Nathan's Insights

With the start of 2026 I’m started thinking about retirement and in particular transiting to retirement over the next 3 years.  I’ll be eligible to take early retirement in January 2029, but my tentative aim is May 2029. 

To have a meaningful retirement I feel I need to work out what I want across the following categories:

• Your finances
• Your health
• Your goals

I don’t feel you can just figure out these areas when you retire, instead you need to have plans and goals.  You then adjust as circumstance change.

I’ve made significant process on my finances; I own my apartment and have been upgrading the apartment with improvements.  I also have significant retirement assets ready to access in 2029. 

I have no real projected financial issues, but I might purchase a car around retirement but so far, I haven’t needed a car for inner city living so this isn’t a locked in plan.

My health has been of significant concern.  What’s the point of having financial independence and stability and not being able to take advantage of this?  Early November 2025 I had a short-term health issue that resulted in me missing a business conference.  The first time I’ve had health impacted work. 

My concern was my underlying health was poor, and this made an illness worse than it should have been.  This was a major wake up call.  

I have now found a local General Practitioner to be my ongoing Doctor so I can build up history instead of just dealing with an issue / illness as it occurs.  It can be tough to find a GP in the inner city for such a role and often you need to go on a waiting list.  Finding a GP for a one off visit is possible, finding a GP for an ongoing long-term relationship and creating health plans is a lot more difficult task so glad I’ve fixed this.  

Since 11 November 2025 I’ve implemented a health plan which has been ramping up at different trigger points.  My goals are to get to healthy weight, defined as body mass index of 25 or lower, and blood pressure to normal range (it was very concerning when first tested). The normal range is defined as systolic blood pressure no higher than 130 and diastolic blood pressure no higher than 85 (130 / 85). 

I’d like to get blood pressure to the ideal score (no higher than 120 / 80) but this is a stretch goal.  I want to achieve this within one year and before my trips commencing 11 November 2026.  This is a very difficult task but 112 days in I’m making good progress so far.

This leads into life goals, and they fall into two major focuses are this time; travel and education. 

For education I have some ideas of undertkaing a Bachelor of Arts degree which I’d like to commence within 12 months of retirement in 2029. 

 For travel I’ve several ideas pre and post-retirement:

• 2026: Indian Pacific and Western Australia (booked and paid)
• 2026: World Trip; Qatar, Jordan, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Morocco (booked and 80% paid)
• 2027: Melbourne Cricket Club Ashes Tour; Lords Test Match (only a maybe depending on cost)
• 2028: Northern Europe Tour; Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, England (maybe also a Thailand stop on the way home)
• 2029: Northern Lights Cruise plus a Christmas Market Europe River Cruise (first post work trip)
• 2030: Far North Queensland tour (Cairns to Cape York and Roko Island)

Summary

I’m a person who finds motivation from having plans and goals and to seeing the benefits and experiences I can enjoy with focus. Most of my focus right now is on health and saving for the two 2026 trips and bathroom renovation. 

So far I’m making good progress, and I’m finding it easier to make micro ‘sacrifices’ knowing why I’m taking today’s actions.