How to invest your super in retirement
With so much of our working lives focused on building up our super, it can be a surprise to get to retirement and realise there’s more you can do with your balance than simply spend it.
Unless you withdraw your balance and bury it in the backyard, your super will be invested in some way.
Depending on how it’s invested, your super can continue to grow significantly after retirement – up to 60 per cent of a member’s wealth is earned through investment during retirement1.
Of course, investing your super in retirement isn’t exactly the same as investing it while you’re working. Here are a few things to consider:
1Russell Investments: ‘The 10/30/60 Rule’, January, 2015
Your time horizon
Just as you would when investing your super during your working life, one of the most important things to consider is your time horizon, or how long you expect to keep your money invested.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, men aged 65 in 2015-17 have a life expectancy of almost 85, while women aged 65 have a life expectancy of 87.
So while many of us may think of the day we retire as the day we reach the end of our investment time horizon, it’s important to remember that you may still have 20 to 30 years to invest in retirement.
Each of our investment options is specifically created with a different return objective and suggested investment timeframe in mind, to appeal to investors with different attitudes to risk and time to spend in the market.
Where you’re investing your super
There are two ways you can invest your super in retirement with Qantas Super: you can either keep your balance in its regular super account or transfer it to an income account as a retirement member.
The account you choose can impact the way you’re able to invest your super:
In your super account
If you keep your balance in your regular super account, you can invest it in the same range of tailored investment options you’re already familiar with.
However, your investment earnings will be taxed in this type of account.
In an income account
An income account offers the same range of options you’re familiar with from your super account. If you prefer to take control, you can choose to invest in one or a mix of these options.
If you’d prefer to sit back and let your account do the heavy lifting, you can invest through an option called Autopilot. This will see 15% of your initial investment put in our Cash option, and 85% into our automated investment strategy, Glidepath.
How Glidepath works
Glidepath adjusts where your super is invested according to your year of birth.
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Best of all, you won’t pay tax on your investment earnings as a retirement member.
Your drawdown strategy
It may sound counterintuitive, but another key thing to consider when developing your investment strategy is your drawdown strategy, or how you’ll be withdrawing your super.
This is because, whether you invest your super in a regular super account or transfer it to an income account, you’ll be able to choose which options you want your payments to come from.
For example, if you invest 50% of your balance in the Cash option, 30% in Balanced, and 20% in Growth, you can dictate how much of your payment you want to come from a particular option. You may choose to have your payments come from your balance in Cash, or split equally across the three options, or otherwise divided to suit your needs.
If you choose to invest via the Autopilot option in your income account as a retirement member, you’ll receive fortnightly income payments of 6% of your opening balance, with these payments drawn from your investment in the cash option.
So when thinking about where your payments will be coming from, it’s important to keep in mind how the rest of your super will stay invested in the meantime.
Other info you might be interested in
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How to boost your balance in retirement
The super system is designed to help Australians easily save for retirement during their working lives. But did you know there are still a couple of ways to boost your balance in retirement?
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How to set up your retirement budget
You’re probably no stranger to a budget, but there are a few new things to consider as you work out how much to spend in retirement.
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How does the Age Pension work with super?
If you’re retired and receiving an income from your super, you might also be able to receive the age pension to help supplement your income.
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What's the difference between a super account and income account?
If you choose to keep your nest egg in the super environment, you can either keep it in your regular super account or transfer it to an income account as a retirement member.
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We're here to help
If you want to learn more or need help with making a decision about your super, you can chat to a Super Adviser. It’s included as a part of your membership so there’s no extra cost.
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Our investment performance
You can check what your investment options have returned for a specific period, as well as how we’ve performed against the objectives we’ve set for each investment option.