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
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:
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.