Should I move from a small fund to a major one?

My wife and I are currently about eight years away from retirement. We’ve never worked with a financial planner and are wondering whether now is the time. Our lives are pretty simple, each with a mainstream super fund, and our mortgage paid off. How much should we expect to pay to have a financial plan done, and is this to right time in our lives?

It was Albert Einstein who observed that compound interest was the 8th wonder of the world. Compounding is fundamental to wealth creation and financial security. The thing is, it takes time. That being the case, the sooner you can implement any tweaks or improvements to your financial arrangements, the more years these changes will have to bear fruit.

Eight years out from retirement would be a great time to begin working with a financial planner. Maximising your use of the superannuation system, thinking about investments outside superannuation and how they will contribute to your retirement goals, determining how much you can spend in retirement without running the risk of your money running out before you do, and no doubt plenty more.

The cost for an initial strategy will depend on the complexity of your current holdings, but you should expect to pay between about $4000 and $8000. Often you can pay for this from your super fund provided the advice relates entirely to retirement planning.

Once your plan is in place you should catch up with your planner once a year to make course corrections and respond to changes in the broader financial environment.