Purpose isn’t out there to be found - it’s what you choose to do in life’s cracks
And in today's newspapers "Half of us are worried about money in retirement. So what?"
In this edition
Feature: Purpose isn’t out there to be found - it’s what you choose to do in life’s cracks
From Bec’s Desk: My biggest week yet - ahead
SMH/TheAge: Half of us are worried about money in retirement. So what?
Prime Time: The 10 most FAQs of the ‘new midlife’
But first a little ad for our next course…
Book your place now for 25% off
This week we’ve launched our brand-new How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course, starting 6 November. It’s been built around the new updated edition of the book coming out November 29—and as a bonus, course participants will be among the very first to get their copy of the new book before it’s released - in their welcome packs!
Our 25% Earlybird Deal is now open—but only for the first 200 seats, and they’re already booking fast. You can grab the Earlybird price, check out the new brochure, and secure your spot here.
Purpose isn’t out there to be found - it’s what you choose to do in life’s cracks
We hear a lot about “finding” purpose, as though it’s some grand prize waiting at the end of the long quest of your working life. But purpose isn’t something out there to find. It’s something you unlock from within, especially in those little cracks and transitions when life shifts and you feel unsettled. And I want you to know that - and to see the little things you can do to help yourself find it, incrementally.
The truth is, you don’t need a world-changing mission to live a purposeful life or have an epic retirement. Purpose shows up in the everyday things you do: caring for someone you love, mentoring a younger colleague and giving them confidence and direction of their own, helping in your community, or simply doing something creative that lights you up. Think of this as a type of purpose we call little-p purpose. These are the small acts that add meaning and give you a reason to get up in the morning. And they’re just as important as having larger purposeful activities in your life.
So how do you begin filling the cracks with purpose? Here’s three simple steps to consider taking:
Reflect — Ask yourself: What energises me? What do people thank me for? What matters most to me right now?
Experiment — Try small things. Volunteer, take on a new project, reconnect with something you loved years ago. Don’t wait for the perfect plan or the perfect timing — your sense of purpose gets clearer through taking action.
Refine — Notice what sticks, what makes you feels alive, and lean into it more and more. The more you invest in those sparks, the more they grow into something bigger.
Purpose is especially powerful in times of change — like stepping into retirement, adjusting to new work rhythms, or moving through midlife transitions when the future and what it looks like is unclear. Roles and routines might fall away, but purpose gives you a steady anchor and fills up the cracks.
And here’s the most important bit: purpose isn’t a finish line. It evolves. It’s the small, daily choices that, over time, add up to a life lived with direction and meaning. Go look for it.
How have you built little-p purpose in your life. Maybe you could tell us your story in the comments today.
Well happy Sunday! Big news! My footy team won the grand final! Did yours? 😎
Last week was a blast. I spoke at the Australian Shareholders Association Queensland Conference, had a lot of fun on stage. Recorded the podcast on the questions people ask in midlife with the very interesting Susan Bell. And, after I squeezed in some dancing with our UK publishers over the cover for the completely re-written UK edition of Epic Retirement coming out in December. Brits definitely do it differently and the journey is a wild experience in itself.
And, we had a ripper of a session this week in the Epic Retirement Flagship Course with Jen Harding from HESTA, diving into financial advice, and superannuation. The Spring edition is already up to week five and this week we have the wonderful Sue West from Flourishing After Fifty as our guest for Q&A and we’re talking purpose! I love helping people find their purpose!
The week ahead looks epic.
Today I’m finishing THE LAST EDIT. It’s the final time I’ll see our newly updated Australian (and now New Zealand!) edition of How to Have an Epic Retirement before it goes to print tomorrow—just in time for preorders and shelves ahead of Christmas. I’ve added the updated pension numbers and ASFA benchmarks, given it a final polish, and it’s officially ready. In just a few days I’ll be able to share the brand-new cover with you.
I’m hoping I’ll have a UK cover to share (after the final dances are done) as it will head to print this week too.
This week I’m off to Sydney for two bookstore events (details below), and on Thursday morning I’ll be announcing The Epic Retirement Tick live on TV.
Then it’s home for a quick repack before heading straight to London and Manchester to talk pensions and purpose in the UK for two weeks. Pinch me! The best part? I’ll also get to spend an afternoon with all our British (and Scottish/Canadian) moderators from the Epic Retirement Club while I’m there—and I definitely owe them a beer or two!
