There are five important stages to almost everyone’s retirement. These have nothing to do with your age and everything to do with how you feel, and the way you are making decisions. They are your Prime Time, Adjustment, Epic Retirement, Ageing, and Frailty.

I don’t want you to be afraid of any of them, except perhaps frailty. Let’s look at what to expect in each phase.

Retirement is a time when you can enjoy spending time with the people who matter most.Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

This is that exciting, liberating stage of life that really kicks in when your kids get their driver’s licence and start finding their own financial and practical independence. Or, if you started late, you might have to force this stage before then.

Suddenly – or sometimes gradually – you have more money, more time and more space to think about what’s next. It’s the phase where you start leaning into your freedom and shaping life on your own terms.

For many people in their prime time, retirement still feels a long way off. They’re enjoying work, staying engaged and steadily growing their savings while also locking in more of the lifestyle goals they’ve worked hard for.

There’s no hard-and-fast rule about how retirement is done, what age you do these stages at, or even if you are to live out all stages.

This phase can last a decade or more, where the focus is on balancing work and leisure, funding new experiences through income rather than dipping into retirement savings too soon. It’s about making the most of now, while also setting up for what’s next.

For those who don’t have kids, the transition window can be trickier to identify. And there can be many triggers. The most common is seen as the midlife crisis, or the time when you realise you’ve hit the bottom of your happiness curve in your late 40s and early 50s.

Today’s generation of 40-, 50- and 60-somethings are rapidly turning this pre-retirement phase into an incredibly important opportunity to “live it up” and to make critical transitions at work, with a greater understanding of what they are passionate about and from where they derive fulfilment.

You might not want to retire and may look to stretch this phase out for decades – and I don’t blame you. This phase is all about you! If you get it right, you’re earning, achieving and enjoying yourself all at the same time.

For many, their Prime Time is also a critical time to focus on their big retirement plan, socking away money into superannuation and........

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