The shift can be cancelled two minutes before it starts.
asserted
it → cancel → ?
That is the arithmetic Antony* has lived on for a decade as a casual community-sector support worker, transporting and supervising children in care, some days a 150-kilometre round trip.
asserted
* → live → care
“If my shift gets cancelled, I don’t get paid,” the 59-year-old says.
asserted
old → cancel → ?
“And that can be anywhere up to two minutes before I start.”
asserted
I → start → ?
Three shifts one week brings in about $400, exactly his weekly mortgage payment and nothing else.
asserted
shifts → bring → 400
A flat-out week of 10 brings $1600.
asserted
week → bring → 1600
School holidays thin the shifts; the six weeks over Christmas might hold two or three shifts.
uncertain
weeks → thin → shifts
His working rule: “Do it while I can get it, and while I can do it.”
asserted
I → get → it
The plan he made alone
Antony has about $98,000 in super and about $100,000 left on his mortgage for his modest three-bedroom home.
asserted
Antony → make → home
His plan: work to 67, use the super to pay out whatever remains of the mortgage, live on the Government Age Pension.
asserted
whatever → work → Pension
He turns 60 in January, the age from which Australians can generally begin accessing super, and nobody has walked him through what that means; 67 is the only number in his plan.
asserted
67 → turn → plan
Eight years as a stay-at-home dad meant his first super contribution landed when he was around 30.
asserted
he → stay → dad
Paying fees on three separate super accounts eventually prompted him to roll them all into one.
asserted
Paying → pay → one
At his age, the gap between those who worry about running out of money in retirement and those who don’t is a chasm: 26 per cent feel confident, against 82 per cent who don’t.
asserted
who → worry → cent
He knows which side he is on.
asserted
he → know → side
“I’m eventually going to run out of money after I retire, and there’s nothing I can physically do to make it any better,” he says.
asserted
he → go → money
“So I’ve just accepted it.”
asserted
I → accept → it
A friend, retired before 60, is off to Canada, then Hawaii.
asserted
friend → retire → Canada
“I’m happy for them.
asserted
I → ’m → them
I’d like to go to Hawaii, but I don’t think that’ll ever happen for me.”
asserted
that → like → me
When the plan met a fever
Then pneumonia arrived.
asserted
pneumonia → meet → fever
He had gone guarantor on one of his children’s homes, his own house as security, so the redraw on his mortgage, his usual backup, was unavailable.
asserted
redraw → go → mortgage
Suddenly, he was asking his kids for money.
asserted
he → ask → money
“I felt really vulnerable.”
asserted
I → feel → ?
AMP director of growth and customer solutions Julie Slapp hears the same across the research.
asserted
Slapp → hear → research
“The size of a super balance is important, but on its own it doesn’t tell someone what their retirement will look like,” she says.
asserted
she → tell → what
“People tend to feel more confident when they can translate that balance into a realistic income and understand where their money will come from month to month once their pay cheque stops.”
asserted
cheque → tend → month
The sum he has never done
It’s a step Antony has never taken.
asserted
Antony → do → ?
He guesses the full Government Age Pension at “about a thousand a fortnight”.
asserted
He → guess → thousand
He hasn’t done the sums, or registered that the $400 a week he sends to the mortgage, double the required payment, will vanish from his living costs the day the house is paid out.
asserted
house → do → costs
“I’m a bit of an ostrich sometimes.
asserted
I → ’m → ostrich
Starting is simpler than it feels, says AMP general manager of guidance and advice Andrea Boss: “List your super, savings, investments, property and debts, then estimate your spending.
asserted
Boss → start → spending
A simple snapshot is far more valuable than putting it off because it feels overwhelming.
asserted
it → put → it
If you changed nothing from today, how much retirement income would you have, and how does that compare to what you want to live on?”
asserted
you → change → what
Antony has done more right than he credits himself: the doubled mortgage payments, the extra super contributions made early on, a decade of hard, necessary work.
asserted
he → do → work
His advice to his 40-year-old self suggests as much: “Put more money in your superannuation.
uncertain
advice → suggest → superannuation
Only because I know how important it is now.
asserted
it → know → ?
“What am I going to do to keep myself occupied all day?” he asks.
asserted
he → go → myself
“I might have to take up salsa dancing!”
uncertain
I → have → dancing
Retirement can come with big questions.
asserted
Retirement → come → questions
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
