You’re smart with money. You’ve built a career, paid down your mortgage, saved into super for decades.
But when you think about retirement, something doesn’t feel right.
It’s 2am and you’re lying awake doing the math again. Will you have enough? Should you work longer? What if you run out?
This is FORO—Fear of Running Out. And it’s not because you’re anxious or bad with money.
It’s because you’re making one (or all) of the four mistakes that keep smart, successful people stuck in unnecessary work for years longer than they need to be.
Here’s what I’ve noticed after helping hundreds of Balmain and Inner West locals plan their retirement: The smartest people often make the same four mistakes.
The good news? They’re all fixable once you know what to look for.
Let me show you what’s probably costing you money—and years of unnecessary work.
Walk into any financial planning office and they’ll tell you: “You need $1 million in super to retire comfortably.”
So you fixate on that number. You check your super balance obsessively. You panic when markets drop. You feel behind when you’re actually fine.
Here’s the problem: That million-dollar figure tells you nothing about what you can actually afford to spend.
Think about it: If you have $800,000 in super but no idea how much income it will generate, you’re no better off than someone with $400,000 who has a clear income plan.
The capital number on your super statement? That’s just a score. It’s not a plan.
Stop asking: “How much is my super worth?”
Start asking: “How much income will my assets generate each year?”
Example:
$600,000 in super producing 5% annually = $30,000 per year
Add part Age Pension of $15,000
Add rental income from investment property: $10,000
Total retirement income: $55,000 per year
That’s a real number you can plan with. That’s money you can budget around. That’s how you know if you’re ready or not.
“Balmain Financial Adviser: Your Retirement Number Is Not What You Think”
When you focus on the wrong number, you make the wrong decisions:
You work 3-5 extra years chasing a “magic number” you don’t actually need
You panic and sell during market drops, locking in losses
You can’t tell if you’re on track or not, which breeds chronic anxiety
The fix? Change your focus from “How much do I have?” to “How much income can I generate?”
Money is like soap: the more you handle it, the less you have.
I see this constantly in Balmain: successful professionals who can’t leave their investments alone.
They read the financial press. They watch the market. They tweak their portfolio every time something changes.
“Tech is hot—let’s switch into tech.”
“Interest rates are rising—better move to cash.”
“This fund had a bad quarter—time to sell.”
Every switch. Every trade. Every “quick move” feels smart in the moment.
But here’s what’s actually happening:
Buy-sell spreads: Every trade costs you 0.5-1% immediately
Capital gains tax: Selling winners creates tax bills that wouldn’t exist if you’d held
Timing mistakes: You sell low, buy high, repeat
Management fees: Entry fees, exit fees, switching fees
Opportunity cost: Time out of market while you “wait for the right moment”
Add it up over a decade and you’ve potentially given away 10-20% of your wealth through handling costs alone.
Set your strategy. Fund it properly. Then leave it alone.
The best investment returns come from portfolios that are set up correctly from the start, then ignored.
Not “set and forget forever”—annual reviews are fine. But constant tinkering is expensive behavior that masquerades as sophistication.
This is the traditional approach everyone recommends:
Build up a big pile of money in super
Retire
Gradually sell investments to fund your lifestyle
Hope it lasts
The problem? It’s terrifying and precarious.
Scenario 1: Market Crash—You retire in 2025 with $700,000. Markets crash 30% in 2026. You’re now forced to sell assets at depressed prices just to pay for groceries. Your retirement timeline just got much shorter.
Scenario 2: Longevity—You plan for 25 years but live 35. Congratulations on the long life, but your money ran out eight years ago.
Scenario 3: Panic—You watch your capital shrinking year after year. Even if you’re on track, the psychological stress of watching your wealth disappear is brutal.
This is the retirement version of eating your seed corn. Once you start selling down assets, you’re on a one-way path to zero.
This is what I call the 2 Cows Strategy—a different way of thinking about retirement assets.
Think of your portfolio in two parts:
Dairy Cows: Assets that produce income you can live off (dividend shares, rental properties, allocated pensions with sustainable drawdowns)
Beef Cattle: Growth assets that appreciate over time but don’t produce regular income
The goal: Build enough Dairy Cows that you can live off the income they produce without ever having to sell them.
Your capital stays intact (or even grows). You have predictable cashflow. And you sleep better at night knowing you’re not slowly liquidating your future.
