Retirement Planning & Experiences

[Pushka]

There are many on AFF still of working age not planning on retiring anytime soon, just not many on this thread.

What is working age though? Just because the government pension kicks in at 67-8-9 doesn't mean anyone around that isn't 'of working age'. MRP has no intentions of not doing his work for some time to come. We do take nice long holidays though. But that isn't any different to long service leave which being self employed doesn't exactly happen.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 6:15 PM

I have had several stints at retirement - started in 2006 when MrLtL was particularly unwell and wanted to spend time with him while I could. As it turned out a change to an old medication worked wonders and he is still here. Did a bit of uni lecturing then decided a year in the APS might be the goer. That became 7 years. Then 4 years proper retirement. I had coffee with a friend who said the way to go was to get a 'little contract' for 3 - 6 months, APS 5 or so where no stress. Money for jam (actually money to travel without touching anything else). Sounded promising, so off I went to a recruitment agency and picked up a 6 in Health. A 6 months contract which I wasn't keen on really as seemed a bit long.....that was 5 years ago. They are happy for me to take whatever time off I want. They are happy for me to stay with the agency and for the psst few years I do 4 days a week 2 in the office which is 15 mins away by car and 2 WFH. The team is fantastic and incredibly supportive when my mother passed away in the COVID lockdown (sent gin) and with lots of backwards and forwards with MrLtL's heart issues. Contract runs till 30 June so will see what happens then. I have a mantra - if it's not fun, it's time to go. So far it is still 'fun' but if it goes sour, I only need to give 1 hour's notice.
Just for reference I am the oldest in our section at 72. And yes it is money for jam - no sleepless nights or AS's ringing at the weekend etc. Money is used for 'frivolity' and travel.

Guess who lives in Canberra

 

[p--and--t]

Guess who lives in Canberra

 

[Denali]

Mr Denali took 18mths long service then resigned and retired at 54. It's been 10yrs now and he has no regrets

I'm 56 and talking about going part time but I like working and think it would take me a very long time time to enjoy full time retirement.

Of course if we win powerball, I'm outta there

 

[Lynda2475]

Well the age one can access super keeps getting increased, so I expect to have to work at least 6 months a year until I'm at least 70. I also expect there will be no such thing as an aged pension by then.

So right now working age as defined by the govt for people of my vintage is anything up to 69.

If I ever get to retire I imagine I'd still do the odd bit of consultanting or volunteer to keep the mind active.

I know very few who ever get to take any long service, as few in my line of work stay at any one employer for 10 years continuously which is the qualifier in NSW. Of course most other states you need only last 7 to get it.

 

[RooFlyer]

I had a fantastic take-or-pay contract with a terrific small mining company 'employer' (I had to commit X days per month to them and was paid for them, whether they gave me stuff to do or not and they didn't roll-over) on a really interesting project in Canada for the last 7 years of my working life before I retired at 58. The 'employer' was taken over by a Canadian company who didn't need Aussie people .

I looked at getting back on the contracting treadmill but decided I couldn't face it, as nothing would be as good again. I started a PhD in the final year, while the takeover dragged out and I was on ice (but still under contract) and finished it a few years later. I'm pretty sure I was the only student who flew business class overseas for research. .

 

[Brissy1]

I had a fantastic take-or-pay contract with a terrific small mining company 'employer' (I had to commit X days per month to them and was paid for them, whether they gave me stuff to do or not and they didn't roll-over) on a really interesting project in Canada for the last 7 years of my working life before I retired at 58. The 'employer' was taken over by a Canadian company who didn't need Aussie people .

I looked at getting back on the contracting treadmill but decided I couldn't face it, as nothing would be as good again. I started a PhD in the final year, while the takeover dragged out and I was on ice (but still under contract) and finished it a few years later. I'm pretty sure I was the only student who flew business class overseas for research. .

Congratulations Dr. Roo.

 

[SYD]

Well the age one can access super keeps getting increased, so I expect to have to work at least 6 months a year until I'm at least 70. I also expect there will be no such thing as an aged pension by then.

Current preservation ages were set ages ago and have not changed at all.

It would be political suicide to tinker with that for the foreseeable future. Besides, there would be some sort of phased rolled out if it were to change eg current preservation age was progressive from 1960 to 1965.

So right now working age as defined by the govt for people of my vintage is anything up to 69.

Apart from some specific professions (judges, pilots?,…), we don’t have mandatory retirement anymore. But good luck to anyone over 55 trying to re-enter the workforce!

If I ever get to retire I imagine I'd still do the odd bit of consultanting or volunteer to keep the mind active.

That’s actually the quick exit ramp to early and happy retirement for anyone in a profession, trade, expertise that lends itself. Also allows one to travel a bit more - albeit on your own dime.

I know very few who ever get to take any long service, as few in my line of work stay at any one employer for 10 years continuously which is the qualifier in NSW. Of course most other states you need only last 7 to get it.

