The Revenge of the Oldies

You never actually know what will become a ‘hit’.

Case in point:  when I wrote my book, I had no idea that my ‘Donald Bradman Retirement Strategy’ would resonate so strongly with readers. To date, I’ve received literally hundreds of emails from people in their 50s and 60s -- some admitting they were in tears as they typed -- thanking me for taking away their fear of retirement.

For the first time, they realised they can live a dignified retirement even if they have far less than the minimum ‘magic million’ in super that everyone tells them they need.

For those of you who haven’t read my book (What’s your excuse? Buy a freaking copy! The royalty from each book buys me half a can of Coke), the aim of the strategy is for retirees to still be at the crease at 100, hitting it out of the park while enjoying a comfortable retirement.

(And by ‘comfortable’ I mean lapping it up on a nice three-week trip to Noosa each year with your mates each year. Regularly eating at nice restaurants. Going to the flicks. Driving a near-new Toyota. Spoiling the grandkids. Having enough money for top-quality health insurance. And having some Mojo stashed away for emergencies.)

The Donald Retirement Bradman Strategy is a four-step process: First, you need to own your own home before you retire.

Second, you (currently) need to have $250,000 in super (couples), or $170,000 (singles).

Third, you need to claim the full age pension.

Fourth, you need to continue working a day or so a week. And here’s where the gravy cup from Canberra really runneth over: retirees can earn $57,948 a year (couples) or $28,974 (singles) before they pay a dollar in tax. And if they just want to supplement the age pension -- and not reduce it -- they can earn $13,000 (couples) or $6,500 (singles) a year under Centrelink’s ‘Work Bonus’.

The Million-Dollar Myth

Let me be clear: having a million bucks or more in retirement is a very good thing, and if you follow my book from a younger age you’ll almost certainly achieve it.

However to say that you need a million-dollar nest egg is a myth, peddled by the finance industry who get paid by clipping a percentage of your assets. It’s also a myth that a successful retirement is never having to work again.  

It’s said that the two most dangerous years of your life are the year you’re born and the year you retire. (That’s possibly because your partner will kill you if you hang around too much messing up the house).

Now listen up: you don’t have to keep working at the same job. But it’s essential that you find work (paid or voluntary) where you feel like you’re making a contribution, helping people, and even learning something new. It’s good for your savings and your self-confidence.

And that brings me to a very interesting discussion I had this week.

A Few Good Apples

I caught up with Matt Higgins, who runs Australia’s largest online jobs board for more mature employees -- olderworkers.com.au. Matt started the business nine years ago with his old man, who at the time was struggling to find a job after being laid off and then being unemployed for two years. Today the site has over 50,000 registered older workers looking to connect with ‘age-friendly’ employers.

Who do you think these ‘age-friendly’ employers are?

Well, Bunnings (of course), the RSL (sure), and … Apple.

Huh?

Yes, Apple.

As in the technology company, not fruit-picking in Mildura.

In fact, at the moment they’re picking a bunch of oldies to work in their Apple stores across the country.

Why?

Well, Higgins says one reason is that Apple is getting a lot more older customers coming into their stores (and who knows, maybe the young blue-shirted hipster crew aren’t that jazzed about teaching grandma how to turn on her iPad?).

However, Higgins believes the main reason that Apple is advertising on his site is simple:

“Older people are bloody hard workers.”

Makes total sense. The older generation has a great work ethic. They turn up on time. They’re ready to work. They focus on the job at hand ... instead of standing around staring at their phones and Instagramming their lunches. Most importantly, when they’re on the job, they tend to really enjoy their work. In fact, a survey of 17,000 Aussie workers released week by Curtin University backs this up. It found that workers aged 70 or older were three times more likely to be happy at work than their melancholy younger colleagues -- Gen Y recorded the lowest level of job satisfaction, at only 24 per cent. And here’s the kicker: those who claimed to be very satisfied with their jobs earned a lower amount on average each week than their less satisfied counterparts.

And that, my friends, is why Apple is the world’s biggest company. Hell, they’ve not only worked out how to dodge paying billions of dollars in taxes -- they’ve cracked the code on hooking up happy, engaged workers!

The researcher behind the report, Professor Rebecca Cassells, said: “Our research suggests that people working beyond the age of 65 are less likely to be doing it because they need the money … they’re doing it for the love of the job.” Howzat!?

Tread Your Own Path!

P.S. Happy Birthday to Mrs Rickert, who turned 102 a few weeks back. You may remember that I interviewed her a couple of years ago to get a reality check on why all us young ’uns should harden the hell up.

She’s lived through the Great Depression, a flu pandemic that wiped out 100 million people, and two world wars. And how’s this for hard -- she gave me the interview just after she’d finished mowing her lawns!

