If you’re in your 50s or getting close, it’s easy to feel like you still have time to sort out your retirement. But when you really start thinking about how to plan for retirement, many Australians realise that assumption doesn’t quite hold up.
Recent national research from ASIC shows that nearly 48% of Australians aged 50 to 66 are worried they’ll run out of money in retirement. Around one in three feel they’re already behind, and only 18% actually have a clear plan in place.
So, if you’ve been thinking, “I’ll get to it soon” you’re not alone. But this is the stage where putting things off can start to have real consequences.
The reality is most people in their 50s have done a lot right. You’ve built assets, contributed to your super, invested in property. But what often gets overlooked isn’t effort, it’s a clear plan.
Because a comfortable retirement doesn’t just happen. It comes together when everything you’ve built is aligned, working together with a clear plan behind it.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the key steps in a simple, practical way, so you can understand what to focus on now and start building a plan that actually works for you.
Step 1: What You Want Retirement to Look Like
Before you get into numbers, you need a clear direction.
Retirement isn’t just about having enough money; it’s about making sure your money supports the life you actually want to live. And if that part isn’t clear, everything that follows tends to feel uncertain or disconnected.
Take a moment to think about what your retirement might look like in a real, practical sense.
- Where will you live?
Will you stay in your current home, downsizing or relocating. - How will you spend your time week to week?
Will your days involve travel, time with family, hobbies, or a slower pace of life. - When do you want to retire?
Decide your target retirement age (e.g., 55, 60, 63, 65, or later)
- Do you see yourself still working in some capacity?
Some people retire all at once, while others prefer to cut back gradually. - What kind of lifestyle do you want to maintain or improve?
Dining out, holidays, helping family
This is more important than most people expect. Because, when you don’t have a clear picture, your financial decisions turn into guesswork. You might aim for a certain number, but without knowing what that number needs to support, it’s hard to tell if you’re on track or what needs to change.
Think about it this way.
Two people can retire with the same level of savings. But one might want to keep a larger home, travel regularly, and maintain a more active, higher-cost lifestyle. The other might choose to downsize, stay local more often, and keep things simpler.
Even though their savings are the same, their lifestyle in retirement won’t be. The person with higher lifestyle expectations may start to feel financial pressure, while the other feels comfortable and in control. And that doesn’t mean you need to lower your expectations or aim for less. It just shows how important it is to be clear on what you want because it’s not just about how much money you have, it’s about how well it supports the life you’re trying to live.
You don’t need a perfect plan at this stage. But you do need a clear enough direction so that every financial decision you make from here whether it’s contributing to super, investing, or managing property is aligned with where you actually want to end up.
Step 2: Work Out How Much You’ll Need to Retire
Once you’re clear on what you want your retirement to look like, the next step is to put some numbers around it.
This is where you start asking: what will it actually cost to live the way I want?
A helpful starting point is to look at benchmarks like the ASFA Retirement Standard, which gives an idea of what’s considered a modest or comfortable lifestyle in Australia. It’s a useful guide but it shouldn’t define your plan. Because retirement is personal.
What you need will depend on your lifestyle, your goals, and how you want to spend your time. So rather than relying on general figures, the goal is to work out your number.
That means factoring in things like:
- Your retirement goals and lifestyle
- When you plan to retire
- Your current super balance and future contributions
- Any investments or property you hold
- Whether you may be eligible for the Age Pension
- How your assets are structured
It’s also important to think ahead.
Your plan should allow for changes over time things like inflation, market movements, and unexpected expenses can all affect how long your money lasts.
Getting this number right isn’t about being exact from day one. It’s about having a clear and realistic estimate that gives you direction.
Because once you understand what you’re working toward, it becomes much easier to make decisions with confidence and adjust your plan as you go.
There is a lot to this part to be fair, and it may be a reason you could consider engaging with a financial advisor to help you.
Step 3: Understand Where You Stand Today
The next step is to understand where you are right now. Start by bringing everything together in one place:
- Your super balance (across all accounts)
- Investments (shares, ETFs, managed funds)
- Property (home and/or investment)
- Savings and cash
- Any outstanding debts
But don’t just look at what things are worth. Look at how they actually function.
