For retirees, satisfying your income needs today remains a top priority. But equally as important are your income needs for the future.
In times of investment market instability, as we’re currently experiencing due to the impact of Coronavirus on global share markets, it’s easy to lose sight of this.
In this article, we’ll address some areas to keep in mind when your retirement savings are being affected by heightened volatility in share markets.
Review your investment strategy
In uncertain times like this, it’s critical to remind yourself what your retirement investment strategy was originally set up for.
This means being clear about the type of investments that make up your strategy, and how they are expected to perform over the long term.
It’s also important to think about your strategy from a factual perspective, instead of reacting with emotion — particularly in response to short-term market volatility — as it may prevent you deviating from your goals.
Growing your savings
If your plan has been to grow your retirement savings to keep up with the rising cost of living, you may have opted for investments that offer good growth potential over long periods of time—such as shares or property.
As a result, your portfolio is more likely to be experiencing greater volatility due to the impact of Coronavirus on share markets.
Generating a stable income
Alternatively, you may have chosen to structure your strategy to generate a stable income and therefore opted for a more conservative investment approach. In this case, you’re less likely to be experiencing significant volatility in your portfolio.
Separating growth-focused and stability-focused investments
A popular strategy for retirees is to ‘bucket’ short-term income needs in more stable investments, separate from future income needs which are invested in more growth-focused assets. That way, in times of market instability, the longer-term, growth-focused investments can be left untouched to give them time to benefit from any market rebound. Sometimes it can take many years before investments return to previous highs.
Be aware of your risk tolerance
It’s always important to consider how you feel about risk and market volatility.
Risk tolerance depends on how you feel about taking risk and your ability to do so, such as whether you are financially able to wear any falls so you can stick to your long-term strategy to give it time to recover.
By understanding your risk tolerance, you’ll be better able to make decisions about the structure of your investment portfolio in a way that aligns to you personally.
During periods of investment market instability, how much exposure you choose to have invested in different asset classes may change depending on your level of risk tolerance.
Consider diversification to reduce fluctuations
Diversification helps to insulate your portfolio from significant share market movements because it reduces fluctuations in your portfolio.
It follows the concept of not putting all your eggs in one basket by spreading your money across many asset classes, countries, industries and even investment managers.
The advantage of this is that often, when one area of your portfolio is weak and falling, another may be rising. So, if you have money invested across many areas, changes in their values tend to balance each other out.
Consider reducing your pension payments
One way to help reduce the impact of share market volatility on your savings, if you’re accessing it as an income stream, is to adjust your periodic withdrawal amount.
From 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2022, the minimum pension amount has been halved for people of all ages. This means if you’re under 65, you’re only required to receive income payments of 2% rather than 4% of your account balance in a year. For people aged 65-74, it’s now 2.5% as opposed to 5%.
If your pension payments are at least equal to this reduced amount, you can ask your pension provider to reduce or stop any further pension payments for the rest of the financial year.
Seek support from a professional
We can provide you with a better understanding about the risks and rewards of investing and how you can manage risk in your retirement savings. Speak to us today on Phone 02 9279 2001.
Source: MLC
Important information and disclaimer
This article has been prepared by NULIS Nominees (Australia) Limited ABN 80 008 515 633 AFSL 236465 (NULIS) as trustee of the MLC Super Fund ABN 70 732 426 024. The information in this article is current as at August 2021 and may be subject to change. The information in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions based on this information. You should not rely on this article to determine your personal tax obligations. Please consult a registered tax agent for this purpose. In some cases information has been provided to us by third parties and while that information is believed to be accurate and reliable, its accuracy is not guaranteed in any way. Subject to terms implied by law and which cannot be excluded, neither NULIS nor any member of the IOOF Group accept responsibility for any loss or liability incurred by you in respect of any error, omission or misrepresentation in the information in this communication. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. The value of an investment may rise or fall with the changes in the market.