Plan for retirement while still being in service

Gerald Twiss is currently based in Kapiti and retired as a firefighter in 2018.

I joined the fire service when I was 21, spent 45 years on the job, eventually retiring at 66. I began my firefighting journey in Wellington and spent almost all of my time on the trucks. In the early 1990s, I got cancer while being in the service and after treatment; I was back at work 289 days later. I am currently a deferred member of the FireSuper Scheme, which means that my money is still invested in the Scheme.

I actively planned for my retirement while being in service and would like to share two things that worked for me. Firstly, I created my personal financial plan to keep a track of my net worth, goals, and budget. Secondly, I relied a lot on the following books for my financial expertise; “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” and “Financial Secrets: The complete New Zealand guide to everyday finances”. Recently I purchased a newly published book “Cracking open the nest egg: How to make your retirement savings last the distance,” The key trick that I learned from these books was to plan for my retirement while still being in the service.

Having additional income in the form of FireSuper gives me choices in life. I use the money from my FireSuper to pay for rates, insurance, house maintenance and holidays, whereas my government pension pays for the everyday expenses. I am also a big believer of the “Trinity Study”, which says that if you withdraw money from your Super at a rate of 4% (from the total amount you retired with) every year, you might be able to sustain your lifestyle for the rest of your retirement life.

I mostly look up my FireSuper account annually as part of updating my personal financial plan; I then review my net worth, my short, medium, and long-term goals and then update my budget accordingly. My philosophy is, never have all your eggs in one basket and to not worry much about market volatility as you are in there for the long run. Markets generally run in cycles, currently, the market looks like on the downside however, when the time is right, the cycle will reverse, and markets will eventually bounce back up.

I would certainly recommend the Scheme to new members as the Scheme is subsidized, the amount is deducted from your pay before you see it and you make money even while sleeping, thanks to compounding interest. Compounding interest and widely diverse investments are the reason why I have chosen to leave my money in the FireSuper Scheme even after retiring.

For keeping oneself busy post-retirement, I believe there are four things that you should try and do each day; some physical movement, a mental activity, a social catch-up, and something that sparks your spiritual side i.e. doing something for someone else.