Feature story: Are you one of the 15 million people?

The Times: Your pension is primed to let you down at the worst possible time

From Bec’s Desk: Our course is up and away

Are you one of the 15 million people?

Last week, the UK government’s newly reconvened Pensions Commission dropped a report that deserves more attention than it’s getting. The headline finding: 15 million people in the UK are currently undersaving for retirement. Without action, that figure could rise to 19 million.

That’s not a small problem. That’s roughly half the working-age population.

The Commission was clear about who’s most at risk: low and middle earners, the self-employed, and women. But here’s the thing - many of the people reading this newsletter would tell you they’re “doing okay” with their retirement savings. And some of you will be right. But some of you won’t.

So let’s do a quick, honest check.

Step 1: Do you know your State Pension forecast?

The full State Pension is currently £12,548 a year. It’s inflation-linked and guaranteed for life, which makes it genuinely valuable, but it won’t get you very far on its own.

To get the full amount, you need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions. Fewer years means a reduced payment. If you haven’t already, check your forecast at gov.uk/check-state-pension. It takes about two minutes and it’s worth knowing exactly where you stand.

Also check for gaps in your NI record worth filling. Voluntary contributions currently cost around £17.75 a week per missing year, and each extra year could add around £330 a year to your State Pension for life. For many people, that’s a very good deal.

Step 2: Do you know what income you actually need?

Before you can work out if you’re on track, you need a target.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association publishes the Retirement Living Standards - a practical guide to what different lifestyles actually cost in retirement. Here’s where things currently stand (these assume you own your home outright):

• Comfortable — £43,900 a year for a single person, £60,600 for a couple

• Moderate — £31,700 for a single person, £43,900 for a couple

• Minimum — £13,400 for a single person, £21,600 for a couple

Subtract the State Pension and you can see the gap you need to fund from your own pensions and savings. For someone aiming at a comfortable single retirement, that gap is around £31,350 a year on top of the State Pension. For a couple aiming at comfortable, it’s around £35,500 on top of their combined State Pension of £25,096.

Those are significant numbers. And they’re exactly why the Commission is sounding the alarm.

Step 3: Are you actually on track - or just enrolled?

Here’s where a lot of people get caught out.

Auto-enrolment has been a genuine success - it’s brought millions of people into workplace pensions who would never have saved otherwise. But being enrolled is not the same as being on track.

The law requires a minimum total contribution of 8% of your qualifying earnings: 3% from your employer and 5% from you (including tax relief). That’s the floor, and for most people, it’s not enough to retire comfortably, especially if you started late or have gaps in your working history. Most people need closer to 10-12%.

If you’ve been contributing at the minimum for most of your career, do a quick sense check: log into your pension portal, look at your current pot size, and ask yourself honestly whether what you’ve built - combined with your State Pension - would fund the lifestyle you want for 20 or 30 years.

If the numbers feel uncomfortable, that’s useful information. It means there’s still time to do some work and adjust your vision and plans. And consider adjusting your pension contributions.

And be sure to read my article in The Times about pension investment returns in the run up to retirement. You might find your workplace pension is massively underperforming inflation and you could be effectively going backwards. Take a look!

Three things worth doing this week

1. Check your State Pension forecast at gov.uk/check-state-pension and look for any gaps in your NI record worth filling.

2. Log into your workplace pension and find your current pot value and contribution rate. Most providers let you do this online in a few minutes.

3. Pick a lifestyle benchmark from the PLSA standards above and work out how much you’d need in total savings to fund the income gap. A simple starting point: divide your required annual top-up by 4% to get a rough savings target.

None of this requires a financial adviser to get started. It just requires a bit of honest attention.

And if you want help working through all of this properly - understanding your pensions, building an income plan, and getting real clarity on where you stand - we’ve just launched our Epic Retirement course for UK readers. You can find out more and join us at epicretirement.net/program/pilot. It only started on Thursday so you still have time to catch up.

The Pensions Commission will publish its final recommendations in 2027. The system may well change by then. But none of that helps you if you’re sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what happens.

The only thing that matters right now is whether you are on track. Not the average person. Not the 15 million. You.

Go find out.

I’ve been head-down working on our UK Epic Course for months. And it’s finally here.

Our UK Epic Retirement Course kicked off beautifully on Thursday. Excited pre-retirees all jumped into the platform and started on Week 1’s lessons. It’s a six week program, and there’s three live events during the program too, after we get into the harder financial stuff and the ‘finding your purpose’. There’s still time to join the course. Just book your place and jump straight in.

Learn more: Download the brochure

I also got a hold of the pre-retirement performance data for workplace funds in the UK and was frankly quite horrified. So I wrote a long, detailed and constructive article for The Times. Make sure you’re looking if you’re in the run up to retirement. Some of the biggest funds are lower than inflation.

Aside from that, I’ve been in Sydney, making podcasts and attending our pensions-industry awards. And I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend. I hope you’re enjoying the run into Summer!

Now get out there and make your Sunday epic.

Bec Xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Why do I write a separate newsletter for the UK?

I write a separate newsletter specifically for the UK, because the financial system here is completely different to Australia, where I’m based. Your retirement is shaped by the State Pension, workplace pensions, ISAs and HMRC rules. Not superannuation or the Australian Age Pension.

If I just sent you the Australian version with a few words swapped out, it wouldn’t actually be useful to you. And useful is the whole point.

The big conversations, about when to step back from work, what you want the next chapter to look like, how to make your money last, those are universal. But the practical detail needs to reflect the system you’re actually living in. So that’s what we’ve built here. Tell your friends - we want to help you make your retirement epic - the UK way.

Welcome to the UK edition.

I am the retirement columnist for The Times, UK. You can read my most recent column here.

Your pension is primed to let you down at the worst possible time

If you are approaching retirement you probably have a pension you have forgotten about, or maybe two. Possibly even three. Each one in a different workplace scheme, chosen by a former employer through a negotiation you were never part of, invested in a default fund you have never looked at, earning returns you have never compared with anything.

The system was clearly not designed to help you find out about, or monitor performance. If it had been there is no way the dreadful figures on pension performance in the five years to retirement would have been allowed to stand.

The analyst CAPAdata tracks the performance of UK workplace pension default funds and its figures show what has been happening to workers’ pension returns in the five critical years before they reach state pension age, known as pre-retirement. This is when the stakes are highest and there is little time to recover from a bad decision.

A pension pot at retirement still needs to last another 20 to 30 years, though, which means growth still matters enormously. I have spent years writing about retirement planning, and these numbers are worse than I expected for a period when global markets were delivering some of their strongest returns in decades. They should alarm anyone who has a pension in this country.

The best performing pre-retirement fund in the data set over the five years to March 2026 was the SEI Flexi Default, growing at a compound annual rate of 9.5 per cent — impressive. The worst was Scottish Widows, at a miserable 3.3 per cent a year, a rate that did not even keep pace with inflation.

The article was published in The Times, and is available for reading here.

The countdown is on: The UK Epic Retirement Course begins on Thursday.

If you’re in the UK and you’ve been waiting for a proper retirement course built specifically for the British pension system, this is it. It kicks off on 28th May.

We’ve built a six-week online program to give you the clarity, confidence and practical know-how to plan your retirement properly. Not generic advice. Not Australian super rules with a Union Jack slapped on top. A program built from the ground up for the UK, covering the State Pension, workplace pensions, ISAs and everything in between.

Here’s what’s included:

• 14 modules and around 100 lessons, all built for the UK system

• Exercises and activities throughout so you’re actually doing the work, not just watching videos

• A community of people going through it alongside you

• Three live Q&As with some of the UK’s leading retirement experts

• A conversation starter workbook to help you and your partner actually talk about what you want

• A copy of the UK edition of How to Have an Epic Retirement as your companion guide

The course is hosted by me and UK actuary and retirement coach Charlotte Gibson, so you’re getting practical expertise from both sides of the equation.

This isn’t a webinar. It’s a proper six-week program, done together, and pilot pricing means it’s the cheapest it will ever be. Book your place at the link in bio.

Book your spot here before it’s too late - or download the brochure to learn more here. (And if you’re an employer, employee benefits consultancy or belong to a pension fund and would like to send some of your staff - reach out to us at bec@epicretirement.uk)

Not quite retiring - it’s a thing

A friend of mine handed in his notice this week, three months until what he’s calling his “second retirement.” He turns 60 next year, and when he talks about it, he’s genuinely convinced this is it.

So I got him talking. And for the first ten minutes, it was all about time. How he has none of it right now. How he’s craving it in a way that feels almost physical. How he came back to the workforce after retirement number one feeling ready, energised even, and how somewhere in the past year that feeling quietly drained away and left him with a diary full of other people’s priorities and almost none of his own.

But then something shifted. As the conversation went on and I kept asking questions, his tone changed. Because when I asked him what he might actually do next, he didn’t dismiss work entirely. He paused. He knows his knowledge is valuable. He likes being useful, genuinely likes it, and he’s self-aware enough to know that the feeling of usefulness doesn’t automatically follow you into retirement just because you want it to. He’s watched it disappear once before, and he hasn’t forgotten what that felt like.

So what he actually wants isn’t quite retirement. It’s time. Space in his life. Room to think, to breathe, to decide what the next chapter looks like without the current one consuming every available hour. The problem is that in the role he’s in right now, there is no version of that on offer. So the only move he can see is to leave completely and create the vacancy himself.

I thought that was one of the more honest things I’d heard someone say about this stage of life in a while. Because I think a lot of people in their late 50s are carrying exactly that tension, not wanting to stop contributing, but not willing to keep going the way they have been. Wanting the usefulness without the exhaustion. Wanting to feel like their experience still matters, just in a different configuration, on their own terms, with some of their own time back.

It’s harder to navigate than a clean retirement, because there’s no obvious template for it. But if you’re sitting somewhere in that territory, here are the questions worth actually working through.

Is it the work itself, or the terms you’re doing it on?

This one matters more than most people realise, because the answer changes everything. A lot of people who think they want to stop working actually want to stop doing so very much of it, under these conditions, with this much pressure and this little control over their own time. That’s a different problem with different solutions. The question is whether those solutions are available to you where you are right now, or whether, like my friend, the only realistic path to the life you want runs through leaving first.

What would you actually do with the time, specifically?

Most people haven’t thought this through beyond a vague sense of relief, and the first few months of stepping back tend to feel wonderful regardless. After that, a lot of people find the days harder to fill than they expected, particularly if work has been the main source of structure, identity, and connection for the last few decades. It’s worth asking yourself honestly what a genuinely good week looks like when you’re not working full-time, and whether you have enough of the right things already in your life to fill that space well.

What would usefulness look like, redesigned?

This is really the question underneath everything else. If you know, like my friend does, that pure retirement didn’t fully work last time, then the goal isn’t to stop contributing. It’s to find a version of contributing that doesn’t cost you everything else. Consulting, a board position, mentoring, building something smaller on your own terms. These are real options worth thinking through properly, not filing away as vague possibilities to sort out later.

Have you actually modelled what stepping back costs you financially?

Not in the general sense of whether you have enough saved, but properly stress-tested. What does reducing your income cost you per year, and what does that do to your long-term position? A lot of people are more financially ready to make a move than they think, and some are less ready than they assume. Getting proper advice from someone who understands this phase of life is worth doing before anything is decided.

And have you had the real conversation with your partner?

Not just about the money, but about what the day-to-day actually looks like when one or both of you is renegotiating how you spend your time and maybe the other one is already retired. Talk about what you each need from the next chapter, and what it means for how you live together day to day. It’s one of those conversations that’s easy to keep putting off and genuinely important to have before anything is locked in.

My friend might be doing exactly the right thing. Sometimes the only way to get your time back is to clear the diary completely and start again. But the vacancy only works if you go into it with some sense of what you’re hoping will show up.

I’ve been out bushwalking this weekend, enjoying one of few sunny days this week. Your weather is looking considerably better than ours right now. It’s been raining all week in Brisbane, and I keep seeing my British friends popping up on social media in their summer gear, looking tanned and delighted with themselves. I’ll admit I’m a little envious as the winter chill creeps in here.

I’m booking my next trip to the UK for October. I’ll miss the beautiful midyear months, but I’m excited nonetheless, because it’s time to start doing some proper Epic Retirement events over there. If you’d like to help us set something up in your town while I’m visiting, please do reach out. I’d love to meet as many of you in person as possible.

And this week is a big one. We’re kicking off the very first Epic Retirement UK Flagship Course pilot program, and I can’t quite believe we’re finally here. It’s the beginning of something we’ve been building towards for a while, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with our UK community and readers. It’s a six week course - and it’s become really popular in Australia. This is just the beginning in the UK, and I’m thrilled to see a good crew have signed up and are eager to begin.

More on that at the top of the email. You can download a copy of the brochure to learn more. And be sure to get your booking in ASAP if you want to be on board for it. The course drops into our learning portal on Thursday!

Learn more: Download the brochure

Now get out there and make your Sunday epic.

Bec Xx

P.S. To celebrate the launch of the UK Course, we’re also giving away 5 free seats in the program. To go into the draw, simply give our Epic Retirement UK Facebook page a like and comment and follow along in the newsletter to see if you win.

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Why do I write a separate newsletter for the UK?

I write a separate newsletter specifically for the UK, because the financial system here is completely different to Australia, where I’m based. Your retirement is shaped by the State Pension, workplace pensions, ISAs and HMRC rules. Not superannuation or the Australian Age Pension.

If I just sent you the Australian version with a few words swapped out, it wouldn’t actually be useful to you. And useful is the whole point.

The big conversations, about when to step back from work, what you want the next chapter to look like, how to make your money last, those are universal. But the practical detail needs to reflect the system you’re actually living in. So that’s what we’ve built here. Tell your friends - we want to help you make your retirement epic - the UK way.

Welcome to the UK edition.

I am the retirement columnist for The Times, UK. You can read my most recent column here. And there’s a new column about to drop any day - keep your eye out.

Book your place on the Epic Retirement UK Flagship Course

The How to Have an Epic Retirement 6-week Flagship Course is the only course available that’s independent, comprehensive and tells you the truth about all your retirement choices. More on the program at the bottom of the email. Or simply download a brochure here.

AND we’re giving away 5 seats on the course, to our UK social community. All you have to do is follow our Epic Retirement UK Facebook page here and comment on our posts. We’ll be in touch via your social media inbox.