The Epic Retirement Tick
The official announcement for The Epic Retirement Tick will go out live on Today Extra Thursday morning. At 9am the same day, I’ll also drop a special edition of the Prime Time podcast with Ian Fryer from Chant West—our partners who are delivering the fully licensed evaluation against the criteria. I’ll be on evening radio on The Money Show on 2GB, 3AW, 6PR, 4BC to discuss the tick too. And the free report will go out by email - sign up here.
Exciting news for HESTA Members
This week I can finally share some very exciting news about a project my team and I have been working on for months! We’ve developed an exclusive edition of the How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course just for HESTA members. Yes, really! It’s been a huge undertaking—six months of hard work from many people—and now it’s ready to launch to HESTA members.
The pilot program, The Exclusive HESTA Epic Retirement Program, will open for booking this week. It will be offered to a limited cohort so we can refine and improve it before a wider rollout to all retiring members in 2026. If you’re a HESTA member and don’t make it into the pilot, or the timing isn’t right for you, you’ll be able to join the waitlist. This is a six-week course tailored for people working in the health and community services sector, with case studies and stories that reflect the unique challenges they face: lower balances at retirement due to lower wages, career gaps, and caring roles, all while juggling shift work and long hours. HESTA wanted to ensure its members had access to a program designed with their needs front and centre.
The course includes 13 modules (around 80 bite-sized video lessons), delivered weekly in manageable chunks, plus a dedicated digital workbook, two live events, and a private HESTA Hub chatroom. And it’s not just me on camera—Jen Harding, HESTA’s General Manager of Engagement, Education and Advice, will also be sharing lessons to help members get the very best from their HESTA super.
When I first started building the Epic Retirement Courses, this was exactly how I hoped they’d be shared—with large groups of people who need it most. HESTA deserves huge credit for leading the industry in tailoring and making this program widely available, and at no extra cost to its members. From running the Epic Retirement Course for nearly two years, we know participants walk away with a remarkable boost in retirement confidence, plus the knowledge to make better decisions about money and retirement. Making this opportunity accessible to people who might not otherwise have had the chance is, to me, the most exciting part.
Thank you HESTA - this is going to be epic!
Excited… I am just a bit!
Those upcoming events in Sydney this week
I’m headed to Kinokuniya, a massive bookstore in the centre of Sydney on the 1st October at 7pm for an author talk and you’re invited. It’s an event all about Prime Time: 27 Lessons for the New Midlife - and we’re going to talk through a few of the biggest lessons. Come along to this free event - places are limited - please RSVP here.
And on the 2nd October I’m coming to Harry Harthog Narellan (greater Sydney) for an evening event and book talk about Prime Time: 27 Lessons for the New Midlife, from 5pm-7pm. But tickets are sold out!
Finally, our survey - The Epic Retirement Housing Survey - closes this week
This survey is designed to gather a better understanding of what you think your housing needs and interests are as you get older. It's to help guide the industry to support people in a modern retirement. Take the survey here. And if you finish you can enter the draw to win one of 5 *$100 VISA vouchers.
Have a great Sunday. I hope your footy team won.
Many thanks! Bec Wilson
Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker
Extract of of my weekly column in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times, WA Today on Sunday 27th September 2025.
Half of us are worried about money in retirement. So what?
Every week another report lands or a super fund boss takes to the podium with the same message: Australians don’t feel financially secure about retirement and something needs to be done.
The question most people are really asking is simpler: what’s actually going to change, and how will all this talk help me?
This week AMP added another report to the pile, launching the inaugural Retirement Confidence Pulse, a national barometer of how Australians feel about life after work.
The result was stark: a retirement confidence score of just 50 out of 100. Half of the 2000 Australians the index spoke to are seriously worried about how they will make ends meet once the pay cheques stop.
No surprises there. Ask anyone paying $9 for a loaf of bread, watching their electricity bill spike, or helping their adult kids scrape together a rental bond, and they’ll tell you no report is necessary.
Retirement already feels impossible to plan for. People know they aren’t confident. Funds know it too. And so does the government, which has been talking about reform for years while game-changing legislation still sits on the shelf.
Read on — this article continues in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and WA Today. It is free to read - you may have to sign up, but there’s no paywall on my articles.
The 10 most FAQs of the new midlife
This week on Prime Time, I’m joined by social researcher Susan Bell — one of Australia’s leading retiree research experts (and a 60-something herself)— to unpack her latest report: The 10 Life-Changing Questions Asked by People in Their Sixties.
After spending years interviewing people across Australia, Susan noticed something striking: the same 10 questions kept surfacing, quietly but consistently.
These aren’t the questions we’re used to hearing about midlife. But they reveal so much about how this chapter is evolving — and the very real emotional, practical and identity shifts we’re navigating as we live longer lives.
LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE OF THE PODCAST HERE: