Retirement is one of life’s most significant transitions, but also one of the most complex to plan. The financial dimension alone involves superannuation strategy, Age Pension eligibility, debt management, investment allocation and estate planning.
However, retirement planning is equally about identity, purpose, relationships, and wellbeing. Miss one piece and the whole picture can feel incomplete.
This checklist brings together seven critical areas you need to address before stepping away from paid work. Whether you’re five years out or five months away, it is never too late to refine your retirement planning strategy. Working through each section will give you a clear, honest picture of where you stand and what still needs attention.
1. Set Your Timeline for Effective Retirement Planning
Before any numbers can be run, you need a clear picture of when and how you want to retire. Without a timeline, financial planning lacks direction and your super fund has no target to optimise toward.
- Decide on your target retirement date, even if you only have a rough range.
- Consider a phased retirement where you reduce work hours before stopping work entirely.
- Determine where you want to live, whether that’s in your current home, downsized, near family, in a regional area or a retirement village.
- Think about how you want to spend your time: travel, family, community involvement, hobbies, part-time consulting, etc.
- Identify any support you may wish to provide to children, grandchildren or ageing parents.
- Discuss plans openly with your partner as conflicting retirement visions are a leading source of post-retirement friction.
Pro Tip: Couples often have different retirement timelines. If there is an age gap or income disparity, joint retirement planning is essential to avoid unintended financial consequences for the lower-income partner.
2. Get Your Superannuation in Order
Superannuation is the cornerstone of retirement planning for most Australians, yet many people reach retirement without ever actively managing it. The closer you are to retiring, the more important it is to review and optimise what you have.
- Log into myGov and check your total super balance across all funds.
- Search for any lost or unclaimed super via the ATO’s online tool – there is currently $18.9 billion in lost super nationwide.
- Consolidate multiple funds into one to avoid paying duplicate fees and insurance premiums.
- Review your investment option: are you still in a growth option appropriate for your time horizon, or have you drifted into something too conservative?
- Make additional concessional contributions (pre-tax, up to $30,000 per year including the Super Guarantee) to boost your balance and reduce taxable income.
- Consider non-concessional contributions (after-tax, up to $120,000 per year) if you have capacity.
- Explore the downsizer contribution: if you are 55 or over and sell your primary residence, you may be able to contribute up to $300,000 ($600,000 per couple) into super from the proceeds.
- Maximise tax-effective benefits by considering a transition-to-retirement (TTR) strategy if you are past preservation age and still working.
- Understand when you can access your super: preservation age is 60 for anyone born after 30 June 1964, with full access on retirement.
3. Audit Your Finances for Smarter Retirement Planning
You cannot plan where you are going until you know exactly where you are. A complete financial audit of assets, liabilities, income and expenses is the starting point for every meaningful retirement planning conversation.
- List all assets: home equity, investment properties, share portfolios, term deposits, cash savings, business interests.
- List all debts: home loan balance and remaining term, personal loans, credit card balances, any loans to family members.
- Track your current monthly spending across categories: essentials, lifestyle and discretionary.
- Understand the tax treatment of each asset: returns from different sources are taxed very differently in retirement.
- Note any forthcoming windfalls or obligations: an inheritance, a business sale, a child’s wedding or a major renovation.
- Assess your investment portfolio: is it is aligned to your risk tolerance and time horizon?
4. Strengthen Your Financial Foundation
The years immediately before retirement are your last opportunity to build your balance, reduce liabilities and position your finances for the transition. Even modest changes in this window can yield outsized results for your retirement planning.
- Redirect any surplus cash flow into additional super contributions before you stop working.
- Prioritise paying off high-interest consumer debt, such as credit cards and personal loans, before retirement.
- Consider whether to pay down your mortgage before retiring or carry it into retirement and maintain income-producing investments.
- Review your investment allocations: as you near retirement, some de-risking is prudent, but do not shift to cash too early as you still need growth assets to fund a 25–35-year retirement.
- Understand the tax implications of your planned income mix in retirement: super pension drawdowns, investment income, rental income and part-time work are all taxed differently.