I asked Mrs Rickert how it feels to be 102, and she told me: “I don’t feel a day over 100.”

The Biggest Mistake You’ll Make With Your Retirement

Well, it looks like the nation’s superannuation reforms are now in the hands of ... Pauline Hanson.

And that’s quite concerning, given that I seriously doubt Pauline could tell the difference between a hedge fund and a halal burger.

“Please explain?”

So until Canberra clears its political bowels, it seems that detailed financial planning is off the agenda. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because it gives us a chance to talk about the number one mistake people make when they retire.

And no, it’s not retiring with too little dough.

In fact, just the opposite. I’ve found the people who make the biggest mistakes in retirement tend to be those (particularly men) who have million-dollar nest eggs.

The Biggest Mistake You’ll Make With Your Retirement

It’s said that the two most dangerous years of your life are the year you’re born and the year you retire.

You made it through the first one, so let’s talk about the second, with the help of a case study:

Fifteen years ago, a friend of mine’s father retired.

He’d spent 30 years working as an engineer in a government department.

Then he turned the magic age of 54 and 11 months, which was the kick-off age for what is arguably one of the most generous retirement schemes in history -- a defined benefit pension that paid out a factor of his final wage, every month, until the day he died.

He’d never have to worry about money again.

As was the tradition, his workmates gave him a send-off on his last day. The irony wasn’t lost on him: he’d spent his entire life rushing around chasing his tail. And the day he could finally put his feet up and relax they gave him… a bloody gold watch.

Tick. Tock.

On the first day of his retirement, he woke up at the same time he always had. Had a shower. Put on his suit. Made some breakfast. Caught the bus into the city. And then … sat in a coffee shop and read the newspaper for three hours. After that he caught the bus home, wondering what the hell he was going to do with himself for the rest of the day.

The Curse of the Million-Dollar Super Fund

Here’s you: “Curse? A million bucks in my super? I’d, I’d…”

Here’s me: “Wake up whenever you want?”

Here’s you: “Yeah!”

Here’s me: “Go on the Baby Boomer equivalent of a Contiki tour (hello Trafalgar) and get pissed with other suburbanites?”

Here’s you: “Well, maybe once a year...”

Here’s me: “Sure. And for the other 11 months of the year you can sit at home, make smalltalk with your wife and her friends, and wait for your kids to drop off the grandkids ... every second Thursday.”

Here’s you: “Ummm, I guess. What else have you got?”

Here’s me: “Death?”

Most people work incredibly hard throughout their careers to provide for their families -- especially those who beat the odds and retire with million-dollar super funds.

And, particularly for men, their work comes to define them. Not only does it build their super, but it gives them their self-worth and something productive to do.

These workhorses don’t realise that their career has been to the detriment of friends, hobbies and cultivating other interests (well, besides drinking beer and watching the cricket), till after they get home from the Trafalgar tour.

So, what’s the solution?

The Golden Rule of Retirement

The golden rule of retirement is ... keep working.

Of course most people don’t have a choice, given that research from the University of Melbourne suggests that only 53 per cent of couples and 22 per cent of singles are on track to achieve a comfortable level of retirement income.

Yet that doesn’t mean you have to keep your existing job (especially if you’re a tiler with dodgy knees).

You can do something less labour intensive, and possibly not full time. And if you do, the Government will bend over backwards to help you.Once your reach your Age pension age, you’ll not only be able to draw a tax-free pension from your super, but in addition you can both earn up to $28,974 each without paying a cent of income tax. You can save up for a trip of a lifetime, and stretch it further by making it a working holiday. Throw all that into a retirement calculator -- it works better than Viagra!

Yet what if your advisor says, “You’re a winner, you don’t have to work another day in your life.”

Barefoot says, “Work anyway” (even if it’s a day or two a week).

Work is good for you: retirees who continue doing some kind of part-time work are found to be the happiest and the least likely to suffer depression.

Why not use the skills you’ve honed over your career to do some useful work?

I meet so many Uber drivers who are well-to-do retirees who don’t need the money -- they just like chatting to people and earning their keep at the same time.

And I’ve got one final tip for you: think about your legacy. What do you want to be known for? What is it that you could be known for?

You don’t even need to be wealthy. I know of a bunch of old tradies who build wheelchairs for kids in third world countries. And last week I wrote about a stay-at-home mum who built a hospital in Uganda. One of the greatest human needs is the desire to be useful and appreciated. Helping people is the key to your own happiness.

The bottom line is this: in retirement you need enough money to live… and enough to live for.

Oh, and you may be wondering what happened to our ‘coffee shop’ engineer.

Well, after three months of reading the newspaper, one day he looked at his gold watch and decided it was time to do something. He needed meaning and purpose. He had something more to give. So he went back and became a teacher, and worked happily away for the next 14 years.

Tread Your Own Path!