The Long Run Up

This is where I’m at in October 2022.

Walking back to the mark allows time to imagine and visualise what the long run up will achieve.

I’m thinking about transitioning away from some work-related stuff, and doing more about succession-planning. In quiet times I review my thoughts and feelings about travel, lifestyle, personal values and superannuation. 

Naturally, I’m a little bit anxious. I’m also pretty hopeful and excited. 🙂

My superannuation fund provides a service to assist/advise with retirement planning. This month we had a ~90 minute appointment with a financial advisor for a thorough review of our current situation. Our primary question was, ’In 2026 will we be able to afford to stop working full time?’. 

Good news: we will. It’s only now that I’m starting to feel confident about this timeline/plan.

The financial advisor provided a comprehensive Statement of Advice. This includes:

• summary of where we’re at and where we want to be at in retirement
• suggestions on which investment strategy best caters for our risk appetite
• a nudge to attend to other important stuff like appointing an EPoA ✅
• a very encouraging chart that shows that expected funds at time of retirement will cover expected spending in retirement (assuming we don’t live too long 😳)

Anyway, I found it very encouraging that we spoke to someone who understands superannuation and money better than we do, and she didn’t laugh at our plan - she just suggested a couple of tweaks. We have confirmation now that the length of the run-up is about right. Now we know that mark that shows the beginning of our run-up to retirement is in the correct place, and we’re pretty-much there. 

This is where I’m at in January 2023. I don’t expect to move to the next stage until there are less than a thousand days to go (keep an eye on the countdown). 

If all goes to plan, there is now less than a thousand days to go until my last day of full time work. A thousand days is less than 2 years and 9 months. It doesn‘t sound or feel like a long time at the moment. 

By intentionally, albeit metaphorically, making the turn and beginning the run it means I am now facing in the direction of my last day at work. No more idle speculation. Now it is the time to transition from imagination to action. 

Going on holiday and planning the next one is a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Refreshing old relationships and making new acquaintances are now given the priority they probably always deserved. I need to be deliberate to replicate the friendly and warm interactions I take for granted at work. Being lonely would not be much fun. Downsizing might be a good idea. Leasing a car would be a bad idea (I think). 

Less than 1000 days. Shit’s getting real. 😬

Thats where I’m at in August 2023.

A lot has happened since turning and beginning the run towards retirement. 

First-up we downsized from a 3 bedroom apartment with a huge balcony and two carparks to a much smaller place. The new place has a view we love, it is very easy to clean/maintain, it’s safe and secure, and is easy to lock-up and leave. Then we did a renovation on the new place to make it ours and - as much as we can - future-proof it by way of quality fittings and appliances. These things cost money. It was much more comfortable and sensible to do this spending while still working and earning money. I would’ve been a bit twitchy if I had to draw on the principle of my superannuation to pay for a reno and all the sundry expenses that come with buying and selling real estate. 

The other bonuses to downsizing is getting rid of stuff. Stuff we don’t need. Stuff we don’t use. Vinyl records we haven’t played in years, books we’ve read and won’t read again, clothes that we don’t wear, and lots of tools and stuff that were handy when we renovated our lovely old Queenslander back-in-the-day but will never use again. I can’t begin to tell you how liberating it feels to declutter our lives. 

Speaking of decluttering, my long run-up towards finishing full-time work has included succession planning. In recent months that has sped-up remarkably. The colleague I’ve been handing things over to bit-by-bit has wrenched the reins from my hand and taken control. It was a bit weird initially: I’ve been the longest serving member of the team and letting go was counterintuitive and strange. Now it feels liberating. I’m not just charging towards the crease - I’m floating. It feels light and joyful to let someone else take over for my last year of full time work.

The other thing is going-on and planning holidays. We’re hoping to continue to travel after our last shift at work, but have intentionally knocked-over a trip to some of the most expensive countries in the world (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland) while still working.  

That said, I don’t mind the idea of drawing down on the principle of our super for travel while we’re in our 60s and 70s. I know bugger-all about finance. I’ve been a nurse for most of my working life. Nursing gives the very clear insight that energy, mobility and health deteriorate over time. Not many of us will be travelling to Everest Base Camp or Machu Picchu in our 80s and 90s.

So, that’s what I’m doing as I’m charging towards the crease. Letting go of the old, making plans for the new, and gaining clarity. It’s helpful to read things like the New Daily ‘Road to Retirement’ series www.thenewdaily.com.au/finance/road-to-retirement and Bec Wilson’s ‘Epic Retirement’ stuff www.epicretirement.com.au. I would recommend these resources to anyone with a job. You don’t have to wait until you’re an old fart like me. 🙂

10 months to go and feeling light and breezy. That’s where I’m at in July 2025.

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