Time for your own retirement reality check

And in today's newspapers, 'Who cares about a tax on $3 million super balances? Maybe you should'

Bec Wilson

May 17, 2025

In this week’s edition:

Feature: Time for your own retirement reality check
Newspapers: Who cares about a tax on $3 million super balances? Maybe you should
Podcast: How scammers scam even the most tech savvy
From Bec’s Desk: 😁

Time for your own retirement reality check

I’ve been running our flagship course for a year and a half now (I know—hard to believe, isn’t it?). Over that time, we’ve gotten better at surveying and understanding the people who join us when they arrive: where they’re at, what they’re wrestling with, and what they’re hoping to figure out. Then, we survey them at the end, and learn what’s changed.

Most come in wanting to understand how retirement really works, and to build confidence in their own finances and choices for the years ahead. They also want to understand themselves better — and how they might find purpose, fulfilment and happiness. More than half of them arrive thinking retirement is still three to five years away. Some feel behind. Others feel stuck. And some feel financially able, but afraid. But almost everyone is making time, often for the first time, to sit down and take a proper look at the whole picture — what they’ve got, what they want, and how the retirement income system actually fits together and supports them.

By the end of the course, something incredible happens.

They realise they might be able to retire within one to three years. And many make the choice to reconsider their plans.

It’s not because they won the lottery. Or inherited a windfall.
It’s because clarity changes everything.

When you actually sit down and look, really look, at what you have, what you need, and what kind of life you want to live next… you start to realise retirement might not be some distant dream long off in the future. It could be your next chapter. A version of it, at least. And it could be exciting, fulfilling and … possible to choose your path into it.

And when that clicks, something else unlocks too: confidence.

Not blind optimism - real confidence.
The kind that comes from understanding your numbers, seeing your options, and knowing what levers you can pull to shape your future.

I want everyone to have a taste of their retirement reality today — so this week I’m giving you a challenge.

I want to give you a simple formula to help you take an hour and give yourself a little reality check.

Ask yourself:
– What does my next chapter actually look like?
– How do I want to spend my time, energy and freedom in this phase of life?
– What income do I actually need to support that?
– How close am I to being able to fund that income - through super, the age pension, savings, or part-time work?
– And if I brought forward my retirement timeline by a few years, or started to ease into retirement via my Prime Time… what would that look like?

Even if the answer is “not yet,” you’ll walk away with something powerful: a clearer sense of what needs to happen next.

And that’s how retirement shifts - from a vague vision to possible and achievable. Make yours epic!

The How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course is back for August kickoff! And the Earlybird 25% off won’t last!

This 6-week program has helped thousands of Aussies get retirement-ready—with smart strategies for money, time, health, happiness and purpose, travel and your home as you age.

🎟️ The 25% off early bird spots are now open and they’re filling up quickly. So get in and lock down your place at this price.

👉 Check it out here and download the new brochure for Spring 2025

Let’s make your retirement epic.

A short but sweet update this week (or maybe not?). I’ve got a book to read—and I may have accidentally left this email to Sunday morning (eek!). I’ve been deep in the final stages of writing and editing all weekend and almost forgot! (Almost. I’d never actually forget you ☺️)

I’m currently doing the final read of Prime Time before it heads to print. It’s exciting—yes—but it’s also a huge process, and I’m more than ready to wrap it up and move on to the next phase. There’s a real sense of relief when a book reaches the finish line.

In the papers this weekend, I did a deep dive on the proposed $3 million super tax. It’s a long, meaty article—my word count was supposed to be 800, but I submitted 1800, and my editor barely cut a thing for the digital version (he had to trim for print, of course). I tried to be balanced across politics but focused on making the implications clear for everyday people. Honestly, I’m surprised more Australians aren’t engaging with this. But then again, that’s superannuation—most people don’t pay it much attention until retirement is right in front of them. (Not you though. You’re one of the proactive ones.)

In the Course we held our "‘Finding your Purpose week” with Sue West from Flourishing After Fifty as a guest, then I facilitated a session where everyone on the course jumped in and chatted about their own journey to finding their purpose. This could be one of my favourite live sessions of the program. It’s so validating, so personal!

This week my daughter is coming home from Canada (hopefully for uni this time). I’m a bit excited. Then I’m heading to Sydney for the Chant West industry awards, which celebrate excellence across financial services. Always fun to put on a frock and cheer on the best in the business.

And on the home front, something very special: my 12-year-old pup is about to walk again—after nearly 16 weeks of rehab from flaccid paralysis. He and I are beside ourselves with excitement. We’ve worked so hard.

Thank you, as always, for your letters this week. Sometimes I wish this email was longer so I could share more of them with you—they’re that good. Your stories, questions, and insights genuinely shape where I take things next, so please keep them coming.

Our 25% off Earlybird Deal is bringing in a wave of bookings for the Spring Edition of the How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course, which kicks off on 28 August 👉🏻 More info here 👉🏻

Got thoughts this week — send an email to bec@epciretirement.net. I read every one.

Who cares about a tax on $3 million super balances? Maybe you should

Extract of article published in print in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times, WA Today on Sunday 18th May 2025.

Who cares about a tax on people with $3 million in super? They are Australia’s rich people, after all. The top half a per cent. They have accountants, investment properties and franking credits coming out their ears. Most of us will never get near that kind of money in our lifetime.

So why should we care?

Well, let’s dig a little deeper. Because we, the everyday people who go to work and pay our tax the right way, actually have a lot more riding on this change than it first appears. It is time we all stood up and gave this policy a bit more thought before it gets rushed through parliament.

The government now has a free pass to legislate this tax in the first sitting of the new Senate season. And, so far, Treasurer Jim Chalmers is showing no sign of backing down.

He’s also provided very limited insight into how it will work practically, so we might end up with a tax we don’t properly understand, and one that no one wants to speak out about except the wealthy, who we all shrug and roll our eyes at.

So before we all move on, let’s take a closer look at what this tax might actually do, and why it might – one day – affect far more Australians than we think.

This isn’t a tweak – it’s a turning point

Superannuation has been one of the great Australian policy successes. For more than three decades it has helped millions of ordinary workers build wealth over time, with tax incentives, long-term growth and compounding returns on their side.

It has turned everyday Australians into investors on the global stage. It has reduced pressure on the pension, as well as alleviated our fear of ageing impoverished. It has given people choice, dignity and financial independence in retirement.

But this tax marks a clear change in approach. It hits people for building wealth inside the system that was designed to help them do exactly that. It tells every smart investor that if your super grows too much, you will be penalised. Not when you realise the gains but while it is still just sitting there, growing on paper.

This is a sign that the government is stepping back from protecting super as our most effective long-term wealth-building tool.

It makes super harder to manage, more expensive to comply with and less attractive to contribute to, beyond the compulsory 12 per cent. And that weakens the system for everyone.

Maybe that’s actually what the government is trying to do, to slow down the use of super as a more extreme wealth creation tool and start to shape the system into an ordinary person’s retirement fund.

(READ ON… in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald. )

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