- Engage a licensed financial adviser to model your retirement income strategy, tax position and Age Pension eligibility.
- Explore salary sacrificing into super if you are still employed: it is one of the most effective and under-utilised pre-retirement strategies.
5. Include Healthcare & Insurance in Your Retirement Planning
Healthcare is one of the most under-planned aspects of retirement, and one of the most financially significant. Costs tend to increase gradually and then sharply as mobility reduces, making early planning essential.
- Review your private health insurance: does your current level of cover make sense in retirement? Consider whether hospital and extras cover should be adjusted.
- Understand what Medicare does and does not cover: many specialist appointments, dental, optical and hearing costs fall outside bulkbilling.
- Estimate your likely medication costs and factor in any known health conditions that may require ongoing management.
- Consider income protection insurance: if you are still working, check whether your cover extends adequately to your retirement date.
- Review life insurance and total and permanent disability (TPD) cover held inside super: these premiums erode your balance and may not be appropriate at your stage of life.
- Research aged care options early: residential aged care, home care packages and retirement villages all operate differently and have very different cost profiles.
- Consider your caring responsibilities: do you anticipate supporting an ageing parent or a family member with a disability?
- Schedule a thorough health check and address any preventable conditions now: good health in early retirement is itself a financial asset
6. Update Your Legal and Estate Planning
Comprehensive retirement planning extends well beyond financial assets; it also protects your legacy and family.
Estate planning is not something to leave to chance or to defer indefinitely. An outdated will, a missing Power of Attorney or an unfiled beneficiary nomination can have serious consequences for the people you care about most.
- Make or update your will to reflect your current wishes and family circumstances.
- Appoint an Enduring Power of Attorney (financial) to manage your assets and financial decisions if you lose capacity.
- Appoint an Enduring Guardian (or Medical Power of Attorney, depending on your state) to make health and lifestyle decisions on your behalf.
- Complete an Advance Care Directive to document your wishes regarding medical treatment.
- Update your super fund beneficiary nomination: superannuation does not automatically form part of your estate and must be nominated separately.
- Consider whether a binding or non-binding nomination is appropriate for your circumstances.
- Store all critical documents in a secure, accessible location and ensure your executor and trusted family members know where to find them.
- Review ownership structures of assets: joint tenancy vs tenants in common has very different estate planning implications
- Discuss your estate plans with your family if appropriate: unexpected decisions in a will can fracture relationships at a time of grief.
7. Plan Your Lifestyle and Emotional Transition
While the financial side of retirement planning often gets most of the attention, the emotional and lifestyle transition is equally important, and often the part that surprises people most. Loss of professional identity, social connection and daily structure can be significant challenges in early retirement.
- Map your anticipated income sources in retirement: super pension, Age Pension, investment income, rental income, part-time work, inheritance.
- Build a detailed retirement budget that distinguishes between essential spending, lifestyle spending and aspirational spending.
- Apply for the Age Pension if eligible (currently from age 67): even a part-pension can be worth thousands of dollars per year in both cash and concession card benefits.
- Investigate concession card benefits: the Seniors Health Card or Pensioner Concession Card can reduce costs on utilities, rates, transport and medications significantly.
- Explore how you want to stay connected: volunteer roles, social groups, sporting clubs, hobby communities, mentoring or part-time consulting.
- Think about your daily structure: the loss of routine is one of the most common early retirement challenges.
- Plan travel and bucket-list experiences while health and mobility allow: the early retirement years are often the most active.
- Consider speaking to a counsellor or retirement transition coach if you have concerns about your sense of purpose or identity post-work.
Taking Action with Your Retirement Planning Checklist
Retirement planning is an ongoing process that evolves as your health, relationships, financial markets and government policy all change around you. The most important thing you can do right now is start, wherever you are in the journey. If working through this checklist has surfaced questions you don’t know how to answer or revealed gaps you are not sure how to close, that is precisely what a licensed financial adviser is for. A good adviser will help you build a coherent, personalised plan that connects your money to the life you want to live.
This information is general in nature and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not intended as financial advice. Please speak with a licensed financial adviser before making any decisions about your superannuation.
