If you’re anything like the average Kiwi, you see retirement as something that happens after you turn 65 (or, *cough*, 67). You stop working, live off the pension, and you’re Officially Retired.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, and there are people all over the world challenging ideas about post-65 life. Here’s five things you should know about the New Retirement.

Your finances can be on FIRE

One of the ‘new ways’ is called FIRE  –  Financially Independent and Retiring Early. You don’t have to wait until you’re 65 to retire  –  there are people doing it in their 30s! The retirement age is tipped to go up, but that doesn’t mean you have to do what everyone else is doing.

Resources on early retirement abound

There are heaps of FIRE bloggers all over the world. Blogs about FIRE (such as Mr Money Mustache and Mr Tako Escapes) are encouraging people to sort out their finances early and be more frugal with money with a view to having more independence, sooner.

Minimalism is a winner

Part of becoming financially independent is downsizing your life and your expectations. There’s a whole movement on minimalism not just in the world but also right here at Credit Simple.

Home sweet home

You don’t need a mortgage-free house in Auckland (or in Wellington). You just need a mortgage-free house. Some of the smartest cookies out there have sold up their city property to live like kings in other (very sunny and picturesque) parts of the country.

KiwiSaver is still a no-brainer

Even if you’re going to retire early (yay!), KiwiSaver is still a no-brainer, particularly if your employer is contributing 3% (rather than having a total remuneration package) and to glean the $521 tax credit each year if you make the contribution threshold.

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About 10 years ago, Pead PR owner Deborah Pead sent me an invitation to a media lunch. This is exciting partly because it’s Deborah Pead inviting you to lunch, but it’s memorable to me because the invitation came tucked inside a beautiful box with a single, stunning silver fork.

This fork, I still have it. I hate accumulating possessions, so I don’t actually own many utensils at all – just enough for one or two friends to come to mine for dinner and not have to BYO fork  –  so this fork is my favourite fork and it takes pride of place in my cutlery drawer (which, incidentally, doesn’t even have a cutlery divider, because I object to them on the basis that they’re ugly and ultimately useless, if you only own a few forks). I love this fork so much that I’ll hand wash it between dishwasher rounds, just so I can use it at consecutive meals.

The fork, it brings me joy (thanks Deborah). And since then, since realising how much joy a single utensil can bring you, I’ve resisted acquiring extra things – stuff that doesn’t give you the happies – and instead opted for a minimalist approach. I don’t see the point in owning Lots Of Things when most people hardly have time to scratch themselves these days.

Speaking of lunch, I ate some the other day with Esther Goh, who writes sensible things over at Sorted.org.nz (go have a look). We got to talking about Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and how Kondo reckons you should only keep things that speak to your heart: “The best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to take each item in one’s hand and ask: ‘Does this spark joy?’” Kondo writes. “If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it. This is not only the simplest but also the most accurate yardstick by which to judge.”

Esther, who as I said is very sensible, pointed out that you can’t only own things that spark joy; after all, your toilet brush doesn’t spark joy (if it does, this is the wrong website for you), but generally you need to own one to reasonably get by in life, or at least for the sake of marital or domestic harmony.

This made me think about a bloke called Fumio Sasaki, who’s apparently a ‘hardcore minimalist’. Sasaki gave away all his stuff  –  he used to be a passionate collector of books, music and so on, but got sick of having to keep up with the latest trends. So he spent a year (yes it took him a year) selling everything or giving it away to friends.

“Spending less time on cleaning or shopping means I have more time to spend with friends, go out, or travel on my days off. I have become a lot more active,” Sasaki says.

Sasaki is living a richer life, on several levels. And I have to confess that, while minimalist, he has a pretty kick-ass utensil drawer (read this Guardian story for more, including pics). However, I haven’t yet been able to ascertain how he cleans his toilet, given I’m pretty sure he doesn’t own a toilet brush.

Anyway this is extreme minimalism and as with anything, when you take it too far it just gets silly. But after giving my bookshelves a good zen over the weekend, I reckon the basic principles for unjunking your life are:

• Do it slowly. Tackle a drawer, a shelf, a cupboard, at one time. Otherwise you’ll get overwhelmed and resort to eating peanut butter straight out of the jar while watching cat videos on YouTube.
• Throw out things you’d forgotten about but aren’t necessarily delighted to rediscover.
• It’s OK to be a bit ruthless (sometimes it even feels good).
• Keep stuff that’s useful, that you know you’ll use within the next year, or stuff that’s come in handy in the past year. If it’s a regular, it gets to stay.
• Don’t keep stuff out of obligation. Someone else likes it? That’s cool, they can give it a home.
• If you have little kids, be conscious you’re making decisions on their behalf too. Instead of chucking something, maybe you should box it up and put it in storage for them later in life. It might not resonate with you now, but it might with them later.
• Clothes. Don’t keep clothes that don’t fit you thinking you’ll fit them one day. If you do, they’ll be out of style. You’ll appreciate the wardrobe space now more than the unfashionable item in the future. Clothes are pretty disposable, so this is one area you can be really ruthless.
• Anything you can transfer to digital (books, music, movies), do it.
• If it’s quality, sell it rather than chucking it.
• Drink lots of coffee before you start.  
• Don’t throw out your toilet brush.

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