About five years ago now, when the GFC was in full swing, my business took a dramatic downturn and my income went south dramatically. On the suggestion of my Crosby Dalwood accountant, my wife and I went to see Helga Baxter to see if I could release some of what I thought was “unpreserved super” to supplement my income. I was nearly 60 years of age and under the mistaken belief that I had to wait until 65 years of age before retiring and accessing my super.
Helga reviewed our income, expenses, investments and lifestyle, and then dropped the bombshell. “Why don’t you retire now? You will have adequate income from a properly managed superannuation fund if you consolidate your property, super, shares, and cash into one. You have enough.” She went through the proposal and we went home with our heads spinning.
At 2.00 a.m. realising my better half was still awake, like me, going over the details in our minds, we got up, made a cup of tea, and said “why not!”. It took some time to organise things, including closing the business, selling property, and getting a self-managed super fund organised.
Now my income comes in every month, and without the expenses of the business, we are much better off than we were before. We are not relying on others to pay us on time. Our lifestyle, though frugal, has never been better.
Sure the financial advice and management comes at a cost, but then you get the experts in to do the jobs you can’t do yourself at home, don’t you? There were costs and fees in the old super fund anyway. All the strategy, keeping up with rules, paperwork and administration of our fund are taken care of by Helga, her team, and our accountant at Crosby Dalwood. All of the investments including shares within the SMSF are in the name of our fund, not a third party. That’s peace of mind and knowing it’s all done properly. Easy! Life’s good.