“We've all heard a fear of missing out, but now what's happening is the fear of running out [of money]. People are seeing themselves getting into their 60s, but their parents are lasting into their 90s and it's a big fear that they've got over half their life to be spent in retirement, and that they may not have enough money for it.”

Many clients in their 50s and 60s are still working and still have a regular pay cheque, but are finding it hard to grasp where the money will come from in retirement to pay for their lifestyle, Shorte said.

“Even if you're not a financial adviser, if you’re an accountant, you will be a source of truth for your clients, so it's not about giving them advice, it's about educating yourself and them.”

Shorte continued that he believes in starting with simple strategies for clients as early as possible, then optimising all contributions in order of the benefit they offer.

“There is no magic spreadsheet that looks at super pension accumulation, family trust, unit trust company. There are so many variables for each individual person and family situation,” he said.

“It's something you're going to have to get your head around yourself and do individually for each of your clients.”

There are several simple strategies that finance professionals can use to initiate conversations with their clients regarding contributions.

“For example, downsize your contributions. The government has made them available from 55, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you should be using them from then on. Before you start finding a solution to a problem, you ought to know exactly what the problem is,” Shorte said.

“Contributions are really complex to clients as they are not dealing with them every day like you, so don't think that they'll just understand based on knowledge that's out there, which they’re often getting from friends and family and is wrong as well.”

He continued that there are “lots of moving parts” in an SMSF that have changed over the past few years and continue to change, such as the extension to the work test.

“It was a great outcome. There are a lot more part-time gigs now, so people can meet those 40 hours and 30 days a lot easier.”

“Additionally, the non-concessional contribution is now up to 75 and carry-forward concessions are now available for the full five years. Although we’ve seen the first couple of years drop off, there's still very little knowledge out there about it.”

Furthermore, Shorte said withdrawal and re-contribution strategies are also gathering pace and are becoming more attractive for evening out imbalances and for intergenerational transfer.

“They're very well understood by the people in the room, not so well understood by clients.”

“Don't expect that your clients will understand all these things. I have found over the past couple of years with new clients in their 60s that they're still uninformed, because of the delay in retirement.”