‘Retirement is not guaranteed’: Why Sydney couple decided to take a ‘mortgage break’

The average Australian retires just shy of turning 60, if they are lucky to live long enough.

When Meg Bishop’s father died from melanoma ten years ago, he was still working. He never lived to see his hard-earned retirement.

Confronted by mortality, Meg and her husband Wayne, aged in their 40s and early 50s, carefully orchestrated a plan to live like retirees by taking a “mortgage break”.

“It got to the point where we thought life was just too short,” Meg told nine.com.au.

“We don’t know what’s around the corner or what’s going to happen.

“You only get one shot at life and retirement is definitely not guaranteed.”

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The Sydney couple worked full-time and owned their own home.

They had paid down the mortgage significantly and decided they were in the financial position to take a sabbatical for a 12-month stint on the road.

After putting their house up for lease, Meg and Wayne purchased a camper trailer and set off for a lap around Australia.

“The rent covered the mortgage, plus our council rates, and anything else,” Meg explained.

“The house basically covered itself. And then we used the redraw account to fund our travel.”

Meg and Wayne lived luxuriously on their retirement reconnaissance: they didn’t need to work and simply enjoyed the spoils of living on the road.

They had put aside $50,000 for a year’s worth of fuel, groceries and experiences.

“We spent about double that,” Meg laughed.

“It was a holiday the whole time, we didn’t work at all, we did everything that we wanted to do, like the whale shark dives, the helicopter rides, all that sort of stuff.”

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Over their year-long trip, the Bishops drove 36,000 kilometres and collected experiences that many Australians save for their twilight years.

It was difficult to return to their normal lives and the “daily grind”.

But it incited a decision to supercharge their retirement plans.

“We’re starting to gear up to go again, the plan for now is to keep working, pump some more money into super, and when we’re in a comfortable spot, we’ll hit the road again,” Meg explained.

“Then we can then afford to take the pay cut and do different types of work.

“It’s kind of like a pre-retirement retirement.”

The goal is to reach this Xanadu of “pre-retirement” in the next five years.

The Bishops are bucking a sombre trend, as millions of others eye a very different – and less than ideal - retirement than they originally planned.

Research from AustralianSuper found that 66 per cent of Australians expect they will need to keep working in “some capacity” after retiring.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, the number of employed Australians aged 65 and over has surged by almost 70 per cent over the last 10 years to over 730,000 people.

Meg and Wayne didn’t want to go down this path.

“We just want enough to have a really enjoyable, free, comfortable and interesting life,” Meg added.

“We have been quite lucky. 

“But if there is an opportunity, and you can take that break without putting yourself at too much of a disadvantage, then absolutely go for it.”