The retirement conversations couples often avoid

One of the most interesting things I’ve noticed about retirement planning is this: In many couples, one person is usually more ready to think about retirement than the other.

One person is curious. Planning ahead. Wondering what the next stage of life might look like.

The other is often still deeply focused on work… or quietly hoping retirement will somehow just “sort itself out” later.

While this is incredibly normal, it can also create tension if couples never properly talk about what they each want from the years ahead.

Because retirement isn’t just a financial transition, it’s a relationship transition too.

Suddenly you may be spending more time together than you have in decades. On top of that, your routines change. Your independence changes. Your priorities can shift. And sometimes, couples discover they’ve been imagining very different versions of retirement altogether.

For example, you might dream of travel and adventure, and your partner might want stability at home. Or perhaps you have decided it’s time to slow down and give up work for good, but your partner might want to start volunteer, study, or work part-time.

And neither person is wrong. But these conversations matter more than people realise.

I often say that one of the greatest gifts couples can give each other before retirement is not a perfect financial plan. It’s clarity.

Clarity about:

• what matters most

• how you want to spend your time

• how much freedom you each need

• where you want to live

• what role family plays

• what a meaningful life actually looks like for both of you

One small exercise I encourage couples to try is this:

Ask each other:

“What does a really great week look like for you in retirement?”

Not the fantasy version. The ordinary version.

Where are you waking up?

How are you spending your days?

What would make you feel energised, connected, fulfilled and balanced?

You might be surprised by how different - or how similar - your answers are.

And that’s exactly why these conversations are so valuable. It will help you build be on the same page and approach retirement as a team.

Join us for our very first UK course

After helping thousands of Australians through the How to Have an Epic Retirement program over the past two years, we’re now bringing the course to the UK for the very first time.

It’s hosted by me, Bec Wilson and UK Actuary and Retirement Coach, Charlotte Gibson - so you’ll get some really useful learnings from both of us plus there’s three live Q&As over the program, with guests include: Dan Haylett, Financial Adviser and Author and Neil Jones, Retirement Expert from Standard Life.

This isn’t a webinar. It’s a proper program, done together, over six weeks and it starts on the 28th May. The course is designed to give you the confidence and practical know-how to plan your retirement properly. It’s not generic advice. It’s a program built from the ground up for the UK – the State Pension, workplace pensions, ISAs, finding purpose, happiness, looking after your health, traveling in retirement, building plans, goals and so much more.

Plus, the pilot pricing is the cheapest it will ever be - and you can share the one ticket with your partner (in fact, we encourage couples to do it together). It’s designed to help people start talking about retirement differently, not just through the lens of money, but through lifestyle, relationships, purpose, health and the future you’re building together.

Included in the program:

• 6 weeks/ 100 video lessons organised in 14 modules

• Exercises in every module, making it easy to digest

• A Conversation Starter workbook to accompany your learning

• A copy of How to Have an Epic Retirement - UK - ebook edition

• 3 Live Q&As with some of the UK’s best retirement experts.

Learn more: Download the brochure

Or if you’re ready, you can book your spot here before registrations close.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with your questions to ​bec@epicretirement.net

Cheers - let’s make it epic!

P.S. Don’t forget - to celebrate the launch of the UK Course, we’re also giving away 5 free seats in the program. To go into the draw, simply give our Epic Retirement UK Facebook page a like and follow along.

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

The UK Epic Retirement Course is here

If you’re in the UK and you’ve been waiting for something built specifically for the British pension system – this is it. Our Epic Retirement UK 6-Week Flagship Course kicks off on 28th May.

I’ve worked with Charlotte Gibson, UK Retirement Coach and Actuary, bringing the Epic Retirement framework and our knowledge together.

We’ve built a six-week online course designed to give you the confidence and practical know-how to plan your retirement properly. It’s not generic advice. It’s a program built from the ground up for the UK – the State Pension, workplace pensions, ISAs, finding purpose, happiness, looking after your health, traveling in retirement, building plans, goals and so much more.

Here’s what’s included:

• 14 modules and around 100 lessons, all built for the UK system.

• Exercises and activities in every module so you’re actually doing the work, not just watching videos.

• A community of people going through it alongside you, so you can share, question and connect on every lesson.

• Three live Q&As with some of the UK’s leading retirement experts.

• A conversation starter workbook to help you and your partner — or your family — actually talk about what you want.

• And a copy of How to Have an Epic Retirement (UK edition) as your companion textbook.

This isn’t a webinar. It’s a proper program, done together, over six weeks and it starts in less than two weeks, on the 28th May - so book your place. The pilot pricing is the cheapest it will ever be. We can’t wait to share this program with you. It’s hosted by me, Bec Wilson and UK Actuary and Retirement Coach, Charlotte Gibson - so you’ll get some really useful learnings from both of us plus there’s three live Q&As over the program, with guests include: Dan Haylett, Financial Adviser and Author and Neil Jones, Retirement Expert from Standard Life.

Book your spot here before we close the doors.

Or download the brochure to learn more here.

(and if you’re an employer, employee benefits consultancy or belong to a pension fund and would like to send some of your staff - reach out to us at bec@epicretirement.uk)

Retirement’s hidden challenge: identity and purpose

We spend years stressing over our pension balances, trying to pick the perfect retirement age, and wondering if we’ve saved enough. But what if that’s not the only thing keeping most of us up at night?

Because for many of us, the real fear isn’t about money. It’s about what happens after we stop working.

It’s the fear of losing purpose. Losing that feeling of being useful or connected. We’re scared of drifting through 25 or 30 years without the rhythm and identity that work gives us. Once upon a time, retirement was the prize at the end of the grind - freedom from the job that wore down your body and stole your weekends. But work has changed. These days, it can be a source of social connection, meaning, and – dare I say it – even enjoyment.

So, when we step away from it, the real question becomes: what now?

In the Epic Retirement Club Facebook group, a community member, Patrick recently shared something that got a lot of people clicking emojis and commenting. He wrote:

“One of the hardest things to believe about retirement is that the biggest challenge isn’t money, it’s identity. For years, our jobs gave us titles, routines, and even purpose. Then one day, the title disappears, the calendar clears, and you’re left facing the question: Who am I without the work? Almost everyone feels this before retirement, but not everyone talks about it. The truth is, building a meaningful retired life takes the same effort and planning as building wealth. And once you figure that out, retirement becomes less about what you left behind and more about what you’re finally free to create.”

Patrick has put into words something that many people feel but rarely express in public: that work is about much more than income. It’s structure and scaffolding. It holds our lives together - giving us routine, identity, and the sense that we matter. When that scaffolding comes down, you have to ask: what will stand in its place? And, if you don’t plan for the structure’s replacement - everything could get shaky.

Why is identity so important?

Money really dominates the headlines around retirement planning: how much you’ll need, how to invest it, when you can afford to stop working - they’re all things you do to prepare yourself for retirement. But Patrick is right - the harder, quieter work is identity.

If we don’t prepare for that shift, retirement can feel like a big loss rather than a newfound sense of freedom. If we do, it becomes a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reinvent ourselves.

How do you start your reinvention?

Building a post-work identity isn’t done as a single leap; it’s a gradual construction project. Frankly, I believe the people who thrive in retirement usually do four things (at least):

• Experiment before the date arrives. They try taking time away from work and finding purpose, testing out volunteering, mentoring, creative projects, pursuits or part-time ventures while still working.

• Separate their identity from their title. Instead of saying “I was an engineer,” or “I was a teacher,” they start saying “I’m a problem-solver” or “I love making things work.” It’s about holding onto values and skills and a sense of identity in these, not just the job badge. And then finding new ways to use those talents in the world.

• Invest in pursuits, not just hobbies. Most people don’t understand the difference. But it’s important. A pursuit is something you continue to invest in growing your skills in. A hobby is just something you do to occupy yourself. Patrick’s thoughts are spot on here - building a life of pursuits means seeking personal growth, mastery of some skills, contribution, and purpose.

• Seek proactively. They go looking for things that interest them, stay curious about what’s changing in themselves and in the people around them, and try new things.

When you understand that identity is the central challenge, and central opportunity of retirement, money takes its proper place. It’s the tool that enables you to go looking for what’s next for you, not the purpose itself.

Like Patrick said so well, once you figure this out, retirement stops being about what you left behind. It becomes about what you’re finally free to create.

And that, more than anything, is the real work of retiring well - in my opinion. What do you think?

If this resonates with you, you are going to love what we have in store in our upcoming Epic Retirement UK Course.

The course has already helped thousands of Australians build greater retirement confidence, and this is the very first time we’re bringing a version built specifically for the UK retirement system to life.

It’s a six-week online course combining practical retirement education, guided reflection exercises, community conversations and three live Q&A sessions with retirement experts.

Because this is our founding UK cohort, we’re intentionally keeping it small, and launching with a lower-than-ever-priced pilot. And best of all, you have the opportunity to share your feedback which will help shape the course for future participants.

You can download a copy of the brochure to learn more.

Learn more: Download the brochure

More soon,

Bec Xx

P.S. To celebrate the launch of the UK Course, we’re also giving away 5 free seats in the program. To go into the draw, simply give our Epic Retirement UK Facebook page a like and comment and follow along in the newsletter to see if you win.

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

I am the retirement columnist for The Times, UK. You can read my most recent column here. And I’ve linked some other recent columns below.

We’ve been married for 30 years but can’t agree on when to retire’

Couples who have spent decades building a financial life together often forget to plan what happens when they stop work, says our retirement expert

Read more here

The real risk from AI isn’t losing your job — it’s wrecking your retirement

A drop in income at 30 is inconvenient but at 50 it can be a disaster. We all need to wake up to the risks

Read more here

What I’ve heard should alarm every politician in the country

In an open letter to the government, Times Money’s retirement columnist sets out why people aren’t saving like they should

Read more here

The six biggest retirement fears — and how to solve them

Prepare for all the things that feel scary about giving up work, from running out of money to finding a way to fill up your time

Read more here

But at some point, you want to know how you get there. And that requires a vision, so you can work on the numbers and start to plot your path.

Making that move from drifting to deliberate planning is one of the most important steps you can take in the lead-up to retirement. And once you’ve made it, here are some ways to get the most out of the planning phase.

1. Start with writing out your vision

It’s hard to plan for something you haven’t got a mental picture of. What does an epic retirement look like in your head? Is it adventure and travel? A slower, local rhythm? A portfolio of projects and pursuits with an annual holiday thrown in? Once you have that picture, you can start asking the real questions: How much do you need? When could you comfortably cut back work? What would life actually cost, week to week? Having a vision, even a sketchy one, gives your planning a direction to work toward.

2. Put shape around your spending

Rather than telling yourself “we’ll probably need less when we stop work,” get specific. Track what you’re spending now and sketch out what will actually change over the coming years. Kids finally leaving home? Mortgage nearly done? More travel in the mix? Less need for work clothes and transport? Downsizing? Yes, that means building a budget. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it will give you a clearer picture of whether you’re in good shape already, or whether there are gaps to fill.

3. Test out some different income scenarios

This is where your pensions, ISAs and investments stop being abstract numbers and start to feel real. Start testing what retirement could actually look like - financially. Run through a few “what ifs.” If you drew £40,000 or £60,000 a year, how long would your savings last? What happens if markets fall in the first few years? What changes if you work part-time for longer, downsize later on, or delay accessing certain pensions? Far from being frightening, playing with different scenarios in private can actually feel empowering. It helps you understand the levers you can pull, and reminds you that retirement is often more flexible than people first assume.

4. Use the “excess years” in your Prime Time wisely

For many people, there’s a window in midlife where cash flow suddenly starts to improve - the children become more independent, the mortgage is shrinking, and peak earning years are often still ahead of you. It’s tempting to let lifestyle creep take over with bigger holidays, home upgrades or expensive treats. But if you instead treat these years as your retirement setup phase - boosting pension contributions, building ISA investments, reducing debt or creating a healthy cash buffer - you can give yourself far more flexibility and freedom later on.

5. Don’t forget the emotional side

Money is only half the picture you need when you think about retirement. Planning is also about shaping your days, your reasons for getting out of bed and the things you get a kick out of. Ask yourself: What will give me purpose? How will I stay connected? What do I want to be known for in this next chapter? And what experiences are important to plan for? Answering those questions now will make the transition into retirement smoother, more exciting, and more fulfilling.

The moment you stop drifting and start diving in is the true beginning of retirement planning. From there, every step you take isn’t just about the numbers - it’s about building the kind of future you can’t wait to step into.

And this is exactly why I created the Epic Retirement UK Flagship Course, which kicks off on the 28th of May. It is designed to give you a way to think more clearly about the years ahead with a solid framework to start turning vague thoughts into real plans.

Across six weeks, we explore the six pillars of an Epic Retirement, from pensions, budgeting and retirement income, through to purpose, health, relationships, travel and the role your home plays as you age.

But perhaps most importantly, the course helps you move from: “I should probably think about retirement someday…” to: “Right. Here’s the kind of life I want to build — and here’s how I might actually get there.”

And to celebrate the launch of the UK course, I wanted to share a free preview lesson with you today.

This lesson comes from Week 1 of the program and explores one of the most powerful frameworks in the course: The five stages of retirement.

Understanding these stages helps people stop viewing retirement as one giant leap into the unknown, and instead start seeing it as a transition that unfolds over time. Interestingly, these stages have very little to do with age, and much more to do with mindset, priorities and the way you make decisions.

If this resonates with you, the UK Pilot Edition of the How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course is now open for enrolments at a special discounted pilot rate.

And because this is our very first UK cohort, we’re intentionally keeping the pilot small (only 200 spots are available!) so we can shape the future of the program together.

The course has already helped thousands of Australians feel more confident and optimistic about retirement, and this is the very first time we’re bringing a version built specifically for the UK retirement system to life.

Secure your spot now

Curious to learn more?

This is the only comprehensive, modern, 6-week ‘get ready for retirement’ program available in the UK. But it isn’t just about money.

The course runs over six weeks and includes around 100 lessons, interactive exercises, live expert Q&As, and a private community where participants can learn alongside others navigating this same transition.

Download a copy of our brochure to learn more about what’s included.

