In this edition: It’s a juicy one
Feature: Why the first year of retirement is weirder than anyone tells you
From Bec’s Desk: A mother of young adults
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald: There’s good news for your super – but a big hole remains for retirees
Prime Time: All aboard The Ghan: The ultimate mother-daughter getaway
Why the first year of retirement is weirder than anyone tells you
I think we massively underestimate the first year of retirement, and the transition it really is. We put so much effort into getting to retirement day. We work out the numbers, when we can afford to stop working, what we’ll live on, and how to get rid of the mortgage. We plan the holidays, start making lists of the things we’ll finally have time to do.
Then you retire and for the first few weeks it can feel absolutely brilliant. There’s no alarm clock, no commute, and no dreading pull in your stomach on Sunday evenings. You take some trips, tackle a few projects you’ve been putting off around the house and throw in a few long lunches with old mates and it feels good.
Then at some point it dawns on you that wine and cheese at 4pm can’t become an almost-daily gig - and you’re not actually on a permanent holiday. This is your life now. And that’s where retirement can get a bit weird.
Most people recognise that work does a lot more than just pay you. It gives your week structure, and it gave you people to talk to. It even gives you a reason to get out of bed every day and be somewhere. And even if you’re truly ready to leave work behind, you might miss some of those things it gives you.
I hear this all the time from retirees - they don’t necessarily miss gong to work or doing work. They miss the banter, the people, the sense of shared purpose and the feelings of being useful. They also miss knowing what to do with their day.
It’s helpful to know before you get to retirement, that once the honeymoon is over, there really is an awful lot of time to fill up. And you’re not going to fill it with your bucket list. Chances are, you can probably only afford for your bucket list to fill it for a few weeks a year - maybe a few months. After that, it’s ordinary life that has to fill it.
So smile, knowing it probably will get weird and think about it in advance. Know there’s probably three important things to predict weirdness in, and prepare yourself for. Your everyday sense of purpose; your relationship; and your money.
Everyday life
If you’ve read my newsletters religiously, you’ll know I warn all the time about gap that can form in your day after the adjustment phase is over. It’s worthwhile thinking about this gap long before it appears and contemplating what you can do to fill it. Think about what gets you out of the house, who you’ll go to see, what keeps your body moving, and what you’re learning. Then contemplate what makes you feel useful. Answer all those and I suspect you’ll feel a lot less lost.Your relationship
You might have been married to your partner for 30 years, seeing them before and after work and on weekends for decades before now. But when you retire that shifts - and you’re usually home, together, all day long. Some couples revel in this and think it’s fantastic. Others need a period of re-negotiation and re-settling in to the new arrangements in the house. Remember - you don’t have to do everything together in retirement. In fact, I’d argue that having some things that are yours and some things that are theirs; and some things you do together is probably a great setup to think about.
Your money
You’ve been told to save, invest and build your pension for decades. Then your work income stops and you’re suddenly supposed to start spending down your nest egg, comfortably? And, if you’re in a couple, you’re both meant to know how to share that nest egg, all the risk, and all the fear of running out too. People really do find this hard.
And know, a $20,000 holiday feels different when there’s another salary coming in next month. When you take $20,000 from your super and watch the balance drop - that can feel quite confronting - even when you’ve planned for it and you’re supposed to do it.
So maybe it’s worth thinking about the first year or two as a test - where you expect things to feel weird. Try stuff, and notice how it feels, whether you like the feelings, and contemplate your alternatives:
Join a walking group
Take a long slow holiday
Go back to work one day a week if you miss it and see I that fills your cup
Volunteer
Learn something new
Get properly fit and healthy
See more of your grandkids (but thank carefully before taking on a default babysitter role three days a week)
And pay attention to what you enjoy. You might just discover that some of the things you imagined doing in retirement aren’t nearly as much fun when you have unlimited time to do them. And other things you’d never considered become a bigger part of your life than you’d thought.
You don’t retire on friday and wake up on Monday knowing exactly how to do retirement. So don’t put pressure on yourself to know. That’s what the first year (or even years) is about - working out what you want to do with all that time.
Want to read more, I have two books - How to Have an Epic Retirement and if you’re not ready for retirement, Prime Time: 27 Lessons for the New Midlife.
This week, my youngest child turned 18. And once the celebrations are over, there’s a reality in that for me: I’m no longer the mother of children. I’m the mother of three young adults, each making their own way in the world.
My son didn’t want balloons at his party, and he certainly wasn’t going to let me make an “uncool” slideshow. He’s ready to be the leader of his own life now. And my job is to stand back a little, let him make his choices, and watch him become the person he wants to be.
There are some hard lessons in that for a mother, aren’t there? Deep breath - I’m learning - but I have to admit - it’s uncomfortable. If you’ve got advice - please share it in the comments!
