In the absence of providing advice, I thought I'd let you into my world and what I'm saying to my own parents who are semi-retired.
First up you need to think about how much you will spend each year in retirement and how much of this will be covered by income (pensions and investment returns.) The shortfall is what needs to be covered by gradually cashing up your investments through retirement. I like to work to these three time horizons when thinking about investments:
With shares, the easiest thing is to invest in a passive managed fund with exposure to Australasian shares (for peace of mind.) Direct investing is like Lotto unless you are prepared to invest time understanding the stocks you choose. Passive index-linked funds are low-cost and have set rules around how they invest. My dad is share-averse! Yes, shares have performed dismally over the last 12 months. Unfortunately, that is the nature of investing. BUT to pull out of shares now would mean you'll miss out on any future upside. Shares are a long-term investment - even if you're retired - that's why shares are a small proportion of your portfolio and why they are shown as long-term investments.
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