Learn more: Download the brochure

I am so excited for you to come on this journey with me. It all kicks off on the 28th of May and runs for six weeks.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with your questions to ​bec@epicretirement.net

Cheers - let’s make it epic!

P.S. To celebrate the launch of the UK Course, we’re also giving away 5 free seats in the program. To go into the draw, simply give our Epic Retirement UK Facebook page a like and follow along.

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

We’re proudly launching our 6-week Epic Retirement education program in the UK!

After months of building, filming, adapting, writing and planning, I’m so excited to officially announce that the Epic Retirement UK Flagship Course is now open for bookings!

It’s a synchronous course, which means we all do it together over a six-week period beginning on the 28th of May 2026.

And, because this is our first ever program in the UK, we’re offering everyone who joins us on this pilot edition a special discounted rate (one that will never be offered again!) But spots are limited, as we are only offering this to 200 people.

Day one of bookings from the pre-release yesterday has just blown me away!

If you want to know more about the program, take a look below and at our new brochure.

I’d personally love to have you join us and I know you’ll reap the rewards. Plus - It’s a bargain you’ll probably never see again.

Secure your spot now

This course is designed to be practical and to help you build your retirement confidence

This is the only comprehensive, modern, 6-week ‘get ready for retirement’ program available in the UK. But it isn’t just about money.

Yes, we absolutely help you better understand retirement finances and how the system works. But we also explore purpose, identity, health, happiness, travel, work, relationships, and how to create a retirement lifestyle that actually feels meaningful and fulfilling.

Here’s a little look at what’s included:

✅ 14 practical retirement modules tailored to the UK system

✅ Over 70+ short, easy-to-follow video lessons

✅ Interactive exercises and activities throughout the course

✅ A downloadable Conversation Starter workbook to help you reflect and start important conversations

✅ Three live Q&A events with leading UK retirement experts

✅ Complete the program alongside a whole cohort approaching retirement. Learn how to make your retirement truly epic and have fun doing it.

✅ Exclusive discounted access to the UK edition eBook of How to Have an Epic Retirement

Learn more: Download the brochure

I am so excited for you to come on this journey with me. It all kicks off on the 28th of May and runs for six weeks.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with your questions to ​bec@epicretirement.net

Cheers - let’s make it epic!

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Feature: The two things that will shape your retirement more than money

From Bec’s Desk: Our Epic Retirement Flagship UK Course is launching on sale tomorrow

Read my articles in The Times: We’ve been married for 30 years but can’t agree on when to retire’

How much do you really need to retire in the UK?

It’s the most Googled retirement question in Britain. And the answer most people find sends them straight to a number that feels impossibly large. So let’s look at this properly.

The benchmark most financial planners use

Pensions UK publishes annual Retirement Living Standards that break down what different retirement lifestyles actually cost. They’re built on real research with real people, not just index-linked guesswork. Their 2025 figures describe three tiers:

A minimum retirement covers all your basic needs with a little left over – a week’s holiday in the UK, some leisure, no car. That costs £13,400 a year for a single person, £21,600 for a couple.

A moderate retirement adds a small car, a two-week European holiday, more flexibility on food and clothes, and the ability to eat out occasionally. That costs £31,300 for a single person, £43,900 for a couple.

A comfortable retirement means longer holidays, more eating out, a regular budget for replacing things around the home, and genuine financial freedom day to day. That costs £43,900 for a single person, £60,600 for a couple.

When people see those comfortable figures, many feel like they’re already running behind the standard they need to be at. Here’s what they’re missing.

The State Pension is doing more work than you think

The full new State Pension in 2026/27 pays £241.30 a week or £12,548 a year. You need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance contributions to get the full amount, and you can check your forecast right now at gov.uk.

Here’s the reassuring part: a couple where both partners receive the full State Pension already has around £25,096 a year between them, enough to meet the Minimum standard without drawing a single pound from private savings.

For most people, the real planning question isn’t “how do I replace my entire income from a pension pot?” It’s “how much do I need my private pension to add on top of the State Pension to reach the lifestyle I actually want?”

For a moderate retirement as a couple, that gap is roughly £18,800 a year between you. Split two ways, that’s under £10,000 each from private savings. That’s a very different number to the headline figures that tend to frighten people.

What the pot size actually depends on

Once you know the annual income gap you need to fill, you can work backwards. The two main ways to do it are drawdown: keeping your pension invested and drawing from it gradually; or an annuity, which gives you a guaranteed income for life in exchange for your pot.

For a moderate retirement, a single person would need a private pension pot of roughly £330,000–£490,000 depending on how they draw it. For comfortable, around £540,000–£800,000. For couples the numbers per person are significantly lower because of the shared State Pension and shared living costs.

These ranges are wide because the right strategy genuinely varies – annuity rates change with interest rates, drawdown exposes you to market timing, and how long you live changes everything. But the point is this: the numbers are manageable for most people who have been saving steadily, especially when the State Pension is doing its part.

Where do people go wrong?

My biggest concern comes from when people compare their pension pot to the comfortable headline figure and conclude they’re nowhere near and start to panic. But the Pensions UK figures already include the State Pension in the income calculation. Your pot only needs to bridge the gap not fund the whole thing.

So, check your State Pension forecast. Check what your workplace and private pensions are projecting at retirement. Then look at the gap between those two numbers and the lifestyle you actually want. That’s the real planning problem and it’s usually a lot more solvable than the headlines suggest.

How to Have an Epic Retirement walks you through exactly this process – from tracking down your pensions to building a clear picture of what you’ll have and what you’ll need.

Leave a comment

OK, we’re ready! And we’re rolling out the pilot of the How to Have an Epic Retirement Course in the UK this week! THIS WEEK!

I’m serious! It will go on sale Monday - and the people on our Expression of Interest list will be notified first. We’re only opening 200 places. We think that’s a good amount to launch a pilot with. In Australia when we launched our pilot 2 years ago - 200 places sold out in 4 days - and that was before it was proven to be a great course 😉. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the UK will be faster.

The pilot will be priced significantly lower than future courses - as we want you to be on board to provide feedback and help us shape anything that’s needed. In fact - we’d love your input and thoughts.

• It’s a six week program with 14 modules of content (about 100 lessons) all built specifically for the UK pensions system.

• There’s exercises and activities built into every module of the education program - it’s truly interactive.

• You do the program as a community, so you can chat with others doing the course on every lesson

• And there’s 3 live Q&As with some of the UK’s leading retirement experts.

• And there’s a conversation starter workbook to use around the table to get you thinking and talking about what you want.

• Oh, and you get an ebook version of How to Have an Epic Retirement too - as the textbook.

You can register your interest here (no obligation). And be first to learn about it.

The course will kick off in late May and go for 6 weeks. So it will be over by high Summer!

Lastly - have you got a friend approaching retirement who you think might enjoy this UK-centric newsletter? I invite you to share it with them. I’m writing weekly on issues related to your epic retirement. It’s designed to inspire and help! We can help more people if you help spread the lessons and the confidence you get from them.

Share Epic Retirement UK

Have a great Sunday! And until next week — make it epic.

Cheers,
Bec Xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Get your copy of the UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

We’ve been married for 30 years but can’t agree on when to retire’

Couples who have spent decades building a financial life together often forget to plan what happens when they stop work, says our retirement expert

Sarah and David had done everything right. They had paid off the mortgage, raised two children, built up decent pension pots, and were (on paper) well placed for their retirement. What they hadn’t done was talk to each other about how that retirement would actually look.

David, 61, was more than ready for his finish line. He had a date in mind and a list of things he wanted to do once he retired. Sarah, 58, had no intention of retiring. She had returned to work after their children had grown up and built a career she genuinely loved. She wasn’t ready to retire and, frankly, couldn’t imagine why anyone her age would be.

After years assuming that they were on the same page, when they eventually sat down to discuss their plans, they realised that they weren’t even reading from the same book.

Retirement planning is almost always framed as a numbers exercise — working out how much you have, how much you need, how long it will last and in what order to spend it to minimise tax. But for couples it should also be a negotiation, and one that you shouldn’t leave too late.

I am the retirement columnist for The Times, UK. You can read this, my most recent column here. And I’ve linked some other recent columns below.

The real risk from AI isn’t losing your job — it’s wrecking your retirement
A drop in income at 30 is inconvenient but at 50 it can be a disaster. We all need to wake up to the risks
Read more here

What I’ve heard should alarm every politician in the country
In an open letter to the government, Times Money’s retirement columnist sets out why people aren’t saving like they should
Read more here

The six biggest retirement fears — and how to solve them
Prepare for all the things that feel scary about giving up work, from running out of money to finding a way to fill up your time
Read more here

Feature: The two things that will shape your retirement more than money

From Bec’s Desk: Interesting changes to UK pensions approved

Read my articles in The Times: We’ve been married for 30 years but can’t agree on when to retire’

The two things that will shape your retirement more than money

There’s a question I get asked a lot, in various forms…

“Am I on track financially?”

It’s fair, and it matters a lot to retirement planning. But after years of working with people navigating this transition, I’ve come to believe there are two things that matter just as much as your super balance and almost nobody talks about them.

Curiosity and courage.

And, not in a motivational-poster way. In a very practical, neurological, life-outcome kind of way.

What happens to curiosity in midlife

For most of us, the years between 45 and 65 are full of work, family, ageing parents, financial pressure. And somewhere in the middle of all that busyness, curiosity quietly goes into hibernation. We stop asking “what if?” and default to the routines of life, not because we’re lazy, but because routine is efficient when life is demanding.

The problem is that retirement is precisely when curiosity becomes most important. Because retirement, at its core, isn’t a financial event, it’s an identity event. And navigating it well requires genuine openness to who you might become next. If you arrive at that transition without having exercised your curiosity, the blank page can feel terrifying and well… blank… rather than exciting.

But the science says we can get past this. And here’s how. When you become genuinely curious about something, your brain releases dopamine, a real reward hit that motivates you to keep exploring, which is why curiosity tends to build its own momentum. But it goes deeper than that. Curiosity also engages the hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for memory and learning, which means you don’t just feel more motivated when you’re curious, you actually retain and apply what you learn better.

This matters enormously for anyone approaching retirement, because this is a period of significant learning: new financial decisions, new routines, a new relationship with time and your identity. The more curious you stay, the better equipped your brain is to process all of it. And because of neuroplasticity – or the brain’s ability to rewire itself – staying curious is also one of the best things you can do for your long-term cognitive health.

And then there’s courage

Curiosity is what opens the door. Courage is what gets you through it. Truly!

Most people misunderstand what courage actually is. It’s not the absence of fear, it’s acting in spite of it. Every time you consider doing something outside your comfort zone, the brain’s amygdala fires up a threat signal. That’s just your nervous system doing its job - like it did in caveman days when you were under threat. Courage happens when your prefrontal cortex takes the wheel anyway, weighs the actual risk, and moves forward.

Here’s the part I find genuinely encouraging: every time you act with courage – even in a small way – you’re rewiring your brain to be less reactive to that fear signal next time. You practise it, and it really does become easier.

Why does this matter? I hear you asking. The years just before retirement bring a cascade of genuinely difficult decisions: when to stop working, whether to downsize, how to align your timeline with your partner’s, what you actually want this chapter to look like. These aren’t purely financial questions. Stop and look at them! They’re all questions about identity, risk, and change. The people I see navigate them well tend to be curious about what’s possible and have enough courage to sit with uncertainty while they figure it out.

Here’s how to get started

If you’re feeling less curious and less courageous than you’d like to be, you don’t need a dramatic overhaul.

For curiosity, start with some small questions rather than grand intentions. Follow something that mildly interests you and see where it leads. Talk to people who think differently to you. Read outside your usual lane.

For courage, start with small risks and practise visualising the upside rather than fixating on what could go wrong. And be kind to yourself when it’s hard because courage means trying, not being perfect.

Retirement planning done well isn’t just about the money. It really is about having the curiosity to imagine what’s possible, and the courage to pursue it. And you’re never too old for that!

Where has your curiosity been hiding lately? Hit reply and let me know.

How to Have an Epic Retirement walks you through exactly this process – from tracking down your pensions to building a clear picture of what you’ll have and what you’ll need.

Leave a comment

Something both interesting and important happened in the UK this week - The Pension Schemes Bill passed, without much fanfare.

The UK’s Pension Schemes Act has now passed into law, and while it didn’t land with much hype, it signals a meaningful shift in how retirement savings will be managed over time.

At its core, the reform is trying to fix a very real and modern problem. Most people no longer have one pension that funds their retirement for life. They have several, often small pots spread across different jobs and providers created when they move workplaces and don’t really understand their pensions. Over time, that fragmentation can mean higher fees, lost accounts, and a lack of clarity about what you actually have. The new framework introduces mechanisms to automatically consolidate small pension pots, unless people choose to opt out. It’s a simple idea, but one that could improve outcomes by reducing duplication of fees and making savings easier to track.

There’s also a stronger focus on whether pension funds are delivering you real value. Regulators will have greater ability to assess performance and costs, and underperforming schemes may be required to improve, merge, or exit the market. The intention is to lift standards across the system rather than leave individuals to navigate quality differences on their own. We did this in Australia a few years ago - and the impact has been frankly MASSIVE over time. People started talking about pension performance and companies felt pressure when they don’t perform.

Another shift is the continued move toward larger, consolidated pension funds. Bigger schemes can access a wider range of investments and potentially operate more efficiently for members - AKA lower fees. In theory, that can support better long-term returns, although it also places more importance on governance, oversight and investment capability - things which are evolving inside funds right now.

For everyday people, nothing changes overnight. These reforms will be phased in over several years. But gradually, people are likely to see fewer pension accounts, clearer information being offered about the performance of their pension, and a more structured path from saving to drawing an income in retirement - which is important as your workplace often prescribes your pension strategy while you work; but no-one prescribes retirement so if you’re disinterested - it can hurt you to not understand your pension.

The bigger picture is this: pension systems are becoming more guided and less DIY - especially at retirement. That can be helpful, but it also means the design of the system itself plays a much bigger role in shaping retirement outcomes.

I’m watching this - and starting a project or two to help. (But I can’t share those yet!)

And alongside this, we’re rolling out the How to Have an Epic Retirement Course in the UK very soon - so you can better understand your choices as you approach retirement. And not just your financial choices. Your choices across the six pillars of an Epic Retirement.

You can register your interest here (no obligation), and we’ll be launching at pilot pricing (very low for this first run so we can gather feedback and refine it with you). It won’t be long now…. We anticipate our UK Pilot course will start in late May or early June and go for 6 weeks. So if you’re curious - sign up to learn more.

Lastly - have you got a friend approaching retirement who you think might enjoy this UK-centric newsletter? I invite you to share it with them. I’m writing weekly on issues related to your epic retirement. It’s designed to inspire and help! We can help more people if you help spread the lessons and the confidence you get from them.

Share Epic Retirement UK

Have a great Sunday! And until next week — make it epic.

Cheers,
Bec Xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Get your copy of the UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

We’ve been married for 30 years but can’t agree on when to retire’

Couples who have spent decades building a financial life together often forget to plan what happens when they stop work, says our retirement expert

Sarah and David had done everything right. They had paid off the mortgage, raised two children, built up decent pension pots, and were (on paper) well placed for their retirement. What they hadn’t done was talk to each other about how that retirement would actually look.

David, 61, was more than ready for his finish line. He had a date in mind and a list of things he wanted to do once he retired. Sarah, 58, had no intention of retiring. She had returned to work after their children had grown up and built a career she genuinely loved. She wasn’t ready to retire and, frankly, couldn’t imagine why anyone her age would be.

After years assuming that they were on the same page, when they eventually sat down to discuss their plans, they realised that they weren’t even reading from the same book.

Retirement planning is almost always framed as a numbers exercise — working out how much you have, how much you need, how long it will last and in what order to spend it to minimise tax. But for couples it should also be a negotiation, and one that you shouldn’t leave too late.

I am the retirement columnist for The Times, UK. You can read this, my most recent column here. And I’ve linked some other recent columns below.

The real risk from AI isn’t losing your job — it’s wrecking your retirement
A drop in income at 30 is inconvenient but at 50 it can be a disaster. We all need to wake up to the risks
Read more here

What I’ve heard should alarm every politician in the country
In an open letter to the government, Times Money’s retirement columnist sets out why people aren’t saving like they should
Read more here

The six biggest retirement fears — and how to solve them
Prepare for all the things that feel scary about giving up work, from running out of money to finding a way to fill up your time
Read more here

Feature: Millions of Brits are living with a retirement epidemic – and it has a name

From Bec’s Desk: A new financial year

Read my articles in The Times: We’ve been married for 30 years but can’t agree on when to retire’

Millions of Brits are living with a retirement epidemic – and it has a name - FORO

Are you one of them? Do you have FORO?

Despite all the talk of adventure, freedom, and making the most of your later years, the Fear of Running Out (FORO) is quietly gripping a huge number of people approaching retirement in the UK right now.

If you recognise that gnawing anxiety – the one that wakes you up at 3am wondering whether your money will actually last – you’re far from alone. In fact, you’re very much in the majority. Research consistently shows that running out of money in retirement is the number one financial fear among people in their fifties and sixties, even among those who’ve been saving diligently for decades.

The cruel irony? Many of these same people are sitting on more than they realise – or are closer to a workable retirement than they think. But that doesn’t make the fear any less real.

Why the anxiety is real – even if the picture isn’t as bleak as it feels

Auto-enrolment has been in place since 2012, which means millions more people are saving into workplace pensions than ever before. That’s genuinely good news. But the reality is, most of us spent our forties – and sometimes our fifties – paying off mortgages, raising kids, and managing the general chaos of life. Long-term pension saving often came second.

The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) publishes the UK Retirement Living Standards each year, which give a useful benchmark. A comfortable retirement in the UK currently requires around £43,900 per year for a single person, or £60,600 for a couple. And the median pension pot for people approaching retirement is a long way short of what’s needed to generate that income.

The State Pension helps – the full New State Pension is currently £12,547 per year – but it’s not enough on its own, and not everyone qualifies for the full amount.

So if you’re looking at your numbers and feeling that stomach-dropping sense of is this really going to be enough, here’s a practical way to start working through it.

1. Get a clear picture of where you actually stand

FORO thrives in the fog. The first step is to pull everything together – your pension pots (and if you’ve had multiple employers, you may have more than you think), your ISAs, savings, any property, and likely debts or financial commitments.

Then check your State Pension forecast. You can do this in a few minutes at gov.uk. It tells you exactly how much you’re on track to receive and when. If you have gaps in your National Insurance record, you may be able to top them up – often at very good value.

Once you can see the full picture, you can start making real decisions rather than worrying in the abstract.

2. Build a realistic retirement budget

What does your retirement actually need to cost? Sit down and think through it properly – not just the basics, but the life you actually want. Travel. Hobbies. Helping the grandkids. Weekends away.

The PLSA Retirement Living Standards are a helpful starting point to reality-check your estimates. Be honest with yourself now, because clarity is far less frightening than uncertainty.

3. Map out where your income will come from

In retirement, your income shifts from a salary to a combination of sources: your pension drawdown, the State Pension, any ISA withdrawals, maybe some part-time work. Understanding how those layers stack together – and in what order you might draw from them – makes the whole thing feel much more manageable.

The government’s MoneyHelper website has retirement planning tools that can help you model this. And if you have a workplace pension, many providers also offer free guidance through Pension Wise, the government-backed service.

4. Get proper advice on how to invest and withdraw

Two of the most complex decisions in retirement are how to keep your pension invested as you approach and enter retirement, and how much you can sustainably take out each month.

The “4% rule” – withdrawing 4% of your pot in year one, then adjusting for inflation – is a useful rule of thumb. But it’s not gospel, and it doesn’t account for your State Pension, your ISAs, your tax position, or your specific goals.

A good financial adviser can help you build a strategy that actually fits your life. If your situation is relatively straightforward, Pension Wise (free, government-backed) is a great place to start before deciding whether you need fuller advice.

5. Consider whether part-time work is part of the equation

Retired doesn’t have to mean fully stopped. For many people, some form of part-time, flexible, or freelance work in the early years of retirement isn’t just about the money – it’s about staying connected, purposeful, and engaged.

Even a modest income from work can significantly reduce the pressure on your pension pot, and delay the point at which you need to draw it down heavily. That matters more than most people realise.

The bottom line

The best antidote to FORO isn’t a bigger pension pot. It’s a clearer picture of your real situation and a plan that accounts for what you actually have.

Many people who’ve faced this fear head on – who’ve done the numbers, sorted the State Pension, and made a proper plan – go on to have full, energetic, genuinely epic retirements. Not because they were wealthy, but because they stopped guessing and started knowing.

That’s the shift worth making.

How to Have an Epic Retirement walks you through exactly this process – from tracking down your pensions to building a clear picture of what you’ll have and what you’ll need.

Leave a comment

Roadshows, roadshows, roadshows.

For the past three weeks I’ve been travelling across Australia, teaching advisers about the future of modern retirement. One week to go – Adelaide and Perth next, which probably sound like they’re half a world away to you. They basically are. But this is home for me, Down Under.

That said, I’ve been keeping a close eye on what’s happening in the UK – particularly the Pension Schemes Bill and the changes coming that will make it easier to compare your pensions as you approach retirement.

I actually have a big project in the works on exactly this. Watch this space.

My belief is simple: everyone in the UK should be able to properly scrutinise their workplace pension – the performance, the fees, the service – and make an informed decision about which fund to consolidate into as they head for retirement. Right now, getting that data is harder than it should be. I’m working on something to change that – as I’ve already done in Australia.

More soon. In the meantime - tell me - how long until you retire? And do you know others like you who are retiring soon that are trying to find your way? Can you help them find this newsletter by sending it on?

In additional news - almost all the filming and editing work we need to do on our UK Epic Retirement course is finished and we’re gearing up the tech now. It’s not a small project to bring this course to life. So I hope you’re as excited as we are.

You can register your interest here (no obligation), and we’ll be launching at pilot pricing (very low for this first run so we can gather feedback and refine it with you). It won’t be long now…. We anticipate our UK Pilot course will start in late May and go for 6 weeks finishing right as Summer holidays hit. So if you’re curious - sign up to learn more.

Have a great Sunday! And until next week — make it epic.

Cheers,
Bec Xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Get your copy of the UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

We’ve been married for 30 years but can’t agree on when to retire’

Couples who have spent decades building a financial life together often forget to plan what happens when they stop work, says our retirement expert

Sarah and David had done everything right. They had paid off the mortgage, raised two children, built up decent pension pots, and were (on paper) well placed for their retirement. What they hadn’t done was talk to each other about how that retirement would actually look.

David, 61, was more than ready for his finish line. He had a date in mind and a list of things he wanted to do once he retired. Sarah, 58, had no intention of retiring. She had returned to work after their children had grown up and built a career she genuinely loved. She wasn’t ready to retire and, frankly, couldn’t imagine why anyone her age would be.

After years assuming that they were on the same page, when they eventually sat down to discuss their plans, they realised that they weren’t even reading from the same book.

Retirement planning is almost always framed as a numbers exercise — working out how much you have, how much you need, how long it will last and in what order to spend it to minimise tax. But for couples it should also be a negotiation, and one that you shouldn’t leave too late.

I am the retirement columnist for The Times, UK. You can read this, my most recent column here. And I’ve linked some other recent columns below.

The real risk from AI isn’t losing your job — it’s wrecking your retirement
A drop in income at 30 is inconvenient but at 50 it can be a disaster. We all need to wake up to the risks
Read more here

What I’ve heard should alarm every politician in the country
In an open letter to the government, Times Money’s retirement columnist sets out why people aren’t saving like they should
Read more here

The six biggest retirement fears — and how to solve them
Prepare for all the things that feel scary about giving up work, from running out of money to finding a way to fill up your time
Read more here

Feature: Your workplace pension was designed to get you started. It was never designed to be enough

From Bec’s Desk: A new financial year

Read my articles in The Times: A few to choose from

Your workplace pension was designed to get you started. It was never designed to be enough

Most people who’ve been in employment for the past decade or so have a workplace pension. Thanks to auto-enrolment, contributions have been going in automatically – yours, your employer’s, and a top-up from the government via tax relief. For millions of people, it’s been running in the background without them having to think about it much.

That’s the good news.

The less comfortable truth is that auto-enrolment was always designed as a floor, not a finish line. The minimum total contribution – currently 8% of qualifying earnings – was set at a level that would get people saving, not necessarily get them all the way to the epic retirement they’re dreaming of.

Most independent experts agree it’s not enough for most people. The government knows it too, which is why a formal review of pension adequacy is currently underway.

But that review will take years, and whatever changes come out of it will almost certainly apply going forward – not retrospectively. If you’re in your 50s or early 60s, you can’t afford to wait for the system to sort itself out.

The good news is you don’t need to. Here’s what to actually do if you’re sitting there wondering.

Step 1: Find out what you’ve got

If you’ve worked for multiple employers over the years, you likely have several pension pots in different places, some active, some frozen, some you’ve probably forgotten about entirely. Tracking them all down is the unglamorous and rather tedious first step, but it matters.

Check your current workplace pension, dig out old statements from previous employers, and think about whether you have any older personal pensions sitting dormant. The government’s pension tracing service can help if you’ve lost track.

Step 2: Check your State Pension forecast

The State Pension – now worth £241.30 a week, or just over £12,500 a year – is the foundation most people build from. But the amount you actually receive depends on your National Insurance record, and gaps are more common than people realise – from time out of work, caring responsibilities, self-employment, or years spent abroad.

You can check your forecast and fill gaps at gov.uk/check-state-pension. For many people, paying voluntary NI contributions to plug those gaps is one of the best-value financial moves available. Don’t skip this step.

Step 3: Work out what retirement will actually cost you

Most people focus on what they have without ever defining what they need it for. Before you can know whether you’re on track, you need a number to aim at.

Start with your current spending and adjust for retirement life. Some costs will fall , like commuting, work clothes, maybe a mortgage. Others will rise like travel, leisure, health, time with family. The Pensions UK Retirement Living Standards give you a useful benchmark: a comfortable retirement for a single person currently costs around £43,900 a year; for a couple, around £60,600. But treat those as a starting point, not a prescription. Your life has its own costs.

Step 4: Compare the two

Once you have a rough picture of what you’ll have coming in – State Pension, workplace pensions, any other savings or income – and what you’ll need, you can do the maths. Many people who’ve been anxious about this find the gap is smaller than they feared. Some find there isn’t one at all.

If there is a meaningful gap, you have more options than you might think: contributing more now, using carry-forward allowances from previous tax years to make a larger lump-sum contribution, adjusting your retirement timing by a year or two, or simply restructuring what you already have more efficiently.

A gap identified at 55 is very manageable. The same gap discovered at 64 is a much harder problem.

The bottom line

Auto-enrolment did something important – it got millions of people into the habit of saving. But a habit isn’t a plan to have enough and use it well. Knowing you have a pension isn’t the same as knowing it’s enough to rely on.

That information is available to you. It just requires a few hours of honest number-crunching and the willingness to look.

How to Have an Epic Retirement walks you through exactly this process – from tracking down your pensions to building a clear picture of what you’ll have and what you’ll need.

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Easter is behind us - and you know what that means? We’re on the run in new financial year, the new state pension rates are in place and so are the new benchmarks from Pensions UK for how much you need for a comfortable (or a moderate or modest) retirement.

I’m on the home stretch of the production the UK edition of the How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course. The course is completely rebuilt for the UK system and has UK experts coming along for our Live Q&As too.

You can register your interest here (no obligation), and we’ll be launching at pilot pricing (very low for this first run so we can gather feedback and refine it with you). It won’t be long now…. We anticipate our UK Pilot course will start in late May and go for 6 weeks finishing right as Summer holidays hit. So if you’re curious - sign up to learn more.

And if you haven’t caught my recent reels on social media, I’ve been doing a few short micro-lessons breaking down how to navigate retirement step by step. Worth a follow if you’re not already across them — link below.

• Facebook.com/epicretirementuk

• Instagram.com/epicretirementuk

Have a great Sunday! And until next week — make it epic.

Cheers,
Bec Xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Get your copy of the UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

I am the retirement columnist for The Times. I write fortnightly. Here’s a few of my recent columns:

The real risk from AI isn’t losing your job — it’s wrecking your retirement
A drop in income at 30 is inconvenient but at 50 it can be a disaster. We all need to wake up to the risks
Read more here

What I’ve heard should alarm every politician in the country
In an open letter to the government, Times Money’s retirement columnist sets out why people aren’t saving like they should
Read more here

The six biggest retirement fears — and how to solve them
Prepare for all the things that feel scary about giving up work, from running out of money to finding a way to fill up your time
Read more here

Feature: Scientists have proven that ageing doesn’t have to mean decline

From Bec’s Desk: A quiet week

Read my article in The Times: The Iran war shines a spotlight on Britain’s pensions divide

Scientists have proven that ageing doesn’t have to mean decline

I’m going to ask you to set aside everything you think you know about getting older for a minute. Because a study has just been published in the the journal Geriatrics, from Yale, one of the world’s most respected research institutions, that has basically torn up the standard story about ageing. And I think it deserves way more attention than it’s getting.

Here’s the headline finding: nearly half of the older adults in the study actually improved in brain function, physical capacity, or both, over a period of up to 12 years.

Not “saw their health decline more slowly” and not “held steady as they got older!” They IMPROVED!

Just soak in that for a second!

The stories of getting old we tell ourselves become our reality

We have been marinated, from childhood, from every insurance ad, from every well-meaning doctor’s appointment, in a single story about ageing. That it goes one way - downhill, in a gradual and inevitable way, universally.

And, that story has been shaping your biology all throughout your life. But now, you could choose a different story to shape yourself around. One that has scientific backing!

The Yale researchers, led by Dr Becca Levy, followed more than 11,000 people aged 65 and over for up to 12 years. When they averaged everyone’s results together, which is how most ageing studies work, they saw what you’d expect – Decline. Cognitive scores dropped and walking speed slowed.

But then they did something different. They looked at individual trajectories instead of group averages. And that’s where things got interesting.

Nearly 45% showed improvement in cognitive function, physical function, or both. Around 32% actually improved their brain scores. Around 28% were walking faster at the end of the study than they were at the start.

So what made the difference?

Here’s the part that will either make you nod and smile or make you a little uncomfortable.

The researchers tested whether what people believed about ageing – the assumptions they brought into the study – predicted what actually happened to their health over the following decade.

And it did! Significantly.

People who held more positive beliefs about ageing were measurably more likely to show improvements in both brain function and walking speed, even after you account for age, sex, education, chronic disease and depression.

Your beliefs about ageing appear to be a biological input into how your body responds. Not just a mood or attitude. Something that’s actually shaping what happens inside your body over time.

Dr Levy has a name for this: ‘stereotype embodiment theory’. The idea is that from a young age, we absorb messages about what ageing looks like from ads, media, culture, the casual way people talk about getting old. Eventually those messages stop being abstract and become deeply personal. They shift from describing other people to describing you. And at that point, they start showing up in the body.

Her earlier research linked negative age beliefs to poorer memory, slower walking speed, higher cardiovascular risk, and brain markers associated with Alzheimer’s disease. This new study adds the other side of that coin: positive age beliefs predict improvement.

I find this extraordinarily exciting.

Something important to think about

I want to flag something specific in this research that I think it’s the most important part. The researchers didn’t just look at people who were struggling and got better. They did a separate analysis on people who had normal cognitive and physical function at the start – people who were already doing fine.

Among that group? Around 28% still improved their brain function over time. Around 23% improved their walking speed.

This wasn’t recovery from illness. This was people who were already healthy getting better as they got older

The researchers call it “reserve capacity.” The idea that later life holds more potential for growth than our culture has been giving it credit for. I’ve been saying this for years, and honestly it’s kind of wonderful to see Yale prove it.

So, what do you actually believe about getting older?

I ask this genuinely because I want you to stop and think about it.

If you’ve absorbed the standard cultural story (decline is inevitable, the body just fades, the brain slips, the best years of your life are behind you), that story may be doing you real harm. Not just to your mood or your motivation. Potentially to your actual health trajectory.

The good news and I want to be clear this is genuinely good news is that the researchers say age-related beliefs are modifiable. You can change them. And because you can change them, there’s real scope for doing something about it.

That might look like this:

• Noticing the internal voice that says well, at my age... and asking whether it’s actually true

• Deliberately seeking out people who are thriving – not just surviving – in their 60s, 70s, 80s

• Pushing back when the cultural narrative around you defaults to telling you about your imminent decline

And let me be clear. None of this is about toxic positivity or pretending the challenges that come with getting older don’t exist. They do – ageing is real. But the research is telling us that the trajectory into later life is far less fixed than we’ve been led to believe – and that what we expect from life has a measurable effect on what we experience.

Maybe, if you already believe you’ll have an epic retirement, then you’re on the right path.

So here’s my challenge for you this week: Think about one story you’re telling yourself about ageing that might not actually be serving you? It might be time to rewrite it.

Source: Levy, B.R. & Slade, M.D. (2026). “Aging Redefined: Cognitive and Physical Improvement with Positive Age Beliefs.” Geriatrics, 11(2), 28.

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I cover a lot more on this in How to Have an Epic Retirement, my UK Bestseller (An Australian/New Zealand edition is also available)

I realise every day, whether I’m walking downstairs to my little home office or driving to the airport for a speaking gig, that I’m a very lucky person to love what I do so much.

This week was a full week at the desk. Articles, podcasts, newsletters, courses. No events, no travel, no distractions. I got a lot done towards our UK Course, which is coming together beautifully. Next week makes up for it though: Adelaide and Tassie, here I come.

And if you haven’t caught my recent reels on social media, I’ve been doing a few short micro-lessons breaking down how to navigate retirement step by step. Worth a follow if you’re not already across them — link below.

• Facebook.com/epicretirementuk

• Instagram.com/epicretirementuk

We are indeed putting the finishing touches on the UK course (How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course). It’s quite a big effort to product a course of this scale - one that runs for 6 weeks, with 14 modules (85+ videos) of lessons and a whole lot of integrated activities.

The course will be similar to the program we run in Australia that is becoming quite popular indeed. We’ve booked in our live Q+A guests. We’re just making sure all the tech is on track before we launch it for you to book your places. Not long now.

You can register your interest here (no obligation), and we’ll be launching at pilot pricing (very low for this first run so we can gather feedback and refine it with you). It won’t be long now…. We anticipate our UK Pilot course will start in late May and go for 6 weeks finishing right as Summer holidays hit. So if you’re curious - sign up to learn more.

Now get out there and love your Sunday.

And until next week — make it epic.

Cheers,
Bec Xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Get your copy of the new UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

The Iran war shines a spotlight on Britain’s pensions divide

Amid volatile markets many savers are having to rethink their retirement plans — but some are sitting pretty

A month into the war in Iran and retired people are feeling the pressure, which is coming from many directions. I put the question out to my Epic Retirement Club on Facebook: how are you faring?

The responses came flooding in and they told a story of pragmatism tinged with genuine concern for what’s going on and how the war might develop from here.

The big pain points for those who are already in or on the brink of retirement are different from those affecting the rest of the population. That’s particularly the case for those who had a big date in mind: the sequencing risk problem is real but is not really appreciated by those for whom a specific retirement day isn’t looming.

If you’re still accumulating, a market downturn is painful but there is time to recover. If, however, you’ve stopped working and are drawing down to fund your living expenses, selling assets while prices are depressed damages your pot in a way that is not easy to undo.

Your income doesn’t rise with inflation if you do that and, without reversing your retirement decision, you cannot work extra hours to compensate for the money lost. If you had a retirement date circled on the calendar, the maths of whether you can actually afford to stop just got considerably more complicated.

Read the rest of this article here in The Times. It was published on Wednesday 1 April 2026. I write fortnightly for The Times - keep an eye out as my next article will drop soon!

Feature: The UK State Pension goes up this week

From Bec’s Desk: Happy Easter!

Read my article in The Times: The Iran war shines a spotlight on Britain’s pensions divide

The UK State Pension goes up this week

Here’s what changes, who gets it, and what to check if you’re not there yet

The UK State Pension goes up again this week, and if you’re building your retirement plan around UK rules, it’s one of those numbers worth keeping an eye on.

From 6th April 2026, the full new State Pension increases from £230.25 a week to £241.30 a week. That’s an extra £11.05 a week, or about £574.60 a year.

For those on the older system, the full basic State Pension goes from £176.45 a week to £184.90 a week, an increase of £8.45 a week, or around £439.40 a year.

These new rates apply for the 2026/27 financial year and reflect the annual increase under the UK’s uprating rules.

That is all good news. But as always with the State Pension, the headline number is only part of the story.

Not everyone gets the full amount. Your State Pension depends on your National Insurance record. Under the current rules, people whose National Insurance record started after April 2016 generally need 35 qualifying years to receive the full new State Pension. If your record started before April 2016, it can be more complicated, especially if you were contracted out, and you may need more than 35 qualifying years to get the full amount.

So if you are already at State Pension age, the main thing to know is that the payment has gone up. If you are not there yet, the more important question is not really “what is the full rate?” It is “what am I personally on track to get?”

That is the bit a lot of people skip.

The earliest point you can receive State Pension is your State Pension age. For many people that is currently 66, but it is not the same for everyone. Under current legislation, State Pension age is rising from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028. If you were born between 6 April 1960 and 5 March 1961, your State Pension age will be 66 plus a number of months depending on your exact date of birth. If you were born from 6 March 1961 to 5 April 1977, your State Pension age is 67 under current law.

That means this is a very practical moment to check three things.

First, check when you will actually become eligible. The official GOV.UK State Pension age tool will tell you the age you can claim under current law.

Second, check how much you are on track to receive. The official State Pension forecast service shows how much you could get, when you can get it, and whether you can increase it.

Third, check whether you have any gaps in your National Insurance record. The forecast service also points out whether you may be able to improve your entitlement, including by paying to fill gaps in some cases.

This really matters because the State Pension is a foundation, but for most people it is not the whole retirement plan. Even with the increase, the full new State Pension works out to a bit over £12,500 a year at the new rate. Helpful, yes. Enough on its own for the kind of retirement many people want, not usually. That is why it makes sense to treat it as one layer of retirement income rather than the answer to everything. The useful work happens before you get there: checking your age, checking your forecast, checking for gaps, and then working out how it fits with your workplace pensions, personal pensions, savings and timing.

If you want a simple takeaway, it is this: the State Pension has gone up, which is good news, but if you are still a few years off, the real job this week is to make sure you know your own number, your own date, and whether there is anything you can still do to improve it.

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I cover a lot more on this in How to Have an Epic Retirement, my UK Bestseller (An Australian/New Zealand edition is also available)

Hard to believe it’s April, isn’t it? And we’re bracing for what’s shaping up to be the most expensive fuel at Easter in history. Gulp.

I almost don’t want to admit I’m a Tesla owner at times like this. My car, a bottom-of-the-range Model 3, is no ego-wagon. It’s seven years old, white, and has cost me a grand total of $400 in servicing over its lifetime, and one set of tyres. So it’s quietly holding up its end of the bargain. How’s yours going?

Anyway, onto more serious things. This week was deliciously short. I keynoted two Adviser events in Australia. It also marked week 6, the final week of our Aussie Autumn How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course.

I genuinely love running these courses and being part of the live sessions and I’m very excited to be launching the UK program in just weeks! I mean - check out this new feedback from the latest courses:

“I would consider this an essential course for everyone. I would recommend reading Prime Time and Epic Retirement, and unlike me at 62 years old and retired to do so earlier in life to be ready. Great coverage of lots of topics relevant to all of us. Thank you for the books and the course.”

“Feeling in a better place to handle everything now. Thank you”

“Terrific program. We loved the content and Bec’s delivery style is just so engaging. Highly recommend the course, and likewise Bec’s wonderful books “How to have and Epic Retirement” and “Prime Time”, and her podcast “Prime Time”.”

“This course has been very helpful. It has put the planning for retirement in to a structure I can follow and given me hope for an Epic Retirement. I was very anxious about my low super balance and nil savings, being divorced and having to do it all on my own. But now it feels doable. I can still do some of the travel overseas I have always dreamed of. Thanks for this opportunity to participate in this great course. Highly recommended to everyone over 50 years old.”

100% of people who’d finished this week said they’d recommend the course to their friends too!

I’m blushing. But honestly, what a buzz.

As I said, we’re putting the finishing touches on the workbook and course edits for the How to Have an Epic Retirement UK Course. We’re in the editing stage now, with all the filming done. It’s quite a big effort to product a course of this scale - one that runs for 6 weeks, with 14 modules (85+ videos) of lessons. And there’s a 130+ page workbook too!

As I mentioned last week, the course will take a very similar shape to the one we run in Australia, as it’s become quite popular here. We’ve locked down our live Q&A guests so we’re full steam towards releasing the course for sale in the next few weeks.

You can register your interest here (no obligation), and we’ll be launching at pilot pricing (very low for this first run so we can gather feedback and refine it with you). It won’t be long now…. We anticipate our UK Pilot course will start in May and go for 6 weeks finishing right as Summer holidays hit. So if you’re curious - sign up to learn more.

Now, that’s enough of the heavy stuff - it’s time for some chocolate.

Hope you’re having a lovely, family-or-friend-filled Easter. And there’s plenty of chocolate around you today.

Until next week — make it epic.

Cheers,
Bec Xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Get your copy of the new UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

The Iran war shines a spotlight on Britain’s pensions divide

Amid volatile markets many savers are having to rethink their retirement plans — but some are sitting pretty

A month into the war in Iran and retired people are feeling the pressure, which is coming from many directions. I put the question out to my Epic Retirement Club on Facebook: how are you faring?

The responses came flooding in and they told a story of pragmatism tinged with genuine concern for what’s going on and how the war might develop from here.

The big pain points for those who are already in or on the brink of retirement are different from those affecting the rest of the population. That’s particularly the case for those who had a big date in mind: the sequencing risk problem is real but is not really appreciated by those for whom a specific retirement day isn’t looming.

If you’re still accumulating, a market downturn is painful but there is time to recover. If, however, you’ve stopped working and are drawing down to fund your living expenses, selling assets while prices are depressed damages your pot in a way that is not easy to undo.

Your income doesn’t rise with inflation if you do that and, without reversing your retirement decision, you cannot work extra hours to compensate for the money lost. If you had a retirement date circled on the calendar, the maths of whether you can actually afford to stop just got considerably more complicated.

