Key Points
- A single person’s annual budget should be $43,787, and a couple’s annual budget should be $61,786 to cover food and utility bills during retirement.
- Because aged care is expensive, the government subsidises the costs, but you will still need to pay some of the costs – based on your assessed level of affordability.
The Cost of Retirement
The common question when it comes to retirement is ‘how much is enough?’.
Estimating your future living expenses can be difficult. Your lifestyle and behaviors may change as you approach retirement, affecting your finances. If only the answer was simple! But the fact is that the answer varies due to a range of factors, including your lifestyle aspirations, personal health and family commitments. But regardless of how much you have put aside, there’s a significant potential cost in retirement that is often not considered, and if ignored, it can undermine our plans – aged care.
According to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), single adults aged 65 would need $545,000 in retirement savings, while couples will need $640,000, based on September 2019 quarterly numbers. That means a single person’s annual budget should be $43,787, and a couple’s annual budget should be $61,786 to cover food and utility bills, as well as health, communication, clothing, travel, and household products.
None of us wants to imagine a time when we are no longer able to look after ourselves without assistance. But the reality is that around one-quarter of our retirement may be ‘frailty years’, where help is needed with the activities of daily living. Planning ahead for this time allows you to maintain greater control of your life, so that your choices – for example, home care versus residential care – can be respected. But it all costs money.
While lifestyle spending does tend to reduce as we progress through retirement, expenses can ramp up again during the “frailty” years – on average, the last three to five years of life, generally after age 80. It is during this phase that we are likely to have some form of disability caused by ageing which causes a general decline in independence. And we may become more reliant on others.
Increasing longevity and expectations around the quality of care are also putting greater pressure on income needs in the later phase of retirement.
Because aged care is expensive, the government subsidises the costs, but you will still need to pay some of the costs – based on your assessed level of affordability. Access to capital or income at this time may allow you to have greater choices and control over the quality of your care, which is why planning for the cost of future care is critical to include in your retirement planning, and long before a crisis arises.
Having a financial plan in place that clearly captures your goals, preferences and financial strategies, is a great way to keep on track throughout all phases of retirement. Take some of the worry out of future planning. Calculate how much super you’ll have when you retire and whether it’ll be enough to support your desired lifestyle. It’s never too early to begin making plans for a brighter financial future.
If you want to review your retirement plans and discuss how to start planning for your frailty years, make an appointment with us today, to learn more about how we can help you to maintain greater control and independence as you age.
[1] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare – Selected health expectancies at age 65 by sex, 2015
Related Posts
Get in Touch
Got a question…? Looking for help…? Message us!