Life insurance can be used for more than just a death benefit. While term policies are only available as a death benefit, whole life also allows you to accumulate an asset over time that can be either passed on to your heirs, or used later in life as an asset that can be leveraged. One valid retirement strategy is to use assets built up in a life insurance policy to provide oneself with an annuity, which can be used to supplement retirement benefits from your superannuation and other investments. As such, a whole life policy should be part of your retirement strategy.

Social security alone isn't enough to support most Australian citizens in their retirement. That's why many choose to contribute to a superannuation fund throughout their working life. This fund usually cannot be drawn against until you retire. Your life insurance asset, however, can be drawn against or borrowed against so long as value has accrued in the policy (although there may be some penalties involved).

Your employer makes a mandatory contribution of nine percent of your salary to your superannuation fund. While this alone can add up to a good retirement nest egg, you can ensure that you can maintain your quality of life upon retirement by making an additional contribution to your fund yourself. You can contribute to the same managed fund your employer contributes to, or to a different one if you choose. Selecting a different fund may be an excellent opportunity to diversify your retirement holdings.

Simply taking your employer's nine percent, and relying on that along with social security, is probably not going to be adequate for a quality retirement, and most financial analysts recommend making a contribution equivalent to the employer contribution. There are variables however, and for example, if you plan to have your home paid off by retirement, you will not need as much income.

Making an additional voluntary contribution to your super fund is in many cases, a better investment than putting money into things like mutual funds, the stock market or the money market. Even if the return would be the same, the tax treatment could be more advantageous for earnings from super funds.

You can invest in a wide variety of superannuation funds, some with more aggressive investment strategies than others that are designed to deliver a higher rate of return. Review the past performance of any fund and compare several offerings before deciding how much risk you want to take and finally making a decision. If you have other assets already, taking on a riskier super investment may be more acceptable, but if you are depending on your super fund as your only asset outside of social security to keep you going when you retire, a more conservative investment strategy will be in order.

Also, when choosing a fund, note that fees are not standardized, and some funds will charge you more fees than others. All other things being equal, a fund with lower fees will ultimately deliver a better return when you retire. Balance the fee structure against the risk and anticipated return when you make your decision. A fund that delivers a higher return may charge higher fees, and when you crunch the numbers, it may well turn out that the bottom line is the same as a more conservative fund with a lower return, but lower fees.

Finally at the time of retirement, most retirees want to have a regular monthly check for the sake of convenience and easier money management. But some superannuation pensions deliver only a lump sum. This lump sum can also be used to purchase an annuity from your life insurance.