{"id":286336,"date":"2026-02-16T06:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T06:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/286336\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T06:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T06:24:14","slug":"retirement-expert-reveals-how-australians-can-retire-early-and-live-their-dream-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/286336\/","title":{"rendered":"Retirement expert reveals how Australians can retire early and live their dream life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Early retirement may not be as unrealistic as many Australians believe, according to a leading retirement expert who says the key lies in strategic planning and supercharging your super.<\/p>\n

Bec Wilson, author of How to Have an Epic Retirement and Prime Time, says retirement is undergoing a dramatic transformation, with Australians no longer viewing it as a downhill slide into old age.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re no longer seeing it as a finish line where we start to head downhill into old age and live a sad, smaller existence,\u201d Wilson told Sunrise. \u201cI think people see it as possibly some of the most exciting years of their life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s first piece of advice for those eyeing an early retirement is to supercharge their superannuation by maximising concessional and non-concessional contributions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe earlier you get money in using those low tax contributions, the more it compounds and does the work for you kind of while you\u2019re sleeping,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt\u2019s the power of time and compounding I want everybody to get their heads around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting rid of debt before retirement is equally crucial, according to Wilson. For many Australians, debt accounts for 25 to 35 per cent of their monthly living costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s gone, you can bring your cost-of-living budget that you need to access down and be able to spend the money on the things you want to spend it on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wilson emphasises the importance of planning what retirement actually looks like, rather than holding onto an idyllic fantasy.<\/p>\n

\"RetirementRetirement expert reveals how Australians can retire early and live their dream life Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many of us think retirement is this idyllic thing in the future and we don\u2019t really stop and think about the reality of what we\u2019re going to do on an average Tuesday, on an average Thursday,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

With retirement potentially spanning 25 to 35 years, Wilson recommends mapping out goals for different phases, from active years through to less mobile periods.<\/p>\n

She also urges Australians not to let fear hold them back from retirement planning. Common fears include running out of money, anxiety about spending savings, and concerns about losing purpose or identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t ignore them,\u201d Wilson advised. \u201cExamine them and look at the work they\u2019re telling you to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those worried about running out of money, she recommends learning about the age pension and how it works with superannuation.<\/p>\n

She says those fearing a lack of purpose should explore ways to use their skills after retirement and develop projects to carry into that phase of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early retirement may not be as unrealistic as many Australians believe, according to a leading retirement expert who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,263,111,43,139,69,244,245,294,62021,34561,314],"class_list":{"0":"post-286336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-lifestyle","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-personal-finance","16":"tag-personalfinance","17":"tag-retirement","18":"tag-sponsored-content","19":"tag-sunrise","20":"tag-superannuation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}