I’m 61 and planning on retiring in 4 or 5 years. My question is about superannuation as I’d like some advice of how much I can put into my super and is a self-managed fund a good idea at my age?

Hi Fred

You need to get professional advice from Financial Advisor. To setup a SMSF you need to have a certain amount in the fund for it to be worth while.

Thanks
Ben

Hi Fred,

There are annual caps on what you can put into super. The concessional limit is typically for contributions made by your employer or via salary sacrifice, this limit is currently $25.000 pa.
There's another limit called the non-concessional limit which is for after tax money you might have in a bank account for example, this is currently $100,000 pa.
You really need to be careful of contributions made in previous years as it's really easy to slip up here.
An SMSF could be great at your age, I have many clients with them of varying ages. There's lots to consider regarding SMSF, super balance is one of them.
You really do need professional personal financial advice in there's areas. There's no substitute to taking through your unique situation with an adviser.
I'm happy to help if you want to reach out. Phone or Skype would work great given the distance between us.
Let me know if I can help.

Regards
James

Hi Fred,
You can contribute up to $25,000 per year through your employer and up to $100,000 from your own funds. You can contribute a maximum total of $300,000 of personal funds in any three year period.
In my opinion, I think that the time frame is possibly too short to warrant a self managed super fund. As all investments require time to mature and smooth out returns you would run the risk of having negative total returns if you needed to withdraw money at age 65.
You really should speak with a trusted financial planner who can consider your full financial position, your earning capacity and your life and financial goals before presenting the most suitable options available.
Best of luck
Regards
Scott