending
a little bit more, but not to the extent that
(08:37):
we're also spending a little bit too much of tomorrow's
money today either, and that we leave a little bit
there to provide for again the unexpected as well. You know.
The failing to plan for the non financial elements of
retirement also feeds into It's not a financial thing strictly.
Is more about people saying I've worked for forty, sometimes
(08:58):
fifty even longer years. I've had structure, I've had routine.
You know, I've had a paycheck come in every fortnight
without fail. How am I going to go transitioning to
a completely different world where that structure and routine and
have it is completely removed from my day to day.
And you know, the successful retirements that I've seen are
(09:20):
the ones where consideration to this has been given a
lot early in the process, sometimes years before they actually retire.
So people, you know, go from working and going a
million miles an hour and then boom they stop and
they enter retirement and suddenly they don't know how to
deal or cope with that loss of routine and structure
(09:43):
to their lives as well. So I think those who
do this really well think about that a lot. It
can be very psychologically impactful, particularly when all your identity
and a lot of your self worth is tied up
in your occupation and your title and your job. To
have all that sort of disappearing in some cases overnight,
I think can be can be quite jarring for a
(10:05):
lot of people as well. So we're very again big
on sort of saying to people, where you have the
chance to be able to do so, try and practice
retirement as much as possible. And there's things like transition
to retirement, there's going from full time gradually cascading your
way through part time work, and obviously you know, flexible
and hybrid ways of working are really enabling people to
(10:26):
sort of try on what it's like to not necessarily
go into the office every day as well.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Okay, number five, and I mean this isn't a myth,
but it's about financial advice, right, and the need for
financial advice. It's easy to say when it needs financial advice,
and I totally believe that. You know, whether you're twenty
or whether you're eighty, you need financial advice. But the cost,
there's always a cost involved in that. So what is
the trade off there and how much how important is
(10:52):
financial advice and how much not so much? How much
would you be spending? But you know, how do you
weigh that against the cost?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Well, look, not all forms of advice cost. And you
think some people when it comes to advice, there's general advice,
which is often delivered at no extra cost to people,
either by their super fund or by by some other provider.
But when it comes to personal advice, there is often
a cost to that. I guess you know. The reply
to that is what's the cost of not getting advice?
You know, and I've already mentioned around the age pension.
(11:22):
If getting advice and it costing, you know, dollars X
actually can repay itself many times over in the form
of attracting greater benefits or enhancing your age pension, or
reducing your your tax liabilities, all those types of things
that I think, you know, advice will more often than
not very much pay for itself. And I think, you know,
we talk about retirees, you know, making the mistake of
(11:44):
not getting advice, I think it's really about not seeking
that clarity that advice can provide. You know, advice can
really shine a light on, you know, some of the
things that I've already mentioned, how much you need when
can you retire? And that can save people from having
working in jobs that they potentially don't want to work
another second for if they can help it, and if
they can afford to retire and take that opportunity and
(12:04):
that be proved to them using hard crunch numbers, then
I think they'll generally take that. We know that you know,
of the eighty percent of pre retirees who have taken
advice and guidance that might necessarily be paid advice, they're
far more confident and clear about when they can retire,
but not only when, but also if and how they
can retire as well. So retirement's already a big enough
(12:28):
transition as it is, you know, but to actually have
that clarity that advice can so often provide is so powerful.
And I've had a lot of people say to me
over the time when we've sat down and we've done
a plan, we've crunched the numbers, and we've told them, hey,
you know you're all good. You can go into your
boss's office on Monday morning and you can hand that
letter of resignation because we've been ruthless in our assessment
(12:52):
and we know that you can afford to retire, no
problem at all. And we've charged for that work, but
a lot of people said they would have paid many
more time times that, just for that reassurance and peace
of mind that they can actually achieve everything they want
to achieve and walk away from that job and walk
into perhaps a completely another career, or just retire full stop,
pick up a golf club and work on their handicap,
(13:13):
which is which is my plan one day.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Shan absolutely, Derek, thank you for talking to Fear and Greed.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
You're welcome. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
It was Derek Gascoyne, State Manager Advice at the UNI
super a great supporter of this podcast. I'm Sean Almer,
and this is fear and greed, Q and DA