How to cope when poor health forces early retirement

By George Cochrane
Updated September 12 2017 - 9:43am, first published August 17 2017 - 1:25pm

My husband is not well and is retired. I have been managing our finances for many years now. I work part time earning about $25,000 but expect to retire within the next two years at 70. We jointly own our home, valued at about $1.8 million and a fixed deposit of $200,000. I have a super fund through work with Colonial First State of $150,000 and an online self-managed super fund (SMSF) of $550,000 in a fixed deposit. We also jointly and individually have shares that provide an income of approximately $60,000, which I think should be sufficient for us to live on after I retire. I have recently received a $50,000 inheritance and have paid this into my smaller super fund. My concern is should I consider buying property through my online super fund in an effort to generate a greater return as the interest is only about 3 per cent? However, I would not be able to buy without borrowing. As my husband may require residential care in the future I need to have funds available to cover this which I would like to do without selling our shares or house. D.L.

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