The common financial mistakes forcing people to work longer

·37 min·3 clips

Financial advisor James Wrigley warns against buying investment properties just before retirement due to debt burdens.

Julianne Sprague is filling in while James Kirby is on a break until next week, and The Money Puzzle turns into a brisk retirement conversation with James Wrigley. He is a Melbourne-based financial adviser from First Financial, with more than 20 years in advice and a plain-speaking social media following. The hook is Retire Life Ready, available October 29, Wrigley's book about better money decisions and the journey to retirement. The useful tension shows up fast. Wrigley talks about people who can afford to spend more but keep themselves to investment earnings because touching capital feels risky. Fear ends up writing the budget. He is careful about the distinction, though. Some retirees spend less because they already have the life they want, and he sees no problem there. Others are quietly giving up things they would enjoy. His worked example lands hard: stay on the same path and you may die with $1.5 million in super plus the house. Then Sprague and Wrigley get into the family question. If children or other beneficiaries are likely to inherit anyway, would some of that money be more useful now than decades later, when they may be around 60 and retired themselves? The chat stays practical, circling timing, trade-offs, and the point where protecting wealth turns into letting fear run retirement. Sprague keeps the pace up, then moves toward common money mistakes and one simple way to manage money better.

As heard by us

A plainspoken retirement discussion about spending, inheritance, and when money should start doing more.

Julianne Sprague sits down with Melbourne-based financial adviser James Wrigley for a grounded look at retirement money and the harder question beneath it: how much should be left untouched, and how much should actually be used for the years ahead.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a plain-speaking reset on retirement decisions, super, and when money might be better used now than left for later.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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