Read the rest of this article here in The Times. It was published on Wednesday 1 April 2026. I write fortnightly for The Times - keep an eye out as my next article will drop soon!

Feature: Your first year of retirement: the biggest challenge might not be your money

From Bec’s Desk: Preparing the Epic Retirement UK Course - it’s almost ready

Read my article in The Times: The real risk from AI isn’t losing your job — it’s wrecking your retirement

Your first year of retirement: the biggest challenge might not be your money

Most people spend more time planning their retirement finances than they spend thinking about who they’ll actually be when they get there. That’s a problem, and it tends to show up about six months in.

Here’s the question I want you to sit with this week: if someone asked you to describe yourself at a dinner party the week after you retire, what would you say? For most of us, the answer has been the same for twenty or thirty years. You lead with what you do. Your job title, your industry, your company. It’s shorthand for competence, status and purpose all at once. And then one day, it’s just gone.

This isn’t a small thing. Research on retirement consistently shows that identity loss, not financial stress, is the most common cause of what people describe as a difficult first year. The people who struggle most aren’t usually the ones who ran out of money. They’re the ones who ran out of answer to the question: what do I do with myself now?

The good news is that this is entirely workable, but only if you start thinking about it before you get there, not after.

So here are three questions worth sitting with this week:

What do you do that has nothing to do with work? Not what you’d like to do in retirement, but what you actually do now, outside of your job. If the honest answer is not much, that’s important information. Retirement doesn’t conjure purpose out of thin air. It just removes the structure that was filling the space.

Who are you to the people who matter most to you? Your partner, your kids, your close friends. How do they describe you? What role do you play that has nothing to do with your career? That version of you is the foundation you’re building on.

What would you do on a Tuesday at 11am if you had no obligations and no agenda? Not a holiday Tuesday. A regular one. If you can’t answer that with something specific and genuine, it’s worth spending more time on that question than on your superannuation projections this week.

Retirement is long. For most people reading this, it’s twenty to thirty years. The financial plan gets you there. The identity work is what makes it worth arriving.

Start that work now. It’s more important than you think.

Bec Xx

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I cover a lot more on this in How to Have an Epic Retirement, my UK Bestseller (An Australian/New Zealand edition is also available)

The weather is starting to turn on both sides of the world. Down under where I am the heat is starting to dissipate. I’m hoping you’re starting to feel things warm up on the other side of the world.

I’ve been traveling across Australia and will be for the next five weeks, as a keynote speaker on an Adviser Roadshow. I love getting out there. My topic is “The future of Retirement” and what it will look like over the years ahead. This week I saw the inside of Canberra, next week I’ll be in the beautiful Gold Coast.

And, while I’m on the road, I’m putting the finishing touches on the workbook for the How to Have an Epic Retirement UK Course. We’re in the editing stage now, with all the filming done. It’s quite a big effort to product a course of this scale - one that runs for 6 weeks, with 14 modules (85+ videos) of lessons. And there’s a 130+ page workbook too!

As I mentioned last week, the course will take a very similar shape to the one we run in Australia, as it’s become quite popular here. We’ve locked down our live Q&A guests so we’re full steam towards releasing the course for sale in the next two weeks.

You can register your interest here (no obligation), and we’ll be launching at pilot pricing (very low for this first run so we can gather feedback and refine it with you). The course will start in May and go for 6 weeks finishing right as Summer holidays hit.

And, if you’re a Facebook or Instagram user I’ve kicked off new, UK-specific accounts too, so if you want to see them, please pop both a follow at Facebook.com/epicretirementuk and Instagram.com/epicretirementuk

Until next week — make it epic.

Cheers,
Bec Xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

How to Have an Epic Retirement: The Book

Get your copy.

Get your copy of the new UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

Currently #5 on the Amazon UK Bestseller List for Retirement Planning and #1 on the Amazon Australia Bestseller List for Retirement Planning 😉

The real risk from AI isn’t losing your job - it’s wrecking your retirement

A few short weeks ago, before war broke out in Iran, everyone was worried about how AI was going to affect companies, jobs and the stock market. I also heard a lot about how it may affect our children’s future careers.

The one thing I didn’t hear a lot of talk about was how it could affect our personal finances, and what we should do to prepare for the risk that AI may take parts of our jobs, alter our industries for ever and render the skills we’ve spent years building much less valuable. And most people aren’t remotely prepared for that.

We tend to think about work in fixed terms. You build a career, your income grows, you move up the hierarchy and then at some point you retire. For decades that model has underpinned how we save, invest and plan.

Read the rest of this article here in The Times. It was published on Friday 20th March (and in Print on Saturday 21st March 2026). I write fortnightly for The Times - keep an eye out as my next article will drop any day!

Feature: What I’d actually do this weekend if I was 55 or 65 and the world felt a bit wobbly

From Bec’s Desk: The UK Epic Retirement course is about to launch

Read my article in The Times: The real risk from AI isn’t losing your job — it’s wrecking your retirement

What I’d actually do this weekend if I was 55 or 65 and the world felt a bit wobbly

What a week! Oil hit $113 a barrel yesterday and it could go higher before this newsletter even reaches you. Petrol is sitting at around 145p a litre right now, up nearly 10p in just three weeks. Diesel is worse! The war in the Gulf is now in its fourth week with no sign of letting up, and the Bank of England, which had been expected to cut rates this week, held at 3.75% and quietly warned that hikes might be back on the table if things drag on.

Energy bills were already 14% higher in real terms than before Ukraine. Mortgage rates on fixed deals have been creeping back above 5%. And if you’re already feeling the squeeze at the supermarket and the petrol station, none of this will feel surprising.

So if you’re in your 50s or 60s and that familiar knot of worry has crept back in this week, I want to talk to you like we’re friends. Because there are a few things worth doing this weekend. None of them are particularly hard or scary, but they matter.

First, step away from the noise for a bit

Turn off the finance news for the weekend. Not because what’s happening doesn’t matter – it clearly does – but because none of the decisions you need to make right now will be improved by watching oil tickers and hearing market updates scroll past all Saturday.

The Gulf disruption, the inflation creep, the Ofgem uncertainty – these are real. But they’re largely outside your control. What you can control is whether you respond thoughtfully or react out of fear. And that always starts with slowing down and really thinking things through.

Remind yourself what your actual timeline is

Here’s the question I’d ask you to sit with: “when do you actually need to draw on your investments or pension for income?”

Not when you want to stop working. When you’ll genuinely need the money to live on.

For a lot of people between 55 and 65, the honest answer is still five, eight, even ten or more years away. Markets have come back from oil shocks before, in 1973, 1990, 2008. They’ve recovered from worse than this. The FTSE has fallen about 10% from its highs right now already, with all of this. Time is what gives your investments room to breathe.

If you’re already drawing from your pension or ISA, the question shifts a little, but the heart of it is the same: “do you have enough in stable, lower-risk assets to avoid being forced to sell the good growth stuff while it’s down?”

Check whether you have a buffer and be honest about it

This is the one I keep coming back to with people in this season of life.

Do you have two or three years of living expenses sitting in something stable like a cash ISA, easy-access savings, a fixed-rate bond? Not in the volatility of the stock market. Somewhere it just sits, ideally keeping pace with inflation, but ready when you need it.

Because if you do, you can ride this out. You’re not forced to sell when markets are wobbling. You have choices. That buffer isn’t dead money, it’s the thing that lets you stay calm while everyone else is anxious.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE A BUFFER RIGHT NOW

I want to be straight with you here, because glossing over this doesn’t help anyone. If you don’t have much set aside outside of your pension or investments, this week probably felt harder than it needed to. And that’s worth acknowledging — not as a reason to panic, but as useful information.

The question to sit with this weekend isn’t “how do I fix everything at once.” It’s simpler: what’s one thing I could do in the next 90 days to start building a bit more breathing room?

Maybe it’s redirecting £200 a month into a cash ISA you don’t touch. Maybe it’s looking honestly at where money is quietly leaking out. Maybe it’s a call to your pension provider’a guidance team or an independent financial adviser – not to overhaul everything, just to understand where you actually stand. (Worth knowing: when markets are turbulent, advisers get very busy. Don’t leave that call too long and expect to wait for an appointment.)

You can’t build a buffer overnight. But you can decide to start this weekend. That decision, made quietly over a cup of tea on a Saturday morning, matters more than people realise.

Have an honest look at your spending right now

With petrol up, the weekly shop creeping higher and energy costs rising again, your day-to-day spending has probably gone up without you even noticing. This isn’t about cutting back dramatically, it’s about knowing where you stand.

Grab a cup of tea and spend half an hour with your last few months of bank statements. Just three questions:

• What am I actually spending each month right now?

• Has that crept up in the last three months?

• Is there anywhere I can claw back a bit of breathing room?

You’re not looking for the perfect spending process. You’re just looking for a clearer picture of your spending than you had on Friday and where you could make sensible trims.

Finally, think about what this stage of life is really asking of you

There’s a shift that happens for a lot of people in their 50s. It stops being just about building wealth and starts being also about protecting what you’ve built, so you can actually enjoy it. Making the choices you want to make. Feeling secure enough to sleep at night.

In that context, another week of volatile markets and geopolitical noise shouldn’t be a melodramatic concern. It should be a prompt or a reminder to check whether your setup actually gives you flexibility and the ability to make good decisions rather than being forced into bad ones.

That’s what this weekend is for. Calmly taking stock of where you are, and taking a little more control of where you want to be.

I’ll leave you with this.

The war in the Gulf is looking pretty serious. The oil price is genuinely high. The cost of living pressure is real – and if you’re already stretched, none of this feels easy. I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

But the people who come through these periods best aren’t the ones who predicted it or moved everything to cash in February (because they never know when to get back in). They’re the ones who had a plan they trusted, a buffer they could lean on, and the discipline not to let the noise make their decisions for them.

If you’ve got the buffer – great. Sit tight and trust the plan.

If you don’t – this is your weekend to decide to start building one. That decision, made over a cup of tea on a Sunday morning, is worth more than you might think right now.

You’ve got this. And I’ll be here with you through it.

Bec x

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I cover a lot more on this in How to Have an Epic Retirement, my UK Bestseller (An Australian/New Zealand edition is also available)

This week I’m packing my bags for a mum’s weekend away… my last one ever through the school structure and it feels like the end of something.

My youngest is in their final year of school, and it’s just hit me that all those built-in structures, the school rhythms, the WhatsApp groups, the sideline chats, the annual mums’ weekends… they’re starting to fall away.

This one feels like a bit of a milestone. A little emotional, if I’m honest.

I’d love to say I’m breezing into this next phase, but there’s a small part of me wondering… what replaces it? If you’re a few steps ahead of me and have navigated this shift, I’d genuinely love to hear how it unfolded for you.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, something exciting is taking shape.

We’ve just finished recording the UK version of the How to Have an Epic Retirement course. It’s been such an interesting process adapting everything to fit the UK system, from pensions and drawdown to how people actually think about retirement here.

We’ve also locked down our live Q&A guests, and it’s all coming together beautifully.

We’ll be running the UK and Australian courses side by side, just in different time zones, each with fully localised programs. It still feels slightly surreal to say that. Two sides of the world.

You can register your interest here (no obligation), and we’ll be launching at pilot pricing (very low for this first run so we can gather feedback and refine it with you) in the next 7–10 days, once the final details, guest speakers and workbooks are all ready. The course will start in May and go for 6 weeks finishing right as Summer holidays hit.

If you’re a Facebook or Instagram user I’ve kicked off new, UK-specific accounts too, so if you want to see them, please pop both a follow at Facebook.com/epicretirementuk and Instagram.com/epicretirementuk

It really does feel like a season of endings… and openings. I can’t wait to launch.

Until next week — make it epic.

Cheers,
Bec Xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Back at the top of the bestseller list

Look at that will you! Our little UK edition is back at the top of two of Amazon’s big bestseller lists this week. If you haven’t got yourself a copy, you’re missing out.

Get your copy of the new UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

The real risk from AI isn’t losing your job - it’s wrecking your retirement

A few short weeks ago, before war broke out in Iran, everyone was worried about how AI was going to affect companies, jobs and the stock market. I also heard a lot about how it may affect our children’s future careers.

The one thing I didn’t hear a lot of talk about was how it could affect our personal finances, and what we should do to prepare for the risk that AI may take parts of our jobs, alter our industries for ever and render the skills we’ve spent years building much less valuable. And most people aren’t remotely prepared for that.

We tend to think about work in fixed terms. You build a career, your income grows, you move up the hierarchy and then at some point you retire. For decades that model has underpinned how we save, invest and plan.

Read the rest of this article here in The Times. It was published on Tuesday 3rd March (and in Print on Saturday 21st March 2026). I write fortnightly for The Times - keep an eye out as my next article will drop any day!

How to Have an Epic Retirement is the Kindle Daily Deal in the UK today. Just 99p. It won’t be tomorrow. And I’d feel a bit guilty not mentioning it to you while you can get that incredible deal. So here I am.

👉 Order it on Amazon Kindle now

I wrote it for everyday people who are starting to think about retirement — who want to understand their choices, their opportunities, and the traps people commonly fall into. The ones who are doing fine, mostly, but know there's a gap between where they are and where they want to be.

It’s a very practical book. It covers money and pensions, yes but also time and longevity, health, purpose and happiness, and what you actually want your days to look like when work stops being the thing that shapes them.

If you’ve been meaning to read it, today’s a good day. It’s an international bestseller, it’s been properly written for people in the UK, and today it’s 99p.

That’s a pretty easy yes.

👉 Order it on Amazon Kindle now

And if you do pick it up, I’d genuinely love to hear what you think. Leave me a review - on Amazon!

Cheers
Bec xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

PS: Know someone in that almost-there phase? Send it on. It’s the kind of book that is helpful if it lands at exactly the right moment.

From Bec’s Desk: Our new UK-specific social accounts are live - pop me a follow

Feature: Are you planning to support your children through the AI disruptions?

Read my article in The Times: What I’ve heard should alarm every politician in the country - Please stop fiddling with our pensions

Today we’re doing something a little different.

In this week’s feature article I want to introduce you to Charlotte Gibson, the UK Lead of The Epic Retirement Institute. Charlotte has written a thoughtful piece about a question many parents of grown kids are asking themselves but not always saying out loud.

