Never waste a good crisis
Winston Churchill's quote of “…never waste a good crisis” provides a clue as to what Abraham Maslow can provide to us and what we are expiriencing now in our everyday actions and conversations.
Basically, COVID-19 has collapsed Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Right now, we're careless about our desires to travel the world, plan for our retirements, or upgrade our homes.That’s all been replaced.
Our motivations are now centered on the basics of life: about our food supplies, access to toilet paper, paying our bills, keeping our jobs and businesses open, living with restrictions never seen and the health of those important to us.
Using Maslow’s frameworks, irrespective of our LifeStage we’re all experiencing a crisis in our fundamental needs. And our crisis is unique to each of us.
Now's not the time for panic - in life or with our investments - so whilst we understand you may well be feeling uncomfortable it’s important to take the longer term view. To quote Warren Buffett "be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy only when others are fearful".
Young Independant & Professionals
Your life is probably pretty full right now. You'll be kicking off a career, renting your first property and enjoying an active social life.
From an investment perspective, Market Volatility can be your friend as your investment horizon is likely to be longer term and any initial investment now will benefit when markets eventually rebound.
Now's a good time to take control of your super by making sure you take advantage of the features and benefits your fund provides, like insurance and whilst retirement might be the last thing on your mind - after all it's over 30 years away understand where your money is invested.
One of the most important things to look at when choosing a super fund is the investment options available. After all, how you money is invested will determine how quickly your super grows.
Young Families
With a young family, we know your time is precious and generally divided between work, the kids and managing your home. Thinking about your super and other investments is usually the last thing on your mind. But maybe now your super is one of the most important investments for you and your family, and isn't just a "set and forget" investment.
As your needs and priorities change over time, your investment mix and asset allocation may also need to change and depending on where you are in life, you may be willing to take on more investment risk, especially now while markets are depressed, while at other times, protecting the money you've saved will be more important.
To make sure your super is on track get in contact with your super fund and ask them to provide you with information on your asset allocation. This way you can check you're happy with the split up of your fund across equities, fixed income and other investments
Also don't forget the insurance benefist that may well be attached to your super, as these help protect your loved ones in the event of, death, disablity, sickenss and/or illness
Mature Families & Pre-Retirees
Even though retirement is still a little way off, the decisions you make now can make a difference to your future.
The risk of not having enough savings at retirement is one of the key challenges for retirees and if you don't start planning for your retirement now, you may face the super gap and not have enough to fund the retirement you want.
Each person's idea of a comfortable retirement is different and it's difficult to know exactly how much you'll need to achieve the lifestyle you want but there are tools that can help you build a picture of how you'd like your retirement to look.
Taking advantage of depressed markets can help you gain an advantage when markets evetually rebound.
Retirees
You may be starting to think about your retirement and whether you have enough super. Australians are living longer than ever before. So while many of you may have planned for 20 years in retirement, there's a good chance your retirement will last 30 years or longer.
By understanding how much you're likely to spend each year of your retirement, you can put a plan in place to make sure your savings last.
Add to this the impacts of market volatility like we are seeing now and it becomes clear many investors need to continue growing their super for much longer than they used to. But how do you keep growing your super without the risk of losing your nest egg?
There are solutions that allow to get the certainty you need to stay invested in the market by protecting your super from poor market performance and you can lock in your market gains along the way.
Want to speak to us about you ?
Contact Us to ask a question or make an appointment to meet with one of our advisers - we'd be happy to help