Seven things you should think about long before you retire

These are the most important things to think about before you get to the point where you even start to wind back your workload or shift your way of life.

In this newsletter

This newsletter is a bit of a 2-for-1. I didn’t manage to get a newsletter out earlier in the week, so this is a bit of a combo of everything that happened this week…

• My SMH/Age article in print today

• From Bec’s Desk

• Prime Time with Bec Wilson - Series 1 Episode 1 (which made it to Apple’s top 50 this week)

• Get your copy of Epic Retirement

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Seven things you should think about long before you retire

Every Sunday I write a column that is published in the money section of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and WA Today. And our community asked that I send it out the day it goes to print. So, this week’s column can be read in full here.

We all know retirement has changed fundamentally as current generations tackle it. It’s not a time to stop and sit back anymore, or a time to be put out to pasture by your employer. Modern retirement and the ten or so years leading up to it could, in fact, be the best years of our lives, if we approach them with curiosity and intent. But what do we need to be intentional about?

I launched my new podcast this week with the Nine network, called Prime Time with Bec Wilson. The first episode was a terrific conversation about the seven things I think everyone should know and do before they start changing their life for retirement. These are the most important things to think about before you get to the point where you even start to wind back your workload or shift your way of life.

1. Know how long you really might live. This is a big question. The government says that people who are 65 right now will likely live to the ripe old age of 85 for men and 88 for women. And the intergenerational report takes it one step further, saying today’s 40 and 50-year-olds might live to 89 for men and 91 for women. And those are just the medians – 50 per cent of people will live longer.

It leans heavily back on how you’ve looked after your body so far, and how you intend to look after it in the future. If you plan to look after yourself well, you might want to consider that in your self-picture, so you set the right goals, ambitions and curiosity in place to keep yourself fulfilled over your long life.

2. Decide on some goals. We all have goals in our first half of life but we often overlook setting them for the second half, other than our holiday goals (we’re all pretty good at them). I think it’s a remnant from when we lived shorter lives. But goals are crucial. They move us forward, giving us things to aim for and they set the framework for our budgets, which frankly, we can’t do without.

If you go into retirement without goals you might find yourself rudderless, lost and even ageing unnecessarily fast. So consider at least putting in place some guiding principles for how you want to live your life, and some short and medium term ambitions you aim to achieve and drive yourself forward.

Read the rest of the article here on The Sydney Morning Herald. It’s free to access the article - you may need to register.

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From Bec’s Desk

Another week has gone by. And I want to get a bit more personal today. I’m conscious we don’t talk enough about our epic pursuits here, so today I’m going to tell you about one of mine. Pop on over to this post in our Private Epic Retirement Facebook Group and tell me one of yours - in detail. Here’s my post…

I am a bit of a gardener, (or maybe I pretend to be). But my garden is a tale of two zones, in the zone where I pay it attention it’s wonderful, and in other corners where I don’t manage to water, it’s sad. Spring shoots are everywhere on my beloved rose and succulent gardens, into which I pour litres of water each week guiltily, and layer them dutifully with seamungus. And the reward is that the roses are already in their second round of blooms since winter ended and the succulents are throwing off little baby succulents with joy that I can plant out in other spots. I’ve re-constructed my herb garden this week, after it died back in winter. But within days the possums have arrived and shaved all the leaves off my basil and parsley seedlings. I’m trying a natural poultice of chilli and garlic sprayed on them. Anyone got any better tips?

Now, onto the happenings of the week. IT WAS HUGE.

• We launched the Prime Time podcast. I’m working with the wonderful team at 9Podcasts on this - and have a listen - it’s top quality stuff. It’s officially called ‘Prime Time with Bec Wilson’ and you can find it and listen to it on any podcast platform. I’ll bang on more about this a bit further down on this email! It actually made it into Apple’s top 50 podcasts on the podcast rankings within 24 hours. What a buzz!

• I also had a full video crew takeover my office and turn it into a filming set, for the recording of the How to Have an Epic Retirement online course. We spent two days recording the high quality lessons that will make up the education program. If you want to hear more about it, register here for our expressions of interest, and I’ll send you more details as they unfold.

• I wrote a feature article for The Australian Financial Review, ‘Reached midlife? Time to write the retirement rules’ which you can read here.
  “A growing number of us will live to 100, but there is no rule book for the second half of the journey. The Baby Boomers wrote the first chapters: get a good education, secure a job, build a career, start a family, educate your children. But then what?”

  I break down my own view of what I think those rules should be! Let me know your thoughts on the rules in the comments here.

I’ve absolutely loved doing a few radio shows too - dropping in to chat with Jacqui Felgate on 3AW in Melbourne Thursday afternoon, and Spencer Howson in Brisbane’s 4BC 882 on Saturday for The Sizzle, a ripper of a talkback show too.

I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend! Don’t forget to subscribe for my new podcast, Prime Time with Bec Wilson at www.primetimers.net. It drops every Thursday.

Many thanks! Bec Wilson

Author, columnist, retirement educator, and keynote speaker

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Prime Time Episode 1: Seven things you NEED to know before retiring

I’m thrilled to invite you to listen to the first episode of the new podcast called Prime Time with Bec Wilson. The podcast has bee created with you in mind. It is designed for everyone who is in the second half of life, which frankly has no rules, because we’ve never lived this long or wanted this much from life before. It is produced in partnership with 9 Podcasts, who do audio really well.

And this is just the first episode! There’s so many more wonderful episodes to come - and they will get better and better! So have a listen and email me with your thoughts on bec@primetimers.net. And be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN ON ALL PLATFORMS

Of go to Apple Podcasts

Or Spotify

Seven things you NEED to know before retiring

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I’m the author of bestselling book, How to Have an Epic Retirement 

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And that’s it for today. Have a wonderful Sunday. I’ll be back with a full newsletter during the week. I’m still trying to figure out how to get everything timed well for you.