- Which assets are growing?
- Which ones generate income?
- Which ones are costing you money?
This is where a lot of people have a bit of a reset moment. Because once everything is laid out clearly, you can start to see what’s working and what might need adjusting.
You may find you’re closer than you thought. Or you might realise that a few changes now could make a meaningful difference over the next 10–15 years.
Step 4: Make the Most of Your Super
Your super will play a central role in your retirement. At this stage, it becomes important to be more intentional with how it’s set up and managed.
Start by looking at how your super is invested. As you move closer to retirement, the focus should shift toward finding the right balance between growth and stability, so your money continues to grow, but without taking on unnecessary risk.
It’s also worth reviewing:
- Whether you have multiple super accounts that could be consolidated
- If you have an SMSF, whether it still suits your needs and adds value
- The fees you’re paying and whether they’re reasonable
- Whether your current contributions are enough to support your goals
- If you’re making the most of contribution strategies available to you
- Whether you’re aware of key limits, such as the transfer balance cap (Increased to $2.1 million from 1 July)
But just as importantly, start thinking about how your super will actually be used.
At some point, it stops being a balance you’re building and becomes an income stream you’ll rely on.
To show how much of a difference this can make, here’s a real example from a couple we worked with – Lucy and Matt.
They had built a solid financial base over time, but their super was spread across multiple funds and wasn’t being used strategically. After reviewing their situation, we consolidated their super, refined their investment approach, and implemented contribution strategies to strengthen their position.
The key difference came when we compared where they were heading versus where they could be with a more structured plan. As shown in the graph, our projections indicate their retirement position could reach around $1,300,000 by 2026 with our advice around $150,000 better off.
As you can see, even without starting from scratch, a more intentional approach to super can significantly improve your retirement outcome over time.
It’s a good reminder that super isn’t just about how much you have. it’s about how well it’s set up to support your future.
If you’d like to read the full case study, you can read it here
Step 5: Get More Strategic with Your Cash Flow
How you manage your money also plays a key role in how your retirement turns out.
By your 50s, you’re often in your strongest earning years. And even small decisions around your cash flow can make a meaningful difference over time.
Most people tend to default to one approach, usually paying down debt.
While that can feel safe, it’s not always the most effective strategy on its own.
Instead, take a more balanced view. Look at how your surplus income is being used:
- How much is going toward debt reduction?
- How much is being invested?
- How much is going into super?
Every dollar has a role to play. The goal isn’t to do more, it’s to be more deliberate with what you already have. Because over the next years, those decisions will compound.
Step 6: Review Your Investment Approach
As retirement gets closer, your investment strategy needs to evolve. You still need growth to keep up with inflation. But you also need stability, especially as you get closer to relying on your investments for income.
This is where balance becomes important. Some of your investments may continue to focus on long-term growth. Others may need to be more defensive or accessible.
It’s also worth looking at whether your current investments are overly complex or overlapping. Over time, many portfolios become a mix of different investments that may overlap or no longer serve a clear purpose. This can make things harder to manage and may not improve your overall outcome.
Taking a step back and simplifying where possible so each investment has a clear role can often improve both clarity and performance.
The goal isn’t to make constant changes, but to ensure your investments are aligned with where you are now and where you’re heading.
Step 7: Look at Property with a Retirement Lens
Property is often a significant part of your wealth but as you approach retirement, it’s important to look at it differently.
It’s no longer just about how much your property is worth. It’s about how that value actually supports your lifestyle.
Ask yourself:
- Is this property generating consistent income, or is most of the value tied up in equity?
- Will you eventually need to sell, downsize, or restructure to access that value?
- How manageable is the property in terms of costs, maintenance, and effort over time?
- Does holding onto it support your lifestyle or limit your options?
- If you were to sell, what would the tax impact be? (If you’d like to explore this further, you can read our latest blog on tax when selling an investment property)
This is where a lot of people get caught. You can have a high-value property portfolio on paper but still feel restricted in retirement if it’s not producing income or is difficult to access.
