Typically your forties is a time of established careers, teenage kids and a mortgage that is no longer daunting. There are still plenty of demands on the budget, but by this age there’s a good chance there’s some spare cash that can be put to good use. As you pass the halfway mark of your working life, it’s time to give retirement planning a bit more attention. How much? A 45-year-old today will reach ‘retirement age’ in 22 years. Taking inflation into account a couple will, by then, need an income of around $113,000 per year if they want to enjoy a ‘comfortable’ retirement.[i] With the government expecting us to be self-sufficient in our old age, the nest egg required to fund that lifestyle could be close to $2 million[ii]. So, what can you do to have $2 million waiting for you in two short decades’ time? A beneficial salary sacrifice At this age, a popular strategy for boosting retirement savings is ‘salary sacrifice’ in which you take a cut in take-home pay in exchange for additional pre-tax contributions to your super fund. If you are self-employed, you can increase your tax-deductible contributions, within the concessional limit, to gain the … Continue reading Super in your 40’s – Time to get focused