Robert's Retirement Advisory

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia conducts research on retirees aged over 65 in terms of how much they spend. When I had a look at their most recent data, for a couple who are retired to live what they consider a "comfortable" retirement which includes travel/holidays have approximately $7,500 per year allocated for this.

It is important not to get caught up with what you see/hear from everyone else or different articles online because what you spend is individual to you.

For some retirees I advise - $7,500 per year is more than ample, other clients will look at the $7,500 per year figure and tell me that will just cover flights alone for international travel and will need a lot more.

The other thing to consider, retirement and plans aren't always a straight line, some retirees might just have a few trips that they would like to allocate for over say a five year period of $30,000 per year - then after that, the $7,500 per year figure might suffice.

For those that know me I don’t know much at all about footy… But when my cousin asked to give me the opportunity I was happy to be apart and sponsor his team Ingle Farm Football Club for the 2026 season!

If you are on a Centrelink payment such as the age pension, it is important to tell them about any changes in assets, i.e. acquiring / selling an asset or if an asset decreases or increases such as money in the bank that there are certain thresholds for.

This helps prevent them overpaying you and then you needing to pay them back.

Additionally, it can also increase your entitlement. For example if you are on a part-age pension payment and withdraw $20,000 from your bank account or an account-based pension to pay for a personal overseas holiday and no longer have the funds it is good to update them as soon as possible as your payment will likely increase due to the reduction in your assets.