I enjoyed reading your answer dabsey. It made a lot of sense.

Some good pointers here. I guess the other thing is to have a budget for your wants like shopping and travelling. Perhaps look into second hand items for shopping – pick up a bargain, there are a lot out there! Watch out for last minute travel deals where the prices are reduced to get bums on seats.

Great answer dabsey !

I recently retired at 60 and am living off my husbands wage plus my super. For the two years prior to retiring I saved as much as I could and ploughed it into my super. I am finding I am managing better than I thought. Without having to go to work each day my petrol, clothing and make-up etc spending is way down. I cook more as I have more time. I don’t have a cleaning lady anymore as I now have the time to do it myself. Where we used to split bills as they come in now I only pay for the phone, internet and health insurance. I get my super as a pension payment fortnightly. When I was in my saving mode just before retirement I went through all my expenditure cutting and reducing what I could. Now I live a lot leaner but budget and save for fun stuff. I know it sounds weird but I quite enjoy the challenge. Previous to this I had always worked and was independent so my biggest adjustment was being “kept” by my husband which I still find a little hard. Having my super “pension” as my money though has made it easier. Of course it is not much but enough for my incidentals so I don’t have to ask for money to get my haircut etc. Every time I come home from shopping I put every gold coin in a container and it is looking as though I might have close to $1000 by Christmas which will pay for Christmas. My goodness they add up quickly. I have seperate bank accounts for saving for different things. I highly recommend the “Barefoot Investor” book as he gives lots of easy to follow and great tips on how to manage money. All that being said I have never been one that “loves to shop” so that part I can’t really relate to..

Put a budget down on paper (or using an online calculator) so that you can really see what your expenses are and how much you will have left over

Online calculators can also be helpful – I use them for calculating all sorts of things.

I think it depends on your income versus expenditure. You like to travel and shop? But have bills to pay? I think you’ll have to see what can be done in your budget. Maybe you CAN’T sustain the life you like on one wage; maybe you CAN. Maybe you can go part time to see how you like it. I read in the news how some Australians are retiring overseas because their money goes further…but I guess that eventually isn’t travel but immigration. 55 is really quite young, so plenty of options.

My mum survives comfortably on the old age pension, and still manages an overseas trip every year

I have bought books and also use online resources to plot for retirement which is a long way off but still good to plan ahead of time. Being mortgage free is a big bonus for anyone and then it is living within ones means. Often people do get part time or casual jobs to supplement their retirement and to stay active and involved in the community.

With no mortgage or rent to pay you are a mile ahead of a huge number of people living only on the Federal Pension who are managing, quite amazingly, to pay rent and survive.They have realised that they cannot expect to live as if they had TWO salaries per household for ever(Even if they had them in the first place) Unless we are really well off, we all have to shed some luxuries.