Services Australia workers are gearing up for a 24-hour strike next week, leaving many Australians wondering about the impact on Centrelink payments and services. The strike, scheduled for Monday, October 9, is a response to a government pay rise offer that has sparked discontent among staff.
Life is risky whether we like it or not. Most of us spend a lot of time worrying about risks and trying to counter them. But there is no such thing as a risk-free environment.
Some aspects of risk are outside our control.
Some we can manage and reduce.
But sometimes avoiding risk leads to poor outcomes.
For instance, most of us have taken a risk across the years when we’ve changed jobs, gone to a party where we don’t know anyone, or set off on a worldwide adventure. And these risks have paid off handsomely with a new satisfying career, meeting the love of your life or lifetime travel memories of great adventures. As we get older we often still take risks by joining different clubs, becoming volunteers or maybe becoming more politically active. And we reap rich rewards in return.
So it’s worth bearing these experiences in mind when we think about ways to view risk in retirement and retirement income.
Q. I’d like to travel overseas for six months. Do I need to wait until Age Pension age? I’m only 61 and really want to head off now.
That’s the question that Anishka posed a few weeks back. She’s single, 61 and has a strong desire to enjoy extended travel experiences while she’s young enough and fit enough to make the most of them. Born in Sri Lanka, her family emigrated to Adelaide when she was a teenager. She’s keen to go back there and spend time with extended family, learning more about her culture and heritage. Her plan is to go for six months, taking her time travelling through South East Asia starting first in Singapore.
But that all seems a long way off from her current situation where she is working part time. A sense of frustration that she doesn’t want to delay her dreams for years made her reach out to Retirement Essentials adviser Sharon Sheehan recently.