Issue: How many lifetimes will you actually have?

In a no holds barred interview with Andrew Denton broadcast on ABC TV in September 2008, the controversial brain surgeon and medical maverick Dr Charles Teo admitted that at age 51 he was beginning to feel the emotional pressure and physical strain of constant brain surgery. As a result, he expected to stop operating within 5 years.

For people like Charles Teo, this does not mean that he intends to retire at age 56. As founder of the Cure for Life Foundation, which is actively seeking the causes of brain tumours through research and a Director of the Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery, Dr Teo probably has enough work to keep him going for the next 20 years without the need to step into an operating theatre. On the other hand, he is one of many successful Australians who see transitions in their lives that go a long way beyond retirement.

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming... suddenly you find - at the age of 50, say - that a whole new life has opened before you. - Agatha Christie

Some, like Dr Teo, may consider a future where they can apply the skills they have honed over a lifetime with a slightly different focus and lot less pressure. Others, like Brian Sherman and his commitment to Voiceless or Bill Gates, now working full time for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have accepted demanding new commitments and are living second lives very different for their old lives.

Many others, who have devoted decades to building up companies and professional practices, feel emotionally unable walk away from their life's work, yet would like to have more time for themselves, the people who are important to them and the experiences they missed out on.

For these people, a carefully planned transition to retirement involving a part time presence in the business could be an ideal solution. To be successful these lifestyle transitions must be well planned from a financial point of view.

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