The problem of living in retirement is a real one; it is why the Australian government mandated superannuation – to force people to save money – and it is arguably a driver for the Goods and Services Tax, that a broad-based consumption tax was a necessity with advances in health and medicine resulting in an increasing aged population. However, my intention is not to be political whatsoever, nor to bore you with talk of taxation.

The point simply is no matter your age it is prudent to be thinking about your future and how you will prepare for your life beyond employment. In a cruel twist it is at the start of your working life that your superannuation contributions have the biggest effect – with literally 40 years or more of compounded returns – but this is also the time when retirement is the furthest away.

Retirement Genie for Android puts the power in your hand to experiment with variables and how they affect your pension fund. To be clear, according to the author, when people retire their superannuation fund is rolled over into a pension fund. It is this pension fund that the calculator is for – i.e. at the point in your life where you are no longer working, no longer accumulating superannuation, and ideally are using your savings to live a long and prosperous and happy life in retirement.

The application is super-fast to pick up and use; it has very clear and simple inputs – your pension amount and your expenses, for example – and displays outputs on vibrant and clear graphs. A helpful neighbourly-accountant genie proffers his opinion, telling you your money is going to run out, or, more desirably, how to achieve the financial goals you have based by tweaking your returns and expenses.

Retirement Genie stands out for so many reasons; as well as its accessibility it is free, it has been produced by a real financial planner with a Masters degree, it is educational, it caters for inflation, and it has three clever solvers that let you experiment to see how changing values impacts your bottom line.

Of course, disclaimers and waivers apply; the app is not a substitute for getting your own reputable advice and guidance and you should not rely on the information provided. A lengthy help and disclaimers page provides these clauses, but with that out of the way, the app truly is fun and informative to use.

Given the price tag - $0 – any Australian worker or retiree would be well-advised to look into this app and consider their own situation.

Retirement Genie was developed by J.Brookman and Associates Financial Services and can be downloaded from the Google Play store.