How we helped Michael & Helen
Michael is age 60 and is the founder and 50% shareholder of a Gold Coast-based advertising company, while Helen, aged 55, is the administration manager of the advertising company and owns 50% of Michael's shares in the business.
They are in good health and enjoy an active lifestyle that is focused on their children and grandchildren. Financial security is important and they “hope that we have enough assets to maintain our lifestyle in retirement”.
They reside at Mermaid Beach and have three investment properties and a commercial office.
Michael would like to retire in five years at age 65. Their goal is to pay out all debt and have enough assets producing income to meet their basic living needs of approximately $23,500 per month.
Michael really loved his boat, after some consultation he comes to the conclusion that he needs to sell his boat at retirement as the running costs will absorb much of their cash flow should he keep it. They expect by retirement to live off their rent from the commercial office, rent from their investment properties, and drawdowns on their superannuation.
They are thinking at retirement of selling their home in the Gold Coast and using the proceeds to pay out the mortgages. They will then move into their Coolangatta apartment, which has amazing views of Gold Coast Skyline.
First projected Michael and Helen’s assets out over the next five years should they continue on their current path. We estimated that once they had sold their Gold Coast home, sold their equity in the business, and used the proceeds to pay down their mortgages, that their net assets should be as follows:
Projected assets
At retirement their main income-producing assets will be the Broad Beach office, the Noosa unit and their superannuation. We anticipate that under Michael and Helen’s current retirement plan their cash flow should be as follows:
Projected Cash Flow
Our Solution
Despite accumulating significant assets by their retirement in five and half years, they will not produce the income that they require to maintain their current standard of living. We have indexed this cost to reflect the real cost of living.
In fact, we anticipate that they will have a significant shortfall of approximately $6,850.16 per month that will only worsen as the years progress.
We prepared a Retirement Roadmap that provided seven-step strategic advice for them to implement over the next five and a half years. The advice focused on paying down debt and various superannuation boosting strategies including a small retirement concession saving $320,086 in tax.
With the same asset growth and return assumptions, through our strategic advice we project that they should accumulate $10.755 million in unencumbered assets as follows:
Enhanced Assets
With their enhanced strategy, their superannuation should accumulate to $2.89 million at retirement. Despite drawing down more than $130,000 p.a in the first five years of retirement, with an additional funds contributed from their bank accounts and various strategies, they should still have a balance of more than $3.349 million in superannuation when Helen reaches age 65.
By following our strategic advice over the next five years, we estimate that their cash flow will be enhanced as follows:
The Value of Advice
Their superannuation pensions will be tax free, Michael does not need to sell his boat until he is ready. By utilising a combination of the Retirement concessions, and contribution opportunities we were available to maximise their contribution to boost their superannuation to almost 3.2 million tax free threshold.
By following our strategic advice, Michael and Helen should have a monthly income stream of $30,605.75 to provide for their basic living needs and Lachlan’s boat.
Michael and Helen are relieved that they will be able to maintain their existing lifestyle throughout their retirement. Michael is also very happy that he will be able to continue to afford to enjoy his boat for many years to come.
Retiring with the right structure is curial for a successful retirement, it can have meaningful impact how you live your life and the legacy you leave the next generation. in our next blog we'll show you how we helped Michael and Helen prepare to leave a lasting legacy.
Contact our concierge and make an appointment today. Call us on 1300 13 59 53 or click the link.