I was paid out LSL from my first career phase, but dipped into during my Corp years (often on half pay) to sneak in extended holiday travels. But the bulk was paid out when I left after 20 odd years. The silver lining to redundancy is the decent tax treatment on unused LSL!

 

[RooFlyer]

Congratulations Dr. Roo.

The only times I ever use it is for airline and cruise bookings

 

[Lynda2475]

The pension age fhas changed 5 times since I got my first job, anyone who thinks it will be below 70 by the time I turn 70 is seriously delusional.

2013: The pension age for women was raised from 60 to 65
2017: The pension age increased to 65 years and 6 months
2019: The pension age increased to 66 years
2021: The pension age increased to 66 years and 6 months
2023: The pension age increased to 67 years

 

[SYD]

The pension age fhas changed 5 times since I got my first job, anyone who thinks it will be below 70 by the time I turn 70 is seriously delusional.

2013: The pension age for women was raised from 60 to 65
2017: The pension age increased to 65 years and 6 months
2019: The pension age increased to 66 years
2021: The pension age increased to 66 years and 6 months
2023: The pension age increased to 67 years

But who here actually expects to get the pension?

 

[RooFlyer]

The pension age fhas changed 5 times since I got my first job, anyone who thinks it will be below 70 by the time I turn 70 is seriously delusional.

2013: The pension age for women was raised from 60 to 65
2017: The pension age increased to 65 years and 6 months
2019: The pension age increased to 66 years
2021: The pension age increased to 66 years and 6 months
2023: The pension age increased to 67 years

Yes but that's different from being able to access super.

 

[Lynda2475]

But good luck to anyone over 55 trying to re-enter the workforce!

I know multiple people who have done so.

At 55 a person still easily has 10-15 more years to work, and legally cant be discriminated against.

Unless permantly disabled you cant access your super at 55, nor a pension so working should very much be expected. There is no other option unless you have a trust fund or huge inheritance.

 

[Lynda2475]

But who here actually expects to get the pension?

Plenty but they will get a real shock as there wont be funding for it.

Tax law can be changed retrospectively, Im positive accessing super at 60 wont be an option when I reach that age which is a long time away.

 

[Pushka]

Of course if we win powerball, I'm outta there

So projected retirement in about 10 years then?

 

[prozac]

The pension age fhas changed 5 times since I got my first job, anyone who thinks it will be below 70 by the time I turn 70 is seriously delusional.

2013: The pension age for women was raised from 60 to 65
2017: The pension age increased to 65 years and 6 months
2019: The pension age increased to 66 years
2021: The pension age increased to 66 years and 6 months
2023: The pension age increased to 67 years

53 in Greece. 67 in northern Europe and they are not happy.

 

[OATEK]

There are so many factors that contributed to my "retirement". The first was that my NSWG defined benefits scheme started paying at age 60 regardless of work status. This allowed me to put the max in SGC. And then there was the transition to retirement arrangements with my other Super fund that let me cut back to 3 days a week at 65.

There was also the grumpy old man syndrome when you know certain people in the firm are no longer really listening to you, but your clients are. This led me to the final "retirement" and my re-emergence as a sole trader at age 67, working with the same broad group of clients.

I know that eventually the invitations will stop, but last year at age 74 was my biggest yet.

We have been travelling overseas regularly since 2006 as a consequence of my UK father-in-law allowing the girls to easily obtain work visas. And one of them is still in London, so we are back and forth funded solely by my post retirement gig. We depart London in a few days after our latest trip, and health permitting will be back in the middle of next year.

 

[Lynda2475]

53 in Greece. 65 in northern Europe and they are not happy.

Well I don't have thhe option to move to Europe all ancestry way too far back to get an EU passport, so I need only concern myself with the situation here.

 

[SYD]

Plenty but they will get a real shock as there wont be funding for it.

I expect not. Otherwise Paul Keating somehow failed to allows us to go on many SRs only to fallback on the OAP!

Tax law can be changed retrospectively, Im positive accessing super at 60 wont be an option when I reach that age which is a long time away.

Lucky you!

But again, political suicide to tinker there.

Meanwhile, any professional who’s had the min SGL since 1980 something, is probably unlikely to qualify for the OAP. Or hasn’t really tried hard enough.

 

[tgh]

This retirement discussion is super interesting .. well done everyone

 

[Lynda2475]

The superannuation guarantee only started in 1992 and for first few years you couldn't choose your fund, your employer decided how to invest it, many of us lost lots (multiple negative returns) before we were able to move the money to better options.

Defined benefit never been available to me, nice privilege for the politicians and govt employees.

Don't trust Keating (he didnt even mamage to finish high school), He was the one who gave employers the investing decision, something that should have been with the individual from day 1. I expect he will be long dead before im 70 so will have no further say as to what my retirement is like, thank goodness.

Im not sure my super will be enough, hence I will work as long as possible and keep investing outside of super fund where i have more control.