“Balmain Financial Adviser: Your Retirement Number Is Not What You Think”
Traditional Sell-Down Approach: $700,000 portfolio, withdraw $50,000/year, capital shrinks annually
Income-Focused Approach: $700,000 portfolio generating 5% = $35,000/year income, add $15,000 Age Pension = $50,000 total, capital stays intact
Same retirement income. Completely different stress levels.
This might be the most common mistake of all.
I regularly meet people who’ve been told they need $1 million to retire, so they’re grinding away to hit that number.
When I ask: “What lifestyle will that $1 million actually fund?” they have no idea.
Most retirees know their super balance down to the dollar. But they have no clue what their life really costs.
“We’re pretty frugal—maybe $50,000 a year?”
Then we look at the bank statements: $78,000.
“Where did that extra $28,000 go?”
Everywhere. In small amounts. Over time. Unnoticed.
Without understanding your true spending—not guessing, not “should be fine” numbers—you can’t build a reliable retirement income plan.
The danger runs both ways:
Scenario 1: Overestimating—You think you need $70,000/year but actually spend $55,000. So you work three extra years unnecessarily, giving up years of freedom for money you didn’t need.
Scenario 2: Underestimating—You think you need $60,000/year but actually spend $75,000. You retire thinking you’re fine, then reality hits and you’re either cutting back drastically or heading back to work.
Both scenarios are miserable. And both are completely avoidable.
Step 1: Calculate your current spending—Grab your last three months of bank statements. Add up everything: Housing costs (rates, insurance, maintenance), Bills and utilities, Groceries, Transport, Healthcare, Entertainment and dining, Travel, Insurance, Subscriptions, Everything else. Don’t judge it. Don’t adjust it. Just measure it.
Step 2: Adjust for retirement—Some costs go up in retirement (healthcare, travel, time-filling activities). Some go down (no commuting, work clothes, mortgage hopefully paid off). As a rough guide: You’ll need 60-80% of your pre-retirement spending if you’re mortgage-free. But this is YOUR number—don’t rely on averages.
Step 3: Add a buffer—Retirement lasts 25-30 years. Things happen. Don’t lowball it. Better to have more than you need than wake up at 72 realizing you’re broke.
Meet Sarah and Tom (both 60):
They thought they spent: $55,000 per year
They actually spent: $74,000 per year
Their original retirement plan was based on the wrong number. They would have run out of money by age 73.
After working through the real data:
Actual spending need: $60,000/year (post-mortgage)
Super combined: $680,000
Part Age Pension: $16,000
Required drawdown: $44,000
With proper income strategy, they’re on track—but only because we used real data instead of guesses.
Let me be blunt: These aren’t minor errors. They’re expensive.
Making Mistake #1? You might work 5+ extra years unnecessarily because you’re chasing the wrong target.
Making Mistake #2? You could be leaving $50,000-$100,000 on the table through excessive trading and switching.
Making Mistake #3? You’re one market crash away from a retirement crisis, forced to sell assets at the worst possible time.
Making Mistake #4? You have no idea if you’re on track or not, which means either working longer than necessary or running out of money later.
The stakes are high. But so is the upside of getting this right.
If you’ve recognized yourself in any of these mistakes, don’t panic.
The fact you’re reading this means you’re already ahead of most people. And all of these issues are fixable with the right approach.
Here’s what you need:
Right Focus: A clear income target, not a magic capital number
Right Behavior: Set your strategy properly, then leave it alone
Right Strategy: Build income-producing assets you never have to sell
Right Data: Know your real spending, not your guessed spending
Get these four things right, and FORO disappears. Not because you’ve suddenly got millions more in super, but because you finally have clarity.
“Balmain Financial Adviser: Your Retirement Number Is Not What You Think”
Forget generic retirement advice. Find out what YOU actually need with a One Page Financial Plan designed for your Balmain lifestyle.
For $660 (inc GST), you’ll discover:
✓ Your real retirement income target (based on YOUR lifestyle, not averages)
✓ Whether you’re on track or what needs to change
✓ Specific fixes for any mistakes you’re currently making
✓ Prioritized action steps ranked by impact
✓ 100% satisfaction guaranteed
📧 Email: adam@suncow.com.au
📞 Phone: 0418 785 200
Adam Carey is a fee-for-service financial planner in Balmain specializing in retirement income planning for Inner West locals aged 50-65.
No commissions. No ongoing fees. No BS.
He helps pre-retirees figure out if they have enough to retire—often discovering they can stop work sooner than they thought.
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