What is a Prime Timer?

Plus, in today's papers "The major retirement planning question we’re all getting wrong"

In this week’s edition:

• Feature: What is a Prime Timer?

• Newspapers: “The major retirement planning question we’re all getting wrong”

• Podcast: Living a 'soft retirement' and test driving jobs

• From Bec’s Desk: We’re having a book launch online event!

What is a Prime Timer?

This week in the Epic Retirement Facebook Group many of you asked me to answer a big question 'What is a Prime Timer?'

In short — I’m a Prime Timer. And I think many of you are actually Prime Timers and that's possibly something you can associate with and start doing and being BEFORE you retire.

I’m nearly 50 now, but at 47 and a half, I hit a turning point. I burned out. I’d been in a high-visibility career, meeting goals that I thought were important, in a system I’d once found exciting but that no longer made sense for me. I didn’t have time to make a grand plan. As it happened, I just was put in a position where I had to stop. Cold. Yes it was somewhat my choice -- but not really. You know how that is, when the other options are even less appealing right. And from that point, I had to rebuild everything from scratch: income, purpose, identity. It wasn’t graceful. It certainly wasn’t pretty. But it was one of the most important turning points in my life.

Back then, my work was my purpose. I was constantly switched on, overperforming at work but underinvesting in everything else - my health, my interests, my fun. I was tired, stressed, and chasing someone else’s idea of success. And I hadn’t even paused to ask if it was what I wanted because before this stage of life frankly, you're often just juggling life and responsibilities (particularly with 3 kids).

Stopping was terrifying. But because I had a little bit of courage, I went exploring. I tried new things. I figured out what I liked again - and started to think about the kind of life I actually wanted to live next. And yes - one of the first projects I decided on was to write How to Have an Epic Retirement. And I decided in that process I wanted to do more around the second half of life.

So then I began researching the second half of life for that first book, and in doing so I came across something fascinating: the science shows many of us go through a dip in happiness between about 47.5 and 55. For some, it leads to growth. For others, the change comes whether you’re ready or not — and it can be really confronting. And either way it drives us to make choices, choices we have the ability to make for ourselves earlier rather than at retirement.

So here’s the shift I see now. So many of us in our late 40s, 50s and 60s are (or could be) approaching life differently. We’re not ready to retire - or even talk about retirement, really - but we are ready for some of the benefits that used to be reserved for it: flexibility, breathing space, joy.

We want financial confidence so we can do life on our terms. We want meaning, experiences, and a chance to reconnect with ourselves — beyond the years of raising kids, juggling mortgages, and keeping everything afloat.

So I’m opening the door to a conversation about a new life stage – one that comes after ‘adulting’ and before ‘retirement’. I selfishly call it my Prime Time. And I feel like it can be.

I think that for many of us, our Prime Time begins when the kids get their drivers licence, the mortgage starts to look conquerable, and we get a bit more time and money in our wallets as the kids start to become more and more independent. That’s when we start to ask: What do I actually want next? What lights me up now?

And the truth is, we’re in a unique position. We’ve been contributing to super for decades. We’ve got compounding on our side (if we learn how it works). We’ve got life experience, perspective, and - thanks to much longer life expectancies -we’ve got time. And all of that gives us something no previous generation has had at this stage of life: choices.

That’s why I started talking about Prime Time. Because I think it’s a new stage of life and I think many people here looking at retirement as the solution are actually in your Prime Time and you could embrace it.

There’s three phases of life within your Prime Time in my opinion (and I talk about them in my next book).

Your Setup Phase: The period where you get in control of your money, interests and passions. You work out how much is enough, and you get yourself on the path to real fiinancial confidence.

Your Lifestyling Phase: The period while you are working full time where you flex thing a bit more in your direction – finding joy, taking longer holidays, getting healthy and enjoying life AND work. You might need to change what you do to find that balance or maybe you just need to self-invest more.

And your Part Timing Phase: I don’t think we need to retire to get the benefits of a part time lifestyle. And I think future generations, starting with ours are priving that work, if you do something you enjoy can be good to continue with as you enjoy your lifestyle. So I’m calling this! I think our Part Timing phase is the absolute bomb!

