How to retire (an Adviser perspective)

Melissa Allen, February 2026

You’ve been working hard your entire adult life.  Putting by, squirrelling away, creating a nest egg to support you in your retirement years.  By your late 50’s you’ve done well.  A strong KiwiSaver balance, an investment portfolio, maybe a rental property.  Everything is doing what it should and you’re totally in control. 

Then, say around age 62, you realise that retirement means not going to work anymore.  If you’ve not been enjoying the last few years that won’t be a problem, but if you’ve built a great working life it may come as a shock. 

Then the implications hit.  All that money you’ve saved and wealth that’s been created, the time is coming when you might need to start spending it.  Easy to say, surprisingly hard for some people to do.

Suddenly this a huge psychological block appears in front of you:  No more steady income from work, and the prospect of having to spend a carefully curated nest egg of financial safety.  If you just freaked out, you’re not alone.

For some, the transition into retirement is a fantastically smooth journey where you give up all the things you don’t like doing and start spending more time doing the things you love. (If there was such a thing as a generic retirement goal, I think that should be it.) For others, the retirement transition can be a little scary.

As financial advisers, much of our time is spent helping our clients navigate this major life change.  If you’re worried, here are a few things I’ve picked up over the last 10 years which may help.

• 65 is just a number.  Yes, you may start receiving NZ Superannuation payments, so what?  There is actually no standard retirement age in NZ, and you certainly don’t have to stop working the instant you turn 65.
• You don’t have to stop work completely.  If you love what you do, keep doing it.  Many workplaces will offer flexible or part-time hours.  Most of my clients move through a “semi-retired” phase where they work reduced hours for a year or more.
• Don’t retire in winter (without a firm plan).  Suddenly changing routine and not having something to do during the coldest darkest months of the year is not a recipe for good mental health.
• Test it.  Retire, give it 6 months, and if you don’t like it find a new job.  It’s perfectly OK to retire more than once.
• Check you can afford it.  Obviously, a key component.  Your financial adviser can help you work out if you have enough saved for all the things you want to do.  We can map out potential retirement scenarios with you using our in-house software.   Most people have more options than they realise and being able to visualise them provides great insight.  Understanding how your money can be made to work to fit your retirement lifestyle will make the transition much easier.

How and when to retire is likely to be one of the biggest decisions of your life.  The most important thing you can do is spend some time working out what retirement looks like for you.  Everybody is different.  Don’t expect your retirement plan to look like anyone else’s; although it will be easier if you and your partner can agree on most of it.  

Making a retirement plan can be hard if you don’t know where to start.  The concept of “whatever you want to do” can be overwhelming.

To get you started here are some common themes we see from our retired clients:

• Travel: Most retirement plans include this to some extent but there are huge variations: big trips or small trips, international or local, business class or campervan, every few months or every few years.
• Family & Friends: More time with those you love is never wasted.  A large number of retirees have a dedicated day (or two) with the grandchildren.  And if the kids live overseas, well that’s just another excuse to travel.
• Hobbies: Always wanted to learn to paint? Improve the golf swing? This is your chance.
• Giving back:  Do you have expertise to share? Or simply time? Volunteering is an excellent way to maintain social connections.
• Staying home: Plenty of retirees just want to be at home and enjoy their garden and a good book.  Retirement is not a contest.  If home is your happy place, then that’s right where you should be.

It might sound strange, but one of the most enjoyable parts of my job as a financial adviser is encouraging people to spend once they reach this new stage of life.  You’ve saved your whole life to get to this point.  What was all that discipline for if not to enjoy yourself now? Life is short and health is fragile.  Make the most of it while you can. 

Whether you have a plan, or don’t, you already have a financial adviser in your corner, ready to help guide you through this milestone.  The earlier you start thinking about your retirement, the sooner we can adjust your financial plan to get you there.

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