Brooke is now winding up her career as a pharmacist.

Along with her husband and business partner, Luke, she's experienced life's ups & downs and is now thinking about exiting the business and retiring.

The kids have left home so Brooke and Luke have been discussing moving to a smaller home closer to the beach. They also have plans to travel and do things they've always wanted to do – like travelling to South America!

They want to optimise their wealth in the coming years and have the right planning so that they can enjoy a footloose and fancy free retirement.

Be clear about your goals in retirement – how do you want to spend your days and how much will it cost? Whether it's travelling to South America or moving to a house near the beach, talk to a financial planner to work out the steps you need to take to get there.

Having an objective adviser to guide you through this process can be invaluable – someone to help you visualise and prepare for your retirement years. They can get you thinking about the possibilities and the essential items that you may not think about as much as you should.

When developing a financial plan for you, professional financial planners use a six-step process to help you work out where you are now, what you might need in the future, and what you must do to reach your goals.

Talk to Guild Financial Planners about preparing for retirement, call on 1800 333 143.

To work or not to work? One option for you as you approach retirement is to become a ‘working retiree'. To qualify you need to be over 55 years old, have left full time employment and yet choose to remain in the employment market—probably working part time.

Under the Government's ‘transition to retirement' measure, 55-year-olds can retire from full-time employment, continue to work in a scaled down position, access their super benefits and still be able to continue making super contributions.

Essentially transition to retirement enables you to scale down your hours and ease into retirement. The question is of course, is it in your best interest to change your working habits, would you be better off working full time for longer or would you prefer not to work at all?

To answer this question you will need to consider both your lifestyle goals and your financial situation. With the help of a financial planner you will probably find the possibilities are much broader and more attractive than you imagined.

Talk to a Guild Financial Planner to determine an effective transition into retirement strategy for you, call on 1800 333 143.

When you're selling your business there might be tax exemptions that you can potentially take advantage of. As you may know, capital gains tax (CGT) is a tax that you pay on any wealth you've earned from the sale of an investment or business. The good news is that there are four small business CGT concessions available to minimise the amount of tax payable. Before you can qualify for them you MUST pass under a net CGT asset threshold – currently $6m. If your qualifying assets place you over the threshold, there is important planning that may be possible to get you below the limit. The tax savings from the exemptions are significant so proper planning and advice is important.

• 15 year exemption – can allow you to disregard the capital gain made on an asset you have owned for 15 years.
• 50% active asset reduction – this refers to an exemption from CGT on 50% of the gain made on the sale of an ‘active asset'.
• Retirement exemption – can provide an exemption of capital gains up to a lifetime limit of $500,000 if you are eligible.
• Rollover relief – can allow you to defer making a capital gain if you obtain a replacement asset.

These four options can potentially eliminate the CGT you might have to pay on the sale of your pharmacy so its important that you seek advice. Most importantly, seek this advice BEFORE you exchange contracts for sale.

To find out how you can take advantage of tax exemptions on the sale of your business talk to Guild's business and tax advisers Guild Accountants, call on 1800 101 296.

Whether you have a successor or not, if you want to maximise the value you get from the business to help fund your retirement, you need to sell a working business.

Take the necessary steps so that your business can continue to run successfully following your departure. Review your succession plan and make sure that it allows for a positive transition to take place.

Talk to Guild's business and tax advisers Guild Accountants about how you can do this, call on 1800 101 296.

Assumption: I've left the business and pharmacy practice so I've left behind risk.

Fact: Some claims can be made against you years after the event. You could be liable for these claims if you don't have run-off cover.

There are cases of claims being made against pharmacists years after an incident. When you retire from practice or sell your business, ‘run-off cover' can indemnify you against potential claims made against you for ‘mistakes' made while you were still in business and practice.

Once you've sold your business and ceased to practice it doesn't make sense to renew your insurance policy each year but having ‘run-off' cover is the safe option to keep you carefree in retirement.

It is difficult to suggest the length of time that 'run-off' cover ought to be taken out, as it depends upon the Statute of Limitations legislation applying to that particular claim. In some cases a claim can be brought in excess of 15 years after the mistake occurred.

If you have insurance with Guild, we will automatically provide you with ‘run-off' cover. However, it is important that you let us know you're retiring rather than merely cancelling your policy with us.

Talk to our team at Guild Insurance if you would like more information about ‘run-off' cover, 1800 810 213

After years of working hard and playing an important role in your community as a pharmacist it can be difficult to shift gears for retirement. While retirement can provide opportunities for relaxation that should be savoured, it's important to stay active.

You can achieve this in a number of ways. By doing part-time locum work to help ease the transition from being a pharmacist. Staying fit and active by playing golf, tennis, or walking. Spending more time with the family and grandchildren, doing volunteer work, reading books, or traveling to South America, the opportunities are endless!

The team at Guild Financial Services have prepared a booklet titled “Folk Dancing in Bulgaria”, talking to pharmacists about their experience with and ideas on, retirement. If you would like to obtain a copy of this booklet, talk to us on 1800 333 143.