Our mission
Peace of mind about retirement, not just for the few, but for everyone.
Questions like these come up again and again in our Facebook group of 40,000 Australians, and for good reason: most people reach retirement without anyone explaining the rules behind Australia’s retirement system, or how tax, super and Centrelink work together.
The Long Weekend Plan was created to fill that gap. It sets everything out in plain English, then gives you tools to see how it applies to your own situation, so you know exactly where you stand.
Our principles
Easy to understand
Tax, super and Centrelink are complicated enough on their own, and understanding how they work together is harder still. Everything here is explained step by step, with worked examples instead of jargon.
Open to everyone
Good retirement information shouldn’t cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. The planner, SpendLens and PensionLens are free to use, and you don’t need to sign up.
Your own numbers
General rules only go so far. Enter your own figures and see, year by year, whether you have enough, when you could stop working, and what your safety net looks like if things don’t go to plan.
On your side
We don’t earn commissions or referral fees, and we never recommend financial products. Your plan stays on your own device and is never saved on our servers.
Who’s behind it
Mark Murphy
Geophysicist, author and educator
I’m a qualified geophysicist. I lived and worked overseas for many years, and while I was there I started my own real estate business in Houston. I’ve always enjoyed working things out for myself, which is how I came to teach myself investing and programming. These days I write code in about a dozen languages.
When I began planning my own retirement, I expected to find clear answers. Instead, I found the rules scattered across countless sources, each explaining one piece and rarely how the pieces fit together. So I started writing it all down. Those notes grew into my first book, a plain-English guide to super. More questions led to a second, far more detailed book, The Long Weekend. To test what I’d learnt against real numbers, I built a spreadsheet model, which became the foundation of the web apps.
I love learning, and I get just as much satisfaction from mentoring and teaching others. Few things are more rewarding than helping someone understand how their super and the Age Pension fit together, and watching their confidence grow.
Start with your own numbers.
Questions or ideas? Email australiansuperguidebook@gmail.com or use the feedback page. Every message is read.
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