Managing your money

Handy tips for managing your money

• Create a budget and stick to it.
• Keep track of your investments by checking websites and newspapers and reading any information sent to you.
• Keep good records (important paperwork and emails)—it will save you stress later.
• Keep your eyes and ears open for warning signs—accounting problems, not living up to promises and published statements, clarifying or correcting information might signal you need to watch an investment a little more carefully.
• Meet with a trusted financial adviser once a year to review your financial situation and adjust any goals.
• If you are finding it hard to manage your finances or feel you are making bad choices you might like to consider nominating a trusted and reliable friend or family member as your power of attorney.
• Don’t make any major decisions without speaking with a financial adviser.
• Remember—if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Calculating your retirement income

If you are thinking about retiring or already enjoying your retirement, it’s important to create a budget and understand how much money you will have.

Calculate your expected income by taking into account your superannuation as well as any income from investments and any pensions you receive from the Australian Government, overseas governments or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Managing your investments

It’s easy to invest and forget but an important part of protecting your finances is taking the time to look at your investments and ask questions. You should review your financial plan each year by meeting with a financial adviser or talking with the people who look after your money such as your bank or fund manager.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has a number of tools, which can help you make smart choices about your personal finances.

View calculators and tools.

MoneySmart can help you stay informed when it comes to tracking your investments and coping with change. It also provides helpful advice on how to identify superannuation scams and bad-value investments.

Finding lost super

The Australian Taxation Office SuperSeeker tool can help you find any lost or unclaimed superannuation. SuperSeeker can also help you to lodge a request to have any funds that you do find transferred into another super account.

To conduct a search you will need your:

• Tax File Number (TFN)
• family and given names
• date of birth.