The Humans vs Retirement Podcast

You've heard of the sandwich generation — pressed between ageing parents above and growing children below, doing all the lifting. But nobody's named what happens next. When your parents have died. When your children have properly left home. When, for the first time since you were eighteen, you are not the support layer for anyone but yourself. You're an open sandwich. And it is a stranger, lighter...

You've got the money. You've got the time. You've got the freedom. So why can't you actually enjoy it? In this episode, I unpack the Permission Paradox! The reason financially secure retirees still order the cheap coffee, skip the trip, and quietly guard a fortune they'll never spend. It's not a money problem. It's a permission problem. And it's fixable. FULL SHOW NOTES Open your banking app. Look...

Retirement is sold to you as a gain event. Freedom. Time. Choice. The world is your oyster. It is, in fact, one of the biggest loss events you will ever go through. And almost nobody warned you. In this episode, I walk through what actually dies when you retire — the ten things that quietly come off in the first five years and that nobody puts in the brochure. Identity. Status. Mastery. Tribe. Str...

The episode where we say the unsayable Everyone's worried about people not saving enough. That's the crisis. That's the narrative. But there's another problem. One the financial industry almost never talks about. Some of you did everything right — and it cost you everything that matters. This week, Dan goes against the grain to talk about the people who optimised so well for the future that they d...

Your 12 Good Years What if the most important number in retirement isn't your pension pot — it's 12? Not 30 years. Not 25. Twelve. That's roughly how many genuinely good, healthy, fully-capable years the average 60-year-old has before energy, mobility, and independence start to meaningfully decline. And if your retirement plan doesn't account for that? You're planning for the wrong version of your...

Buy My Book The Retirement You Didn't See Coming Let's Chat About Your Retirement Plans Book a time for us to talk Episode Description You're probably not going to run out of money in retirement. Most retirees still have 80% of their savings after 20 years. Couples withdraw just 2.1% annually—half the "safe" rate. Yet 48% of UK retirees are terrified. You're spending your retirement living small t...

Buy My Book The Retirement You Didn't See Coming Let's Chat About Your Retirement Plans Book a time for us to talk Episode Description You've worked hard to build your nest egg. Now your adult children are struggling in a brutal housing market, drowning in debt, and navigating unstable careers. You want to help—but how much is too much? Will you enable dependence? Rob them of resilience? And what...

Buy My Book The Retirement You Didn't See Coming Let's Chat About Your Retirement Plans Book a time for us to talk Episode Description You spent 30-40 years solving major crises. Now you're retired with total freedom, yet you're standing in your kitchen, heart racing, furious because the dishwasher isn't loaded correctly. Why does a misplaced set of keys feel like a military crisis? You have less...

You've saved for decades. The spreadsheet says you're fine. So why can't you book that trip to Italy? Why does buying nice coffee feel wrong? This isn't a financial problem—it's an emotional one. And it's incredibly common. What We Cover Money Scripts: The Invisible Backpack "There will never be enough" "Money is shameful / Rich people are bad" "I don't deserve nice things" The challenge: You've t...

Episode Description Your brain has spent decades as a corporate drug addict, getting its dopamine fix from deadlines, presentations, and feeling important. But when you retire, the dealer cuts you off—cold turkey. This episode explores the neuroscience behind why retirement can feel so devastating, and what you can actually do about it before you clock out for the last time. Key Topics Covered The...

Why Your "Perfect" Retirement Feels So Wrong You did everything right. Saved hard. Invested well. Ticked every box. So why does retirement feel… off? In this episode, I unpack the uncomfortable truth nobody talks about: retirement can feel psychologically harder than work , even when the money's sorted. Not because you failed, but because you were never given the emotional or mental roadmap for wh...

After 100 episodes of diving into the messy, hilarious, emotional and utterly human world of retirement, I return with the rawest and most powerful episode yet. This milestone isn't a celebration; it's a challenge. A wake-up call. A bold invitation to stop drifting, stop delaying, stop hiding behind old identities… and finally step into the second half of life with honesty, courage, and intention....

