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15 August 2026
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Many of us worry about retirement – can we afford it? will we enjoy it? will we feel like we’re on the sidelines of life? – but little is written about what that phase of life is actually like.
It is useful to think of your financial life and psychological adjustment in five stages: a family and career phase, pre-retirement, close to retirement, just past retirement, and then lifestyle downsizing.
Retirees should discuss goals and plans with their adult children, including wills, finances, consequences of incapacitation and current plans. Includes a suggested 'Goals and Plans' document to kick off the conversation.
Most people in retirement will have three financial goals in the decumulation stage to take account of the uncertainty of health, longevity and markets, and here's a framework to help.
Don replies to Peter. People saving for retirement should separate shallow and deep risk. Shallow risk, where prices fall, can be good in accumulation phase. Deep risk is a serious long-term deterioration.
Take investment risk in the early years when there is little financial capital at stake and lots of future earning potential, and follow a sort of glide path to reduce exposure to risk later in life.
Fear of running out has become a defining retirement anxiety. Why do some retirees die with substantial wealth while others deplete their nest egg? Evidence suggests the answer is more complicated than we think.
Tax rules have changed, but many investors are still using yesterday’s strategies. Insurance bonds may offer advantages for those seeking greater control, tax efficiency and certainty about their wealth.
Investors may be overlooking a timeless source of returns in a volatile market. The companies that consistently generate and return cash to shareholders have often proved remarkably resilient through uncertainty.
The RBA has spent more than three decades pursuing its 2%-3% inflation target. But the numbers tell a far more complicated story than the headlines. The results may surprise both its strongest critics and most loyal defenders.
Retirement planning doesn't end when work does. Five months in, Joanne reflects on retiring at a different time to your spouse, coping with setbacks and the importance of rest. Some lessons only become clear after the fact.
Are markets still expensive? There are the seven key indicators every investor needs to know. From gold and equities to bonds, oil, bitcoin and the US dollar. The data reveals where opportunities and risks may lie for investors today.
AI may prove as transformative as the internet, but markets are behaving as if success is guaranteed. As capital races towards unprecedented levels, investors should ask whether enthusiasm is getting ahead of reality.