Should we be planning our retirement a little differently in case our children face a tougher job market as AI reshapes work and careers?

It’s an uncomfortable topic, but probably an important one to start thinking about openly.

Many of us will help our kids at different points in their lives. That’s normal. But if you assume you may need to provide some support, you can build a bit of flexibility into your plans. If you don’t think about it at all and it happens anyway, it can put real pressure on both generations.

Charlotte explores this question beautifully in today’s article (read it below).

Meanwhile… markets have been bouncing around again this week, which inevitably makes people approaching retirement a little twitchy when they look at their pension balances.

When volatility hits, the temptation is to panic. I prefer to use moments like this as a teaching opportunity. Rather than fueling fear, I’ve been explaining what’s actually going on and how to think about sequencing risk and bucket strategies in a series of short lessons on Facebook.

If you’re a Facebook or Instagram user and want to see the content I create specifically for the UK, I’ve just set up both a dedicated Facebook Page and Instagram Wall for the UK so I can share UK-specific content and lessons here. Please pop both a follow at Facebook.com/epicretirementuk and Instagram.com/epicretirementuk

See you in there.

Until next week - make it epic!

Cheers
Bec xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Are you planning to help and support your children through the AI disruptions?

by Charlotte Gibson

A new question is shaping how parents think about retirement. I am hearing this more and more from parents of teenagers who are looking to the future and asking:

Should I change my future life plans to make sure I can support my children financially if AI makes it much harder for them to get a job?

We already know that it is difficult for young people to find work. The Times reported recently that parents are now an “invisible welfare state” for young adults who cannot find jobs. In the three months from October to December 2025, the number of 16 to 24 year olds not in education or work was 957,000, or around 12.8% of that age group.

We can guess, but we have very little idea how things will develop with AI and what impact it will have on the job market.

But as parents of bright young people working hard at school and beyond, there is a nagging thought that the life waiting for them after education could look very different from ours. It feels uncertain. And when things feel uncertain, our brains look for something we can control.

The reactions I hear tend to fall into a few different camps.

1. Some say they imagined themselves slowing down in their late 50s but now want to keep working or at least keep their options open.

2. Others talk about spending less on themselves or saving more, just in case.

3. And some admit they have no idea what they could actually do about it, but that does not stop the worry sitting in the background.

One thing that has helped in these conversations is to step back and widen the frame slightly. Every generation of parents has worried that the world their children enter will be harder than the one they knew. Sometimes those worries are justified. The financial crisis, housing affordability, climate change and now AI have all made people question whether the old path of education to career stability still holds.

The uncomfortable truth is that we cannot plan our children’s careers any more than our parents could plan ours.

When I sit with this question myself, I notice that there are really two different instincts competing.

The first is protective. If the world becomes harder for our children then perhaps we should build a bigger safety net. Work longer. Save more. Keep our own plans flexible so we can step in if needed.

The second instinct is trust. Trust that our children will find their way in a world that will inevitably be different from the one we entered.

So what is the right balance for us as parents? It probably sits somewhere in the middle.

One practical way some parents think about this is keeping flexibility in their own financial plans. Instead of locking in a rigid retirement date, they are aiming for having the choice but maybe not committing yet. That might mean maintaining part-time work skills, building a slightly larger financial buffer, or simply recognising that the transition into retirement may happen in stages.

Keeping some flexibility in our plans is sensible. Many of us already know that life rarely unfolds exactly as we expected in our twenties. Leaving a little room for change in our fifties is not necessarily a bad idea.

But reshaping our entire lives around a future that none of us can predict may not be helpful either. There is a difference between prudent planning and living in permanent anticipation of a problem that may never arrive.

Perhaps the more useful question in supporting our children is how we raise them to handle an uncertain world.

And if we are honest, the answer to that question has probably not changed very much: give them the foundations that help people navigate uncertainty - confidence, curiosity and the ability to keep learning. Nurture emotional resilience when things do not go to plan. And perhaps most importantly, the knowledge that they have people who believe in them.

And perhaps there is also a question for us:

How can we live more comfortably with uncertainty while our children find their own path?

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What I’ve heard should alarm every politician in the country

In an open letter to the government, Times Money’s retirement columnist sets out why people aren’t saving like they should

I spend a lot of time listening to people who are approaching retirement. And I don’t mean through polished focus group responses. I read the unfiltered commentary in places such as the Times comments section on Money articles and my Epic Retirement Club group on Facebook. Both are where financially savvy and less-savvy pre-retirees are discussing everything they’ve read about what’s coming for their money and their life ahead of them.

What I’m hearing should alarm every politician and regulator in this country. And it’s time we talked about it.

The more savvy people are not confused. Most understand tax relief, compounding and why keeping money inside a pension wrapper should be one of the smartest long-term moves they can make. And yet, they’re convinced it’s important to take their money out at 55 anyway. And it’s not because they need it. It’s because they don’t trust the government to deliver long-term, secure outcomes for their savings.

Read the rest of this article here in The Times. It was published on Tuesday 3rd March (and in Print on Saturday 7th March 2026). I write fortnightly for The Times - keep an eye out as my next article will drop any day!

Get your copy of the new UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

Feature: The five financial decisions that matter most in the last 10 years before retirement

From Bec’s Desk: New UK Facebook Channel to join

Read my article in The Times: What I’ve heard should alarm every politician in the country - Please stop fiddling with our pensions

The five financial decisions that matter most in the last 10 years before retirement

One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that retirement planning doesn’t happen evenly across your life.

For most people, the decisions that really shape retirement happen in the final decade before you stop working.

Your mid-50s to mid-60s are a powerful financial window. Earnings are often at their peak, mortgages are shrinking, children may have left home, and for the first time many people have real capacity to focus on their own future.

It’s also the point where retirement stops being an abstract idea and starts becoming real. And when that happens, a handful of financial decisions suddenly matter a lot more than the rest.

Here are five that I see make the biggest difference.

1. What to do about the mortgage

Many people arrive in their 50s still carrying some housing debt. That’s become increasingly common in the UK. The key question is not whether that’s “good” or “bad”, but how you plan to deal with it before retirement.

Some people focus on clearing the mortgage completely before they stop working. Others plan to downsize later and release equity that way. Either approach can work. What matters is that the decision is deliberate, not accidental

Housing costs are one of the biggest factors in retirement spending.

2. How much to boost your pension contributions

The final decade before retirement is often the most powerful time to increase pension savings.

In the UK, workplace pensions and personal pensions benefit from tax relief, which means every extra pound you contribute can be boosted by the government. Many people underestimate how much difference even a few years of increased contributions can make. If earnings are strong in your 50s and early 60s, this period can significantly lift your eventual retirement income.

3. How much investment risk to take

As retirement gets closer, many people instinctively move their pensions into lower-risk investments. That can make sense in some situations, particularly if money will be needed soon.

But retirement today can easily last 25 or 30 years, and your pension may still need to grow for decades. The challenge is finding the balance between protecting what you’ve built and maintaining enough growth to support a long retirement.

4. Whether to gradually reduce work

One of the biggest changes in retirement over the past decade is that more people are easing out of full-time work rather than stopping suddenly. Part-time work, consulting, seasonal work or a small business can make a big difference.

Financially it reduces the pressure on savings. Psychologically it also makes the transition easier. Retirement is increasingly becoming a phased process rather than a single date.

5. How your retirement income will actually work

This is where many people have their biggest “light-bulb moment”.

Retirement income rarely comes from just one place. For many UK retirees it becomes a combination of State Pension, workplace or personal pensions, savings or ISAs, and sometimes part-time work.

But there’s another layer to this that people often overlook.

Not all pensions are created equal.

Over the past decade millions of people have been automatically enrolled into workplace pensions, which is a very good thing. But the quality of those schemes can vary enormously. Some have excellent low-cost investment options and well-designed default funds. Others are expensive, limited, or poorly invested.

In the final years before retirement it’s worth taking a proper look at the pension schemes you actually have, what they’re invested in, how those returns are really tracking, and what the fees and benefits look like. Sometimes consolidating old pensions or reviewing the default investment option can make a meaningful difference over time.

But it’s important not to rush this. Make sure you properly understand each scheme and the terms you’re offered before moving anything, particularly if there are guarantees or defined benefit elements involved.

Once people start mapping out where their income will come from and how those pieces fit together, retirement often feels much less uncertain.

And that’s really the goal.

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I cover a lot more on this in How to Have an Epic Retirement, my UK Bestseller (An Australian/New Zealand edition is also available)

This week I’m going to be short and sweet. I’ve been based in Australia but doing meetings with the UK almost every night!

The UK course is coming along brilliantly. It will be available for pilot very soon - so if you’re curious register your interest and we’ll let you know first.

We’re also gearing up to launch a UK podcast. Shhh. don’t tell anyone. But watch this space.

And finally, my column in The Times (below) this week was in direct response to the feedback I keep getting about planning for retirement in the UK. It’s often less about planning long term moves and more about taking caution against changes which I think is a challenge that needs a voice.

Lastly, I’ve been playing around with one of the new features on Facebook. If you’re over there, you might have noticed I’ve launched two new Channels.

These are a bit like a behind-the-scenes feed where I can share quick ideas, short insights and the occasional thought that doesn’t quite warrant a full article or podcast.

One is focused on Australian epic retirement stuff that come up during the week. The other is for UK epic retirement stuff, as that audience has been growing quickly with the UK edition of the book and course.

The nice thing about these Channels is that they’re a direct way for me to share snippets, short videos and posts with geographically specific audiences, without relying on the Facebook algorithm to decide who sees them.

They’re informal, quick to read, and a way for me to share things in real time rather than waiting for the next newsletter. I’ll be sharing all my educational reels there too.

If you’d like to follow along, you can join them here:
Australian Channel: click here
UK Channel: click here

See you in there.

Until next week - make it epic!

Cheers
Bec xx

.

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

What I’ve heard should alarm every politician in the country

In an open letter to the government, Times Money’s retirement columnist sets out why people aren’t saving like they should

I spend a lot of time listening to people who are approaching retirement. And I don’t mean through polished focus group responses. I read the unfiltered commentary in places such as the Times comments section on Money articles and my Epic Retirement Club group on Facebook. Both are where financially savvy and less-savvy pre-retirees are discussing everything they’ve read about what’s coming for their money and their life ahead of them.

What I’m hearing should alarm every politician and regulator in this country. And it’s time we talked about it.

The more savvy people are not confused. Most understand tax relief, compounding and why keeping money inside a pension wrapper should be one of the smartest long-term moves they can make. And yet, they’re convinced it’s important to take their money out at 55 anyway. And it’s not because they need it. It’s because they don’t trust the government to deliver long-term, secure outcomes for their savings.

Read the rest of this article here in The Times. It was published on Tuesday 3rd March (and in Print on Saturday 7th March 2026). I write fortnightly for The Times - keep an eye out as my next article will drop any day!

Get your copy of the new UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

Feature: When one of you is older than the other

From Bec’s Desk: Trying pickleball and checking out a cruise ship in port

Read my article in The Times: The six biggest retirement fears - and how to solve them

When one of you is older than the other

I got a letter this week that’s more common than you’d think.

“I’m 66 and ready to slow down. My partner is 58 and still working. How do we plan this properly?”

If there’s an age gap between you, you are not running one retirement timeline. You’re running two. And in the UK, that plays out across three things that matter enormously: pension access age, State Pension age, and tax sequencing.

Let’s start with access.

You can usually access defined contribution pensions from age 55, rising to 57 from 2028. That means one partner may be able to start drawdown while the other is still in full earning mode. Used well, this can be powerful. The older partner might reduce hours and draw a modest pension income while the younger partner keeps earning and contributing. But access alone isn’t the strategy. Tax has to be part of the thinking too.

If one partner is still earning £40-60,000 and the other starts drawing heavily from their pension, you can push your household tax bill unnecessarily high. Often the smarter move is for the older partner to draw modestly, use their personal allowance efficiently, and keep withdrawals tax-efficient while the other continues contributing and benefiting from tax relief. Sequencing matters more than most people realise.

Then there’s the State Pension clock.

State Pension age is currently 66 and rising. When one partner reaches it and the other is still years away, you suddenly have uneven guaranteed income. One of you has a secure, inflation-linked income for life. The other doesn’t yet. That asymmetry can actually shape your investment decisions. It might allow the older partner to take slightly more risk with their drawdown pot, knowing the State Pension provides a floor. Or it might encourage you both to protect capital until the second State Pension is in place.

Either way, it’s a factor worth mapping deliberately rather than discovering by accident.

Now for the part no spreadsheet captures.

When one partner retires and the other keeps working, you’re living in different life stages under the same roof. One has freedom. One has Monday morning meetings. One wants midweek lunches with their mates; the other has deliverables due and limited annual leave. I’ve seen couples navigate this beautifully. I’ve also seen them assume travel and lifestyle begin the moment the first person finishes work, only to find the other isn’t ready, isn’t available, or simply doesn’t want to stop yet.

You are not one age. You are two. Which means your retirement plan rarely fits a single date circled on a calendar. It usually needs to be phased.

Phase one: the older partner reduces or stops work.

Phase two: the younger partner transitions.

Phase three: you arrive at a shared lifestyle. That’s the shape of it financially. But getting there requires honest conversation well before you reach any of those phases.

And then there’s longevity.

If there’s a significant age gap, one partner may statistically need care earlier. And/or the other partner might become the carer. That shapes housing decisions, drawdown rates, and whether you preserve certain assets for later-life flexibility. You’re effectively managing five clocks simultaneously: pension access age, State Pension age, earnings and tax bands, the end of work identity, and your health trajectories. That can be a lot!

Mapped consciously, an age gap can create real flexibility. Ignored, it creates stress and missed opportunity.

The question isn’t just when do we retire?

It’s what does each stage look like for each of us, and how do we keep both people’s goals in the picture?

That’s where the real planning starts.

Relate to this? Tell me what you’ve learned.

Leave a comment

I cover a lot more on this in How to Have an Epic Retirement, my UK Bestseller (and Australian/New Zealand)

I’ve been home in Brisbane this week, and it’s been a good one.

Alongside the podcasts, courses and keeping up my gym habit, I managed to squeeze in two things I hadn’t expected: a tour of a Viking Ocean cruise ship that came into port, and my very first pickleball lesson.

