Put a plan in place

It's easy to put a plan in place for your retirement. Here are a few things you need to consider:

When will you retire?

Plan when you will retire. The Australian Government and RBF's governing rules will determine when and in what form you can be paid your benefit. This will give you an idea of how many years you have to focus on building your benefit.

Set goals

It's important to think about how much money you will need when you retire. You can then set goals to help you achieve this. The amount you will need will depend on your retirement lifestyle and how much financial freedom you want. The ASFA Retirement Standard is a good place to start. The Retirement Standard benchmarks the annual budget needed by Australians to fund either a comfortable or modest standard of living in the post-work years.

My retirement options

Finally, you need to think about the type of benefit options that will suit your retirement lifestyle.

You will need to take into consideration a number of issues to determine how much you will need as a lump sum and how much you will need as an RBF Life Pension (if eligible) to fund the retirement lifestyle you have chosen.

You will need to give thought to whether you will need to fund 'one-off' expenses such as a new car or a holiday. If you intend to include such items in your retirement plan then you will need access to a lump sum.