The One-Fifth Philosophy

Joe Hockey's recent announcement that Australia's pension age will likely be raised to 70 served as a reminder that taking 2+ years off work was probably the best decision we've ever made. In fact, we're so happy with our mini-retirement that we're thinking we'll take one every decade.

We both managed to spend at least two years of our 20's overseas and this trip will account for our 30's. If we manage to keep up the trend through our 40's, 50's and 60's that will translate to 10 out of fifty 'working' years spent in semi-retirement. 

Assuming the pension age will be pushing 75 by the time we're closing in, this will put us almost on par with the lucky generation of Australians who retired at 60 and have a life expectancy of around 84 years of age.

Rather than waiting to enjoy the leisure of that one-fifth at the end of our working lives, we're choosing to spread it out...hedging out bets if you like, since let's face it, some people don't make it to the golden years they've looked forward to all their lives.

This lifestyle is dependent on a few things of course- namely: no kids, no mortgage and no career-related ambition. All of which we are very happy to live without.