Age: 59
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 50
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 85,000
Annual gross income of spouse: Nil
Will return from career break in next couple of months worksharing; expect salary of about 23,000 based on 50% job sharing.
Household income varied in recent years from roughly 130k to 108k to 85k currently.
Monthly take-home pay: Currently 4,000; expect this should rise to 5,400 approx when spouse returns.
Type of employment: e.g. Public Servants
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Saving.
Rough estimate of value of home: 380,000.
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: Nil
What interest rate are you paying?
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc Nil
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Savings and investments: approx 500,000 in bank and credit union
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, both Defined Benefit
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: Nil
Life insurance: Nil
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We are looking for advice please about better use of our savings and also if we should be doing something to boost retirement benefits.
Savings
Savings are doing little for us currently and risk losing value over long term. We are reasonably good savers; however, we got money through an inheritance which accounts for a portion of our savings. Will be using them to supplement pension in future. I’m aware we’re not well diversified as all assets other than house is in cash. Risk appetite is lowish & lack knowledge on how to proceed regarding shares or funds.
Retirement (Me)
Retire Age 60 just under 40,000; lump sum of about 120,000
Retire age 63 (full service) 42,500; lump sum of about 127,000
Probably will retire before I am 63 – no firm view really yet.
Spouse
21 approx years’ service. If works till 60, will only have around 25 years approx.
May take another career break when I retire.
Retirement
Would plan to travel & spend a portion of the year living abroad. My pension would be a lot less than income in recent years. If anything happened to either of us, especially me, spouse’s pension income (50% of pension) would be low. Purchasing service looks to be very expensive for spouse.
Questions
Thanks for any suggestions, from a first-time poster.
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 50
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 85,000
Annual gross income of spouse: Nil
Will return from career break in next couple of months worksharing; expect salary of about 23,000 based on 50% job sharing.
Household income varied in recent years from roughly 130k to 108k to 85k currently.
Monthly take-home pay: Currently 4,000; expect this should rise to 5,400 approx when spouse returns.
Type of employment: e.g. Public Servants
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Saving.
Rough estimate of value of home: 380,000.
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: Nil
What interest rate are you paying?
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc Nil
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?
Savings and investments: approx 500,000 in bank and credit union
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes, both Defined Benefit
Do you own any investment or other property? No
Ages of children: Nil
Life insurance: Nil
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We are looking for advice please about better use of our savings and also if we should be doing something to boost retirement benefits.
Savings
Savings are doing little for us currently and risk losing value over long term. We are reasonably good savers; however, we got money through an inheritance which accounts for a portion of our savings. Will be using them to supplement pension in future. I’m aware we’re not well diversified as all assets other than house is in cash. Risk appetite is lowish & lack knowledge on how to proceed regarding shares or funds.
Retirement (Me)
Retire Age 60 just under 40,000; lump sum of about 120,000
Retire age 63 (full service) 42,500; lump sum of about 127,000
Probably will retire before I am 63 – no firm view really yet.
Spouse
21 approx years’ service. If works till 60, will only have around 25 years approx.
May take another career break when I retire.
Retirement
Would plan to travel & spend a portion of the year living abroad. My pension would be a lot less than income in recent years. If anything happened to either of us, especially me, spouse’s pension income (50% of pension) would be low. Purchasing service looks to be very expensive for spouse.
Questions
- We would welcome advice if we should be making better use of savings.
- Is it a good idea to use income/savings to boost income in retirement.
- Are AVCs a good idea for spouse immediately on return to work?
- Are they an option if somebody isn't working?
- Should I consider them; If I started AVCs and then worked until nearly 63 would they be of any benefit?
Thanks for any suggestions, from a first-time poster.