If you want to retire well in 2026, you don't need a ten-year spreadsheet, a suitcase full of pensions, or a perfectly colour-coded life plan. You need five human foundations: clarity around your money, health that actually supports your freedom, purpose that wakes you up in the morning, people you want in your corner, and the courage to take action. In this episode, I strip away the fluff and bre...

In the season finale, I tear up the traditional retirement rulebook and replace it with a bold, human, and rebellious manifesto for the second half of life. The old rules — work 40 years, aim for "enough," play it safe, slow down — were never designed for modern retirees who want meaning, energy, experiences, connection, and agency. This episode lays out The New Rules of Retirement — ten powerful...

Most financial planning conversations in retirement are 90% about money, but most retirees spend 90% of their time thinking about life. That's the  Retirement Focus Ratio, and it's completely out of sync. In this episode, I challenge the industry obsession with spreadsheets and show why the real success of retirement isn't built in Excel, but in how you live, spend, and find meaning after work. Yo...

Retirement is a modern invention, but your brain didn't get the upgrade. In this episode, I unpack why so many retirees feel restless, guilty, or underwhelmed, even when life looks "perfect on paper." It's not because something is wrong with you, it's because you're trying to run a 21st-century life on Stone Age wiring. I explore the mismatch between modern retirement and ancient survival instinct...

Retirement isn't a finish line; it's an emotional rollercoaster. In this episode, I break the myth of the "happily ever after" retirement and introduce The Retirement Reinvention Curve — an honest, human map of what really happens when the work stops and life after work begins. From the initial shock and elation to the frustration, doubt, and eventual flourishing, I unpack the eight emotional stag...

Tax. Death. Legacy. Three words that make most people squirm, but avoiding them doesn't make them go away. In this unapologetically bold and surprisingly uplifting episode, I turn the "taboo trifecta" into a conversation about freedom, meaning, and going out with style. You'll learn how to make tax and inheritance planning feel less like a funeral march and more like an encore. Because facing the...

Most people treat retirement planning like an Olympic sport, building spreadsheets, forecasting returns, and trying to engineer certainty in a world that's anything but certain. But here's the truth: no plan survives contact with real life. In this episode, I unpack why traditional retirement plans often do more harm than good,  creating false security, stifling adaptability, and ignoring the huma...

Most retirees believe the key to a successful income strategy lies in the products — specifically, the right pension wrapper, withdrawal rate, or investment mix. But here's the truth: it's not about products at all. It's about permission. In this episode, I challenge the obsession with spreadsheets and simulations, revealing why confidence to spend doesn't come from perfect plans — it comes from u...

You've worked hard. Saved smart. Invested wisely. You've built a life where money is no longer the problem. But here's the awkward truth: spending it freely, without guilt, hesitation, or second-guessing, is the part no one prepared you for. In this episode, I unpack why so many retirees struggle to permit themselves to spend, where that scarcity mindset comes from, and how to start using money to...

Retirement isn't about how much time you have; it's about how much time you feel . In this episode, I dive into one of the most misunderstood aspects of life after work: time perception. From brain science to everyday challenges, I uncover why retirement can sometimes feel like a blur and how you can make the most of your time, stretch it, and truly enrich it. What You'll Learn Why your brain expe...

Most people retire with a solid income plan but no plan for a life they actually want to live. In this episode, I discuss the five human pillars that make retirement feel meaningful, not just financially viable:  Purpose, Identity, Relationships, Structure, and Well-being. Expect punchy stories, research-backed insights, and practical prompts to start building a life worth funding. What you'll lea...

In this episode of The Humans vs. Retirement Podcast, I delve into one of the most disorienting aspec ts of life after work: identity. For decades, we've answered the question "Who are you?" with a job title. Director. Manager. Teacher. Lawyer. And then retirement hits — and suddenly, the title is gone. What's left is often a quiet identity crisis no one warned us about. This episode, The Past Bui...

Welcome back to  Humans vs Retirement ! Season 6 kicks off with something brand new — no guests, no panels, just me, the mic, and the unfiltered truth about retirement. In this episode, I tackle one of the biggest myths of all: that retirement is the finish line. Spoiler alert — it's not. Retirement is the starting line of an entirely new chapter, and one that comes with as many emotional and psyc...