Investing in retirement
Investing in your retirement is different to investing while you are still working and adding to your super. Generally, once you retire, your goals change. You want a regular reliable income, which usually means you might want to take less risk when it comes to investing.
However, being retired doesn’t mean you can’t take risks. Choosing the most secure investment option, such as Cash, might not give you the growth you need over time to make sure your retirement savings last over your retirement period, which could be decades.
Your investment options
In our Retirement Income Pension you have similar investment options as you do in your super. This means you can invest in any combination of the investment options available.
If you are still working but cutting down work hours and have a Transition to Retirement Pension, your investment options are slightly different to if you are fully retired and have an RI Allocated Pension.
Ben is 62 years old and is fully retired. He used a life expectancy calculator which told him his life expectancy is 83, so his super probably needs to last for around another 21 years.
While he was still contributing to super, he had some money invested in Shares, so he is familiar with the markets going up and down.
Ben’s investment plans
In retirement, Ben has decided to be a little more conservative in his investments. He has put around three years’ worth of income payments into the Cash option and has invested the remainder in the Balanced option.
Ben still wants to achieve some growth with his money, but he wants to make sure that if the markets are not performing well, he does not need to touch the money in his Balanced option. All of Ben’s income payments are coming from his Cash option.
Everyone is different, and what is right for you might be quite different from what is right for Ben. It is important to consider your own circumstances and adjust your investment plan in line with how much risk you are willing to take.
To help you decide which investment option might suit your goals and needs, try our Investment choice tool.
Keep track of where your income payments are coming from
When you chose your investment option(s), you also chose which option(s) your regular income payments will be made from. If your income is coming more from one option over another, in time, the mix you selected will have changed.
The performance of your investments depends on the performance of the markets. For example, if you have 50% invested in Growth, and 50% invested in Cash, your balance will change over time.
During times of high volatility, Cash tends to perform better, and you might end up with 30% invested in Growth and 70% invested in Cash. On the flip side, during times that the stock markets are performing well, your Growth option will outperform your Cash option. The mix might then be 70% versus 30% in favour of the Growth option.
Review your investment mix and make changes when needed
It’s important to review your investments from time to time to make sure the mix you have still meets your needs.
You might need to balance your options from time to time, or you can choose to have these automatically rebalanced. If you don’t have enough funds in the options from which you’re drawing your pension, the remaining pension payment will be redistributed across your holdings in other options.
If you have multiple options
You can choose the order or the percentage of drawdown from each of the chosen options from which your pension is paid. If you want to maintain the percentage that you’ve selected, you’ll need to ensure you have sufficient funds invested in your selected options.
You can rebalance your investments in Member Online.
Keep in mind you’re investing for the long term
If you have set a plan at the start, it is worth sticking to that plan over the long term. Investing in an allocated pension is generally seen as a long-term investment – while not quite as lengthy as your working life, retirement often spans decades. However, this depends on where you’re at in your retirement, so it’s important to always consider your investment timeframe and goals.
While there is no fee to change your option, doing it too often may not deliver the best results for you.
Investing is a complex area and we recommend you seek financial advice when you need it.
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