The cruise ship visit coincided with a podcast I released with the wonderful Kathy Lette. Yes, the Kathy Lette — author of Puberty Blues and her latest bestseller The Sisterhood Rules. As a travel writer for The Times she’s taken many Viking cruises, so she came in to share what the experience is really like, and the real differences between river and ocean cruising. It was a great conversation.

Between the show and the ship tour, I picked up a few things that regular cruisers probably already know, but most of us don’t until we’ve actually done one:

Every ocean cabin has a balcony. All food and non-alcoholic drinks are included, so no nasty surprise bills at the end. Wine, beer and cocktails are available through a very reasonable drinks package, and it’s not bottom-shelf. You can also bring your own wine onboard with no corkage, which sounds particularly wonderful on a river cruise through a French wine region. Free internet across the fleet. A Nordic spa open to all guests, with sauna, hot pool, snow room and proper loungers. A big, modern gym. Ocean ships carry 998 passengers compared to around 190 on a river cruise, so it feels genuinely spacious. Room service is included. And with 110 ships, Viking is now the largest river cruise operator in the world.

There are more highlights over on my Facebook post if you want a closer look.

Then came pickleball. I did my introductory lesson on Saturday and I completely understand the fuss now. It’s easy to pick up, the courts are half the size of tennis, and once you’ve done your intro session you can find a game near you through an app for just a few pounds. It’s apparently wildly addictive, and I can already see why. It’s taken off in Australia and the US, and I know it’s growing fast in the UK too. If you haven’t tried it, it might be worth a look, especially if you’re after something social, active and genuinely fun.

And if you’re in the UK, don’t forget to pick up a copy of How to Have an Epic Retirement. It’s currently available in hardcover, and you can get a copy here.

Until next week — make it Epic.

Cheers,
Bec xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

The six biggest retirement fears - and how to solve them

What are you most afraid of as you approach retirement?,” I asked my Facebook community, The Epic Retirement Club, a group of people who are mainly in their fifties and sixties.

The answers poured in. What stood out was how similar the worries were, regardless of background or income.

Running out of money, working for too long and never enjoying life, not knowing how to stop saving and start spending, losing your sense of purpose and identity and the government unfairly changing the rules on pensions and savings: all these things are big worries for anyone thinking about retiring soon. Then there’s one we don’t talk about — ending up alone, lonely and isolated socially.

So today I want to look more deeply at six of the biggest fears, and understand how they can be managed.

Read the rest of this article here in The Times. It was published on Monday 16th February 2026. I write fortnightly for The Times - keep an eye out as my next article will drop any day!

Get your copy of the new UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

Feature: ‘Get some financial advice’ - it’s just not that simple anymore

From Bec’s Desk: Making the course

Read my article in The Times: The six biggest retirement fears - and how to solve them

‘Get some financial advice’ - it’s just not that simple anymore

“Get some financial advice” is probably the most common line in UK retirement commentary. Whenever markets wobble, pension freedoms are debated, tax allowances shift, someone asks how they are meant to move from full-time work into retirement, or someone talks about inheritance tax, the default response is the same: go and get regulated financial advice.

I have said it myself.

It isn’t wrong. But I am beginning to think it is incomplete.

A more responsible version might be this: learn how the system works first, and then seek out the type of advice that fits your situation and your goals.

That nuance matters.

In the UK, “financial advice” is not a single, uniform service. Some advisers are independent and can recommend from across the market. Some are restricted to certain providers or investment solutions. Others sit within large firms that combine advice and investment management under one structure. In many cases, the service is built around managing assets for an ongoing percentage fee, which can compound significantly over a long retirement.

For some households, that structure is entirely appropriate. If you have significant assets, complex tax considerations, business interests or intergenerational planning needs, comprehensive ongoing advice can be valuable.

But many people approaching retirement are trying to answer very specific questions.

Can I afford to stop working?
Which workplace pension should I consolidate to and how do I analyse their benefits?
Should I take tax-free cash now or later?
Drawdown or annuity?
How does this interact with the State Pension?
What happens if markets fall in the first five years?
How long does this money realistically need to last?

Those are retirement design questions.

They are not automatically investment management questions.

A significant number of people already sit in solid workplace pension schemes or SIPPs with diversified, low-cost funds. The investment wrapper itself is not always the core problem. The challenge is understanding sequencing risk, tax planning, income sustainability and how all the pieces fit together.

Yet the most common commercial advice model in the UK remains ongoing portfolio management for a percentage fee. That does not make advisers conflicted or unethical. It simply means the service is built around managing assets over time.

If you do not understand how advice is delivered and paid for, it is very difficult to assess whether what is being offered genuinely matches what you need.

We have created a culture where “get advice” is the responsible answer to every retirement question. But advice is expensive, adviser numbers have fallen sharply over the past decade, and access is uneven. For many households, it is neither simple nor cheap.

If people are going to be encouraged to seek advice, they deserve a clearer map of what is actually on offer and how each type is paid for, so they can judge whether it suits them. Firms, in turn, benefit from being explicit about the structure of their service and the circumstances it is designed for.

Without that understanding, it becomes difficult to tell whether the recommendation is solving your problem — or simply the way that firm structures its advice.

Advice matters. But it should be chosen deliberately, with a clear understanding of what problem you are trying to solve.

And that begins with education.

So let’s learn the big types:

There is guidance — such as Pension Wise or provider helplines — which explains your options but does not recommend a specific course of action. Then there is regulated financial advice, where an adviser makes a personal recommendation based on your circumstances.

The UK is also trying to create a middle ground between guidance and full advice called targeted support. It’s expected to arrive in late 2026 or 2027. Whether it becomes a genuine bridge for middle-income households, or simply a structured sales funnel, will depend on how it is implemented.

Among regulated advisers, some are independent and can consider the whole market. Others are restricted to certain providers or operate within vertically integrated firms that combine advice and investment management. That structure often involves moving assets into centrally managed portfolios and charging an ongoing percentage fee.

Those ongoing charges typically sit somewhere between 0.5% and 1% per year for advice, sometimes layered on top of platform and fund costs which can creep towards 2% in total. Over a 20–30 year retirement, that compounds into a very significant sum. When you consider that a workplace pension might be costing you 0.25% that’s a big difference.

For some households, the service justifies the cost. For others, particularly those with straightforward arrangements, it may be more than they need.

The important point is not that one model is good and another bad. It is that they are different, and consumers deserve to understand what they are paying for, how it is calculated, and whether that structure suits their circumstances.

This is my view of the world? You might agree or disagree… share your thoughts.

Leave a comment

I cover a lot more on this in How to Have an Epic Retirement, my UK Bestseller (and Australian/New Zealand)

Another week closer to the end of the UK financial year, which means it’s time to start thinking about tax planning if you haven’t already.

This week I had a piece published in The Times — a fun one — and I hope you managed to catch it (see it below).

I’ve also spent the week in sunny Melbourne, keynoting a number of events and dialing in to meetings in the UK in my evenings. What I’m noticing now is that my work is starting to split quite neatly across the UK and Australia. The systems are similar in intent but very different in execution, and each country has its own quirks and pressure points.

As we develop the UK edition of the How to Have an Epic Retirement course, I’m getting increasingly excited about what we can offer. We’re deep in scripting, filming and editing, with a 9 May release in sight. It feels good to be building something that genuinely reflects the UK system rather than retrofitting an Australian model.

Australia continues to wrestle with superannuation complexity, pension settings and the tension between advice and investment management models. The UK has its own advice gap, the long tail of pension freedoms, and tax allowances that seem to shift just as people get comfortable with them. Different language, same underlying challenge: helping people make confident decisions in the second half of life.

I love working across both. It keeps me sharp.

And if you’re in the UK, don’t forget to pick up a copy of How to Have an Epic Retirement. It’s currently available in hardcover, and you can get a copy here.

Until next week — make it Epic.

Cheers,
Bec xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

The six biggest retirement fears - and how to solve them

What are you most afraid of as you approach retirement?,” I asked my Facebook community, The Epic Retirement Club, a group of people who are mainly in their fifties and sixties.

The answers poured in. What stood out was how similar the worries were, regardless of background or income.

Running out of money, working for too long and never enjoying life, not knowing how to stop saving and start spending, losing your sense of purpose and identity and the government unfairly changing the rules on pensions and savings: all these things are big worries for anyone thinking about retiring soon. Then there’s one we don’t talk about — ending up alone, lonely and isolated socially.

So today I want to look more deeply at six of the biggest fears, and understand how they can be managed.

Read the rest of this article here in The Times. It was published on Monday 16th February 2026. I write fortnightly for The Times - keep an eye out as my next article will drop any day!

Get your copy of the new UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.

Feature: Don’t wait to be pushed

From Bec’s Desk: Trying new (hard) things

Read my article in The Times: Why you shouldn’t touch your tax-free pension in your fifties

Don’t wait to be pushed

You’ve worked for 30 or 40 years. You’ve built your skills, your reputation, your income, your super and hopefully your investment returns. You’ve paid the mortgage, raised the kids, carried teams, carried families and carried the mental load required to make everything function. And you’ve familiarised yourself with retirement enough to know that you have ‘enough’.

And then when it’s finally time to step into your Prime Time (the phase before full retirement) on your own terms, when you begin the conversation about reducing your days, reshaping your role or stepping out of the front line, something rather odd happens.

You hedge it and you downplay it. You call it temporary and you reassure everyone you’re not disappearing.

Why do you do that?

For many, it’s because you’re not only adjusting your hours – you’re adjusting your identity.

For decades work has been the spine most people’s adult life. It structured your weeks, shaped your conversations and anchored your sense of competence. When someone asked what you did, you had a clear answer. And that identity located you in the world. So even moving from five days to three, from executive to adviser, from operator to mentor or manager to casual worker, can feel like stepping away from something much bigger than a pay cheque. And if you haven’t built an identity outside work in the run up, that shift can feel destabilising.

But here’s the part we need to stop and think through.

If you don’t choose your glide path, sometimes the market or your health chooses your cliff.

Layoffs in your late 50s or early 60s are not just financial events. They are psychological events. Research suggests it can take up to two years to fully recover from involuntary job loss at that stage of life. That’s two years of rebuilding your confidence. Two years of identity repair and healing. Two years of trying to re-enter a market that may quietly prefer someone younger, someone hungry to learn new technologies, or someone who isn’t going to tell the middle manager how we did it in the year 2000. Or two years of accepting retirement happened to you and healing.

That is a very different experience from choosing your timing.

In your Prime Time, I don’t recommend a cliff edge exit from your workplace unless you need one. I recommend taking a glide path. A slower shift out of full-time work is a smart strategy. It allows your pensions to keep compounding at the highest balances you’ve ever seen. It protects you from sequencing risk if markets wobble. It keeps cash flow steady while you test the shape of your next chapter. And it gives your identity time to evolve instead of having to crash and rebuild.

Culturally, we celebrate grinding on and we celebrate big, dramatic retirement style endings.

We don’t celebrate deliberate transitions enough. So when you decline the next promotion, reduce your days or decide you no longer want the intensity, you can feel the need to justify it or apologise for it.

But, you don’t need to.

You are not stepping back because you are less capable. You are stepping differently because you have built yourself the powerful ability to choose.

For most of us, our pensions didn’t accumulate by accident. Our investments didn’t magically appear in our accounts. They are the result of decades of work. Of showing up, contributing and making contributions to your workplace pension and deliberate decisions to add to it (hopefully), year after year. The same is true of your career. Your credibility didn’t just land there either. All of that effort, over time, creates flexibility. And flexibility is not something you hoard. It is something you use.

Used well, it gives you the option of a glide path.

In my view, it is far better to step sideways on your own terms and reshape your sense of self at a time of your choosing than to be pushed out unexpectedly and left questioning your value.

I cover a lot more on this in How to Have an Epic Retirement, my UK Bestseller (and Australian/New Zealand)

I’m writing this on a wet Saturday morning, having done my first ‘parkrun’ ever today. I might be late to the party but I’m here, looking after my health, trying new things and getting out there. My run time was far from epic, and I earned a wicked blister, but I did it. #1 is done and that, to me is important. Because starting things that are just outside your comfort zone can be something we put off, but not me, not this year! Now, #2 and #3 will feel easier I’m sure.

This week just gone was one of those chatty weeks that somehow disappears in conversations and tasks. The highlights? Nina and I packing a record number of Welcome Packs for the upcoming Aussie How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course. And seeing some of our UK filmed footage, and finalising the rest of the draft scripts for the UK program we’re filming soon and will be launching in May 2026. (You can register your interest, obligation free, here).

And my parkrun of course.

There’s a couple of interesting projects moving and shaping in the UK to help people have more epic retirements, I can’t wait to be able to tell you more - so watch this space. My goal is to bring you a podcast, the epic retirement tick, and the course this year… and maybe more. But every step takes time and hard work, so stick with me here, and I’ll tell you all about them as they evolve.

And don’t forget to pick up a copy of my UK book - How to Have an Epic Retirement. it’s only available in hardcover - and you can get a copy here.

So, until next week - Make it Epic!

Cheers
Bec xx

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Why you shouldn’t touch your tax-free pension in your fifties

Just because you can access your pot from 55 doesn’t mean that you should

In the UK, something rather odd happens in your mid-fifties. Nothing dramatic changes about your health, your energy, or your usefulness to the world. But suddenly the system taps you on the shoulder and says: you may now start spending your pension.

For many people, that permission quickly snowballs into a big and often poorly examined question. If I can make withdrawals from my pension, should I take as much of it as I can? And once that thought takes hold, retirement can start to feel like the logical next step, even if nothing else in life is actually pointing that way.

Someone called Sam wrote to me last week grappling with exactly this issue. He is 54, tired, financially organised and approaching pension-access age.

“I don’t need the money yet,” he said. “But it feels like this is the point where I should take the 25 per cent tax-free. The system lets me do it for a reason, doesn’t it? Or maybe I should think about retiring.”

That feeling is a real problem.

Read the rest of this article here in The Times. It was published on Monday 2nd February 2026. I write fortnightly for The Times - keep an eye out as my next article will drop any day!

Get your copy of the new UK Bestselling pre-retirement guidebook, How to Have an Epic Retirement: Your ultimate guide to living well, loving life and retiring with financial confidence.