A perspective from Capt. Gurbinder — sailing master and ChartMyFunds contributor. This is the first in a short series he’s writing for us.
The last goal should be the first target — that’s the whole argument of this piece, stated up front. It seems almost counter-intuitive to look that far ahead into the future, but saving towards retirement should start with the very first pay cheque you receive. Through a working life, everyone takes a different journey with different milestones — but inevitably, there comes a point for most of us when trading time for money is no longer a desirable option.
The trade-off every job starts with
Most of us begin our careers after a minimum of 15-16 years of formal education. The field may vary depending on choice, passion, or capability, but a first job ultimately comes down to a simple exchange between employer and employee: time and effort, traded for financial compensation. For a sailing career, that exchange has its own shape — months at sea traded for a contract’s worth of pay, not a monthly salary — but the underlying trade is the same one everyone starts with.
Why most of us never fully break that trade-off
Across a working life of roughly 35-40 years, very few people ever fully escape that direct correlation between time and pay. As skill and responsibility grow, what you’re paid for your time goes up — but it’s still tied to your time. The real target of any retirement goal is different: assets that can comfortably cover your expenses for life, without needing any further input from you.
Forget the arbitrary rules of thumb
Forget figures like “10 years of savings equals your last drawn salary.” These numbers shift almost monthly and are genuinely difficult to use as real decision-making markers. The actual test of a retirement corpus is simpler to state, if not to achieve: it should cover your future expenses, adjusted for inflation, at your present standard of living, for the entire length of retirement. For a sailing career specifically, that test gets more complicated than it sounds — there’s rarely a fixed date to plan around, and the working window itself can shorten without much warning. We’ve written separately about how to actually frame that number for a career with no guaranteed end date, if you want the fuller breakdown.
Why the last goal should be the first target
Time is the most important factor in almost every financial decision we make — which is exactly why the tool worth harnessing early is the power of compounding. Its full effect only shows up over a long timescale. That’s really the whole argument in one line: because retirement sits last on the timeline of goals, it needs to be the first one you actually start working toward. Wait until it feels urgent, and you’ve already given up the one advantage — time — that no amount of money can buy back later.
This is the first piece in a short series. In the next part, we’ll look at the actual assets best suited to help navigate toward this goal — but the underlying point stays the same: the last goal should be the first target, and every year you wait to start is a year of compounding you don’t get back. AMFI’s investor education material is a good place to see the maths behind why that timing matters so much.
This post reflects general perspective on retirement planning, not personalised investment advice. As an AMFI-registered Mutual Fund Distributor (ARN 185676), we help clients turn this kind of thinking into an actual investing approach suited to their goals and risk profile. See our Retirement Planning page or get in touch to talk through yours.
More From The Log
→ Plan a retirement corpus without a fixed date — See Retirement Planning
