I now spend a fair bit of time thinking about my retirement. Is it on track? How much do I need? I need to include my widowed sister who basically has no retirement savings whatsoever. My father who is over 80 and living off his superannuation since age 55 helps her out. I will need to do the same once his finances are diminished and not able to help out. 

To have a comfortable retirement, you need to not only own property, you need to own the property outright. You had better make sure it is in a good state of repair, you should be making the improvements while you have an income to pay for. There is nothing worse than taking a lump sum out to pay a mortgage down, pay for improvements or undertake large scale purchases such as a vehicle, caravan, camper van or medical expenses. There are requirements where lump sums are needed, they need to be carefully planned and costed. 

I don’t believe the 5-star touring around Europe or the United States is necessarily the answer. However, this is people’s money and they are free to spend it on their choosing. I just hate to see people burn up their retirement money too soon then revert to the age pension before they are ready. Based on the ASFA Retirement Standard benchmarks [2021] a single requires $28,179 for a modest retirement and $44, 244 for a comfortable retirement. A couple requires $41,446 for a modest retirement and $63,799 for a comfortable retirement.