IF THERE’S ONE THING that the banking Royal Commission into Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has shown us, it’s that we have to take more control.
We can’t trust the big corporations to have our best interests at heart.
Heck… the recent shenanigans show that we can’t really trust they won’t break into our houses under the cover of darkness and steal the family heirlooms!
Apparently 90% of financial advisers who provide advice to self-managed super funds have failed to comply with the best interests of their clients.
So, now that we’ve found out that most of the big banks seem to be greed-obsessed, backwards-leaning, pockets-lining, unabashed destroyers of trust… what does this mean to you personally?
Well… it means you’d better be even more determined to develop and control your nest-egg YOURSELF.
It means that you, personally, need to get the skills and method to look after your own financial future.
And if you’re the type of person who needs a blankie and a hug like Linus, you’d better toughen up.
- A recent survey, conducted last month by The West Australian revealed that there’s a massive gap between how much money seniors believed they needed to sustain their lifestyles, and what they actually have.
- Only 6 per cent feel well prepared for retirement, while 22 per cent do not feel prepared at all.
- They expect to need a super balance at retirement of more than $700,000 to maintain their desired lifestyle.
- This is far more than the average balances of $271,000 for men and $157,000 for women.
- More than 40 per cent of the pre-retirees aged over 55 have no plan for funding their retirement.
- One-quarter of those with no plan will not address it until they retire.
- Two-thirds of pre-retirees expect to rely on the age pension.
The bad news is the average total superannuation balance of a couple — $428,000 — is short of what is required to be comfortable.
People, on average, don’t start seriously thinking about retirement until they are 49 years old (possibly as a part of the rich tapestry known as a mid-life crisis). 78% expect the Government will look after them if things get bad enough.
Basically… people expect a lifetime of damage will be undone in around 12 weeks of effort. They ignore the impact of compounding, and taking control.
So… now that you know the facts… what are you going to do about it?
