I once had a mentor who gave me advice I’ll never forget: “Do it the !#$&ing easy way, Bec.” It was blunt, even lazy-sounding. But it was genius, and I try to hold it close in everything I do.

Because the truth is, most of us make things harder than they need to be. And nowhere is that more obvious than retirement planning.

Once the kids have moved out and there’s some spare money, salary sacrificing in your late 40s and early 50s will pay off big time.Credit: Getty

We’ve been sold a myth: that it’s a lifelong grind. That you need endless advice, perfect investments and constant tinkering. That you have to scrimp for decades, or panic in your 60s trying to catch up.

But not if you learn the easy way – which, in my view, is also the smart way, and the way to enjoy more lifestyle before you retire, too.

The secret is this: spend seven or eight focused years in midlife knowing your goal, and deliberately boosting what you put into super. Then you can stop pushing, and let compounding do the rest for a decade or until you choose to retire.

Yes! Seven or eight years of paying closer attention, tipping in extra, and setting up the flywheel so it prints money for you. That’s it.

Not forever. Not a treadmill you have to run on until you’re grey and exhausted. Just a short, tidy window of actions taken in your late 40s or 50s, when the kids are leaving home, and you can finally find space in the budget – before you start spending more on your lifestyle.

Do that, and you’ve cracked the code. You get the money, sure, but you also get something more valuable: freedom, lifestyle and the power of choice. That’s the easy way – and it works far better than waiting until your late 50s to plan and save for retirement.

Let me prove it.

Anna and Dave both earn $100,000 a year. Both have $200,000 in super at age 48. Both get the standard 12 per cent........

© The Sydney Morning Herald