Helping you to plan for a worry-free retirement

1 July 2024

Australians are living longer and healthier lives than ever before. The average life expectancy for Australian males is 81.2 years and for females its 85.3 years. If you'd like to retire at 65, you may need to prepare for 15 years in retirement, and even longer if you live beyond the national average.

There’s a lot to look forward to, but with such a long time in retirement, can you be sure that your super is going to last?

Brighter Super is here to help you retire with confidence. Our team of super specialists and financial advisers can help you create a plan for growing your super and achieving your goals. As a 100% member owned fund, we work hard to keep your fees low and deliver long-term performance.

No matter what stage of life you are at, it’s never too early to start preparing for retirement. And if you are worried about your retirement, Brighter Super is right by your side.

Here are some of the ways that Brighter Super can help you at different stages of life – whether you’re ready to retire, easing into retirement while you keep working, or you’re still not sure.

a. Ready to retire?

If you are ready to retire, opening a Brighter Super Pension account can provide you with a regular income in retirement.

Brighter Super can help you get started through the following services.

Retire Easy Pension

Brighter Super offers you an easy and convenient way to manage a Brighter Super Pension account.

It’s called Retire Easy Pension, and it uses pre-selected investment and payment options that have been created to give you a stable, regular income in the short term, and savings growth over the medium to long term.

• Your regular income is paid each month, automatically set to meet the government’s minimum pension payment requirements.
• Your savings will be automatically invested into short, medium, and long-term investment strategies that can keep your savings growing.
• Your investment and payment options are automatically rebalanced annually.

Retire Easy Pension uses a popular investment model called the bucket strategy. Your retirement savings are divided into three buckets according to when your money will be needed – now, soon and later.

• Short-term bucket – two years’ worth of pension payments is invested in our Cash option.
• Medium-term bucket – 50% of the remainder is invested in our Balanced option.
• Long-term bucket – 50% of the remainder is invested in our Growth option.

This investment approach has been designed to give you a regular income while growing your savings over the longer term, helping to mitigate the risk of your savings running out or not keeping up with inflation.

Find out more: Retire Easy Pension

Enjoy a more rewarding retirement

Brighter Super gives a dollar reward for eligible members who hold a Brighter Super Accumulation account or Transition to Retirement Pension account and open a Brighter Super Pension account.

It’s called the Retirement Reward, and it’s a portion of the tax we set aside when growth assets such as shares are sold. The Retirement Reward depends on a member’s transfer amount, and ranges from $1,600 for a $200,000 transfer to $15,200 for a $1.9m transfer.

When a Brighter Super member takes growth assets from their Accumulation or Transition to Retirement Pension account (which are taxed) into a Brighter Super Pension account (which is not taxed), no tax is paid when the assets are sold. This unpaid tax is then available to the member as a reward for retiring with us.

The different levels of Retirement Reward based on a member’s transfer amount are shown in the table below (2024/25 figures).

Please note there may be rare times when assets are not sold for a profit in which case no tax is payable, and no reward is available.

Find out more: Retirement Reward

How to open a Brighter Super Pension account

Before opening a Pension account, we recommend that you read the Pension Product Disclosure Statement. This includes details of the new Retire Easy Pension service described above.

If you decide a Brighter Super Pension account is right for you, you can complete our Pension application form (PO1), available at brightersuper.com.au/forms (listed under retirement).

We are in the final stage of creating a new, user-friendly online application form for the Pension account. It will be simpler and more convenient than the current printed form, and it will be available in Member Online soon.

b. Easing into retirement while you keep working?

If you are approaching retirement, we have an account that lets you start accessing some of your super while you are still working.

Brighter Super’s Transition to Retirement Pension account can help you ease gradually into retirement. Depending on your personal situation, there are three different ways that you can use this type of account:

• Top up your income as you work less or take a lower-paid position leading up to retirement.
• Continue working full-time and receive money from your super as additional income.

Take regular income from your super, and then redirect part of your salary back to super through salary sacrifice – depending on your salary level, this can be a tax-effective way of growing your super, if you stay under your contributions cap.

Retire Easy Pension (described above) is also available for the Transition to Retirement Pension account, giving you an easy way to manage your investment and payment options.

Find out more: Transition to Retirement Pension account

c. Not sure if you’re ready to retire?

No matter what stage of life you’re at, it’s never too early to start thinking about your future retirement. Brighter Super provides members with a range of education, support and advice service.

Webinars and seminars

Brighter Super’s team of 40 superannuation specialists run seminars for members at workplaces across Queensland. We also run a series of webinars using Zoom video conferencing which helps ensure that our education services are accessible to all members.

Our seminars and webinars cover a range of topics including investments, super basics, insurance, transitioning to retirement, beneficiaries, and retirement income streams.

Our aim is to make superannuation easy to understand. We explain the many ways to grow your super and plan for retirement, helping you to make informed decisions about your financial future.

We will be running our next Planning your Brighter Retirement seminar on 4 July 2024 at 6.00 pm in Townsville.

David 'Kochie' Koch, retirement advocate, will be presenting 'The value of help for your retirement'. Our team will also share strategies including: how much you may need to retire; how to calculate if your super is on track for your preferred retirement age; the different ways to grow your super; and how to put a plan in place to achieve your goals.

Register to attend

Read about upcoming seminars and webinars

Online education

Our Let’s Learn online education library includes modules on retirement basics, income streams, and transition to retirement.

We keep it jargon-free and easy to understand.

Find out more at Let's Learn.

Checking you are on track

To see whether you are on track to achieve your preferred level of retirement, you can use Brighter Super's retirement income calculator.

This calculator can help you estimate your superannuation balance and income for the age at which you choose to retire, adjusted for inflation. It can help you to plan how much to contribute, when to retire, the fees you pay, and how your superannuation will be invested.

You can also calculate your possible retirement income depending on other personal circumstances, including the amount and frequency of regular pension payments as well as any Government Age Pension you may be entitled to receive.

Retirement Health Check

A Retirement Health Check is a 30-45 minute appointment with one of our financial advisers over the phone or video call (Teams or Zoom), depending on your preference. The fee is $330 and can be paid for through your super account.

The adviser can tell you if you are on track to achieve your retirement income goal. They can also give you a general overview of the different ways to grow your super.

Book a Retirement Health Check.

Financial advice

If you are interested in a deeper analysis of your financial situation and future goals, you may want to seek financial advice.

If you already have a financial adviser, they can help you make informed decisions about your super.

If you do not have a financial adviser, Brighter Super’s in-house team of financial advisers is here to help you. Find out more about financial advice or call us on 1800 444 396 to discuss which type of advice would suit you best.