And so, that’s a simple snapshot of a Prime Timer. Ultimately, I’m a Prime Timer. I think many many of you are here too. And I have written a book to help you and me on our journey. I think there’s 27 lessons that can help us – but they’re for another day.

Prime Time: 27 Lessons for the New Midlife is indeed the name of my new book, which will come out in Australia on the 30th July.

I’m off now to make my Prime Time count. If you think you might be a Prime Timer - tell me about it. What are you doing to make this stage of your life count. Do you feel like you have to wait for retirement to do that - or are you finding little ways now?

We're all in this together. Making it count. Making it epic. Whatever your path -- make sure you get to choose it.

It’s back! The Epic Retirement Flagship Course kicks off this August — and Earlybird is officially ON 🔥

If you’ve been thinking about getting serious (but not boring-serious) about your next chapter, now’s the time. My 6-week How to Have an Epic Retirement Flagship Course has already helped thousands of Aussies set themselves up for a retirement that’s smart, secure, and actually fun - with real strategies for money, time, health, happiness, travel, and how to age well in your own home.

🎟️ Earlybird spots are now open - and they’re 25% off.
They won’t last long, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. So if this is your season, jump in now and lock it in at the best price.

👉 Check it out here and download the new brochure for Spring 2025

Let’s make your retirement epic.

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Short but sweet this weekend. I’m in Italy, enjoying a heatwave. It’s beautiful here. But I can’t resist continuing to fit in this newsletter, my podcast and my articles. I’m not going to write a long update though because this week’s feature was longer than usual. I just wanted to tell you about a little online event I’m going to hold to launch the new book. My wonderful publisher from Hachette, Sophie Hamley will be joining me to chat about the book with you. All the details and the free registration link is below! And we’re hosting it on the day the book hits stores — a free lunch and learn!

Now go, enjoy your Sunday. I hope there’s some Winter sun to enjoy somewhere in your garden. Make it epic!
Bec x

Cheers, Bec Wilson

Author, podcast host, columnist, retirement educator, and guest speaker

Prime Time: Live Book Launch Event

OK, we’re doing it. I’m holding a free live online event for the book launch on launch day… and my publisher from Hachette, Sophie Hamley, will be my cohost. If you’d like to attend, please register your interest below. It’s a free event, and I’ll do my best to pack it with valuable information.

Register here for the Prime Time: 27 Lessons for the New Midlife live online book launch.

The major retirement planning question we’re all getting wrong

Extract of article published in print in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times, WA Today on Sunday 6th July 2025.

In Sunday’s Nine Newspapers arount Australia

When it comes to retirement, we’ve been taught to chase a number. A big, scary, often impossible number. $1 million. $2 million. Enough to live off the interest. Enough to never worry again.

The kind of number that shows up in glossy finance articles with neat little charts that make it look like you’re doomed if you haven’t got it sorted by 50.

But here’s the truth: that kind of thinking doesn’t help most people. In fact, it’s making people feel anxious and defeated before they’ve even started. Because the question isn’t: “What’s the magic number?”

It is: “What does enough look like – for you?”

Enough depends on how you want to live. What your lifestyle costs. Whether you plan to keep working part-time. Whether you’ll own your home. How long you think you’ll live. And how comfortable you are with risk, growth and change.

For some people, enough is $40,000 a year and lots of time in the garden. For others, it’s $90,000 a year and regular travel. The idea that there’s one universal benchmark for a good retirement is outdated and unhelpful.

(READ ON… my articles are never paywalled for Aussies in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald. )

In this episode, I chat with Andrew Middleton, a thoughtful, quietly funny voice out of the UK who’s navigating what he calls “soft retirement.” After a long career in leadership roles, Andrew hit his late 50s and realised the world of work wasn’t quite calling his name anymore. So instead of retiring outright, he started experimenting, calling it his “I’m not done yet” era.

Since then, he’s worked as a wedding registrar, learned to film videos, shared his journey on LinkedIn, and quietly built a life that works for him - one with freedom, flexibility, and purpose.

We talk about what really changes in your 50s, the invisible shift in how the world sees you, and how to design a life that lets you keep showing up on your own terms. If you’re feeling the itch for something new - but don’t want to throw away everything you’ve learned so far - this one’s for you.

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE OF THE PODCAST HERE:

• LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS

• LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

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