The key is to make these decisions intentionally rather than leaving them until they become necessary.
Because in retirement, what matters most isn’t just what your assets are worth, it’s how easily they can support the life you want to live.
When you have two or more investment properties, take a look at our property wind down checklist, to help identify the order you should consider selling your investment property portfolio.
Step 8: Plan for Tax and Timing
As you get closer to retirement, tax becomes something you need to plan for not just be aware of.
The way your money is structured, when you sell assets, and how you draw income can all affect how much you keep.
Here are a few key areas where tax plays a role:
- Super and when it becomes tax-free
Super is highly tax-effective but only if it’s set up correctly. Earnings inside super are generally taxed up to 15% while in accumulation phase but once moved into a retirement (pension) phase, those earnings can become tax-free. - How your retirement income is structured
Not all income is treated the same. Income from super can be tax-free once structured correctly, while income from investments like interest or dividends may still be taxed. Planning where your income comes from can help you manage this more effectively. - CGT when selling investments
CGT is the main tax you’ll pay when selling investments like shares or property, and it can vary depending on when you sell, how the asset is owned, and your income at the time. - Contribution strategies while you’re still working
There’s also an opportunity to be tax-smart while you’re still earning. Contributing to super through concessional contributions can reduce your taxable income, as these are generally taxed at 15%, which is often lower than personal tax rates.
The key takeaway here is tax isn’t something to leave until later. It’s something worth thinking about now, while you still have time to make better decisions.
Because in retirement, it’s not just about how much you have, it’s about how much of it you actually get to keep, and how long it continues to support your lifestyle.
Step 9: Have a Clear Debt Strategy
As retirement gets closer, reducing financial pressure becomes just as important as building wealth.
If you still have outstanding debt, having a clear plan around it can make a big difference.
That doesn’t necessarily mean eliminating everything immediately, but it does mean understanding how your debt fits into your broader strategy.
The less strain your income needs to carry in retirement, the more flexibility you’ll have in how you live.
To give you a real example, we worked with a couple in their 50s, who had built strong wealth across property, shares, and super, but were considering taking on more debt by purchasing an additional property while holding onto their existing home.
While they had the capacity to do this, our modelling showed they didn’t need to take on that extra risk to achieve their retirement goals. Holding both properties would have increased their exposure to one area and resulted in additional non-deductible debt heading into retirement.
By stepping back and taking a more strategic approach, we recommended simplifying their structure and avoiding unnecessary debt. This allowed them to move into retirement without carrying debt while still improving their long-term position by around $781,000 by age 90.
It’s a good reminder that more assets or more borrowing doesn’t always lead to a better outcome especially as you approach retirement.
Step 10: Regularly Review Your Retirement Plan
Life changes, and so will your finances. Your income, expenses, and priorities may shift. Markets go up and down, rules change, and what felt right a few years ago might not suit where you are now or where you’ll be in the next few years.
For example, you might decide to buy an investment property, help your children financially, change jobs, or adjust your retirement timing. At the same time, unexpected life events like a divorce or the loss of a partner can also arise. Each of these can have a flow-on effect on your cash flow, investments, super, and overall plan.
That’s why it helps to check in on your plan from time to time.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. A simple review can help you see if you’re still on track, make a few adjustments, and keep everything aligned with your goals.
How Yield Retirement Advisors Can Help You?
Retirement planning isn’t always straightforward. While the steps may seem simple, how they apply to your situation can vary a lot and that’s where the right advice can make a real difference.
Your super, investments, property, tax, and cash flow all need to align with your goals and the lifestyle you’re working towards. That’s where we can help.
At Yield, our retirement advisors work closely with individuals, families, business owners in their 50s and beyond to create clear, tailored retirement plans. We take the time to understand your situation, simplify the complexity, and guide you through the decisions that matter, so you can move forward with more clarity and confidence.
If you’re starting to think more seriously about how to plan for retirement, contact us today to book your free initial consultation with an advisor. From there, we’ll take the time to understand your situation and guide you through the next steps at a pace that feels comfortable for you.
