Case Studies

James and Jenny

Retirement Planning

James is a lawyer who would like to wind down his private practice in a few years. His spouse, Jenny, is also a lawyer working for a State Government authority and would like to retire about the same time. Between them they have five different superannuation accounts, two of which are receiving contributions. James makes personal contributions to super and Jenny receives compulsory employer contributions. James is also about to receive an inheritance from his late mother’s estate. James and Jenny wanted answers to two main questions – firstly, what do they need to do in the lead up to their retirement and secondly, do they have enough capital built up to fund their desired lifestyle in retirement?

The solutions for James and Jenny included:

• Maximising their concessional contributions in the lead-up to retirement
• Gradually contributing most of James’ inheritance to super over the next few years within permitted limits
• Consolidating their super into a self-managed superannuation fund as the benefits outweighed other super options
• Invest their super into a portfolio that was in line with their risk profile
• Commencing pensions in retirement to fund living expenses.

Our projections, using reasonable estimates, showed that if they followed the advice, they would have funds to meet their desired lifestyle until normal life expectancy.