This week our wonderful trip on The Ghan is coming to life on both the podcast and social media (Facebook and Insta). Paris and I did this trip just over a week ago - and it was brilliant! Really awesome. You can listen in to our Ghan travel diary - which the podcasting team have put a lot of work into bringing to life in a really interesting way.
On the work front, we are deep in our courses! The HESTA Epic Retirement Program is up to Week 5, and had a terrific Live Q&A this week with Jen Harding the head of Engagement, Education & Advice at HESTA.
And the Epic Retirement Flagship Course cracked open week 2. We had the first Live Q&A this week with Ben Hillier from AMP - a cracker of a discussion on longevity.
The courses are bubbling with energy and amazing feedback - thousands and thousands of people are learning about retirement this weekend - the biggest number of people learning at once yet! If you missed out - we will have one last program this year, kicking off in October. You can register your interest here.
An update on book stocks - we are having a lot of troubles making our books available in stores. Amazon is out of stock, so are most retailers. Our publisher has had HUGE warehouse problems after a massive hack has brought down their whole distribution centre for what must be close to six weeks now, maybe more. One of the biggest distributers in Australia - so the problem is much bigger than mine. And there’s not much news on when the problems will end. Sorry guys! It’s still available on Audiobook and Kindle.
And, finally, this week I was on the edge of my seat for Dr Daniel Mulino, the Financial Services Minister’s speech at the National Press Club despite not being able to go to Canberra because of my son’s birthday (I would never miss the big 18!). And yes I am that much of a retirement geek that I watched it on the ABC live. He’s finally announced what the government will do to improve access to advice for everyday Australians. I applaud it, but I want more - so I wrote about what you should know in The Sydney Morning Herald - see it below. Hopefully we’ll get him on the podcast in the days to come - to chat about it. Fingers crossed.
And that’s it from me - have a ripper Sunday! I’ll be spending mine cleaning up from my son’s balloon-less celebrations. Wish me luck.
Cheers - Bec
Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker
There’s good news for your super – but a big hole remains for retirees
Finally, the government has made its move on financial advice. And there’s plenty for us everyday people to be happy about.
But there’s also a big hole in the middle that we must discuss because, ultimately, I want Australians to be able to get the help they need to make good retirement decisions.
Yet finding help without strings attached can be really difficult. It might be tied to the institution that already holds your money. Or it might come from an adviser with a centrally determined preferred or approved product list. Or you might find an adviser willing to give you retirement advice, but only if you also sign up for an ongoing investment management relationship.
And I’m quite sure that consumers want something far simpler: affordable, one-off advice or a two-year package deal for the run-up and transition into retirement, when they have a few big decisions to make.
Because for many people, that’s when the big questions come in thick and fast: should I stay with my super fund? Should I move super funds? What type of retirement product is really right for me (versus the one my fund offers)? When should I start drawing an income stream? How does the age pension fit into my plans? And how much can I really afford to spend?
Sometimes you just need someone independent to help you make some of these big decisions well. The big question is whether these reforms will finally make that kind of advice commercially attractive for advisers to offer consumers, and affordable to buy, or whether the advice industry has already moved towards a business model built around ongoing advice and investment management.
This article continues… It is published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday 22nd Aug 2026. Read the whole article here, without a paywall.
All aboard The Ghan: The ultimate mother-daughter getaway
This week’s episode of Prime Time is a little different because I’m taking you on holiday with me!
The Ghan is one of those great Australian journeys I’ve wanted to do for a very long time: travelling through the heart of the country from Darwin all the way down to Adelaide.
And this trip was made even more special because I got to bring my 22-year-old daughter Paris along for the ride.
The last time Paris and I travelled together without the rest of the family, she was just 13. So, we were well overdue for another mother-daughter adventure.
Over four days and three nights, we travelled from Darwin through Katherine, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy before arriving in Adelaide, watching some of Australia’s most extraordinary landscapes roll past our window along the way.
For this special episode, we recorded a travel diary as we went. We take you aboard the train, out on our off-train adventures and introduce you to some of the wonderful people we met along the way.
So, if The Ghan has ever been on your bucket list, or you’re simply looking for some inspiration for your next Australian adventure, come along for the ride.
LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE OF THE PODCAST HERE:
Hi Bec, congratulations on all of your kids reaching adulthood. There are definitely some hard lessons for a mother, and each and every child is different. I think it's harder when they're boys, especially as they magically become an adult and know everything. My best piece of advice is bite your tongue, a perfect moment to share an opinion will come. Then he'll listen and have time to think about it. Good luck, it can be a whole bunch of mixed feelings. Eventually they always come back to you with a whole lot of love and appreciation.