How to manage your money
The financial aspects of retirement can be complicated. It’s worth learning as much as you can about how to manage your money and afford your retirement years.
On this page you’ll find a range of tips and links to help you take control of your finances and enjoy your retirement.
Make the most of your retirement income
When you’re retired, your income can come from many sources including:
- Your super
- Investments other than super
- Part-time employment
- The Age Pension
- Home equity release or selling the family home
To help you make the most of your income sources and understand how each source can impact the others, it could be worth getting professional advice to suit your situation.
Create a budget
Setting a budget for yourself will help you to track your spending, stay on top of your bills and work out how to afford the things you want.
MoneySmart has put together some simple steps to help you prepare and use a budget.
Choose an investment plan to match your goals
When you’ve retired, it’s always worth taking a careful look at your investment plan to make sure it’s in line with your goals. To find out which investment plan might suit you best, use our Selecting your investment plan tool and learn more about how to invest in retirement.
Review your investments
Over time, your goals may change, and you might want to review your investment plan to make sure it still meets your needs.
- If you have chosen to invest in two Readymade plans: Over time the amount of money in each investment plan will change as regular pension payments are paid. From time to time, you may wish to review the amounts in your investment plans and switch money between them.
- If you selected the Mix Your plan option: You can choose the order or the percentage of drawdown from each of the chosen asset classes 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 asset classes.
We balance our investments as a whole, but we don’t rebalance individual investment holdings in your account, so you might need to balance your plan from time to time. If you don’t have enough funds in the asset classes from which you’re drawing your pension, the remaining pension payment will be redistributed across your holdings in other asset classes.
Plan ahead
You might face changes that you have no control over, such as changes in global economic conditions, unexpected illness or a move to a new home.
While you can’t be certain of what the future will hold, you can make sure you have a plan in place. Create a flexible plan that includes a range of income sources so you can have more security in unexpected conditions.
Need help
- Call us on 13 43 72
Thank you for printing this page. Remember to come back to gesb.wa.gov.au for the latest information as our content is updated regularly. This information is correct as at 27 April 2024.