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Retire Ready 2025

Tuesday 29 April 2025
5:30pm for a 6pm start - 8pm AEST

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About the event

Join us for our complimentary Retire Ready event, designed to help you positively prepare for your retirement.

 Whether you want to travel the world, pursue a passion, or spend more time with your loved ones, you need a retirement strategy that works for you.

 Hear from experts in the field on what it takes to approach retirement with confidence and navigate any challenges along the way. 

In person

Clarendon Auditorium,
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
1 Convention Centre Pl
South Wharf

Register now

Live broadcast

The Hostplus Retire Ready 2025 event
will also be broadcasted live online.

Register now


Attending in person?

Explore transport and parking options to the
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Venue map

AGENDA

Arrival and registration

5:30pm AEST

Welcome

6.00pm AEST

Bec Wilson 
Founder, Epic Retirement and Starts at 60

Dark blue plus symbol on white background

Fund insights on retirement

6.05pm AEST

Umberto Mecchi
Chief Member Officer

Umberto will provide an overview of the fund's retirement strategy and policies that affect members' retirement.

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Embracing an epic retirement

6.10pm AEST

Bec Wilson
Founder, Epic Retirement and Starts at 60 

Bec will talk about preparing for this exciting phase of life, understanding the transition from work to retired life and finding purpose.

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Navigating your path to retirement

6.35pm AEST

Prabath Ekanayake
CFP®, Certified Financial Planner, Hostplus

Prabath will explain what you need to do now to prepare for the next exciting phase of your life and where to find the right help to get there.

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Retired and ready – the essentials

7.00pm AEST

Preeti Keskar
AFP®, Accredited Financial Planner, Hostplus

Preeti will provide an overview of key decisions, issues, and services for members entering retirement, like retirement risks, investment choices, the Age Pension and estate planning.

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Invest for success

7.20pm AEST

Greg Clerk
Deputy Chief Investment Officer Investments, Hostplus

Greg will provide a snapshot of the markets and offer his outlook for the short and longer-term.

Q&A

Q&A session

7.35pm AEST

Questions from the floor and online.

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Closing remarks

8.00pm AEST

Bec Wilson 
Founder, Epic Retirement and Starts at 60

Limited seats available. Secure your place now.

Meet the speakers

Bec Wilson

Founder, Epic Retirement and Starts at 60
Bec Wilson is one of Australia’s most respected authorities on midlife and modern retirement. She’s the bestselling author of How to Have an Epic Retirement, the #1 bestselling retirement book in 2023 and 2024, the host of the Prime Time podcast, produced by 9 Podcasts and writes a weekly newsletter at epicretirement.net bringing together an enormous community of pre-retirees and retirees. Bec runs the enormously popular 6-week How to Have an Epic Retirement flagship course, is a frequent speaker at events, and provides retirement education for companies and super funds. She writes a widely-read weekly syndicated finance column for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and other Nine newspapers, and manages the vibrant Facebook group, The Epic Retirement Club with a rapidly growing global community. On a personal note, Bec is a mother of three teen and adult children, loves to travel, and is in her own Prime Time, dreaming of her epic retirement—one day! To get in touch visit epicretirement.com.au

Umberto Mecchi

Chief Member Officer, Hostplus
Umberto is a seasoned marketing and strategy professional with over 30 years' experience in senior marketing and strategic roles. His effective application of strategic marketing fundamentals has enabled him to create breakthrough marketing programs and brand campaigns for leading brands in Australia. Prior to joining Hostplus in 2004, Umberto worked with the ANZ Bank, National Mutual/AXA, and Zurich Financial Services in marketing and strategy roles. In 1999, he joined direct marketing agency trademarkDM as their Director of Strategy and worked on major campaigns for financial services brands including AXA Australia, GE Capital, Members Equity Bank, American Insurance Group (AIG), Hostplus, and Australia Unity Funds Management. In 2008, Umberto was awarded a FEAL Executive Education Scholarship and is now undertaking a Masters in Organisational Leadership at the Melbourne Business School. He also received the AIST Superannuation Marketing Award for Excellence and his marketing campaigns won the 2008 ASFA Communications Award and the AIST Gold Communication Award for Excellence in Member Reporting Communications. In 2017, Umberto was recognized for his marketing influence and excellence, coming in at 11th spot in the coveted CMO Top 50 list in Australia.

Prabath Ekanayake

CFP®, Certified Financial Planner, Hostplus
Prabath Ekanayake is a seasoned Certified Financial Planner with 19 years of experience in the financial planning industry. Having worked in boutique financial planning firms, banks, insurance brokers, and the industry fund space, Prabath brings a broad cross-section of experience to his advisory role. He has worked with clients across the wealth spectrum, from high net worth individuals managing their own self-managed super funds to age pensioners. Recently, Prabath has added aged care advice to his repertoire, helping retirees and their parents transition to the next stage of their lives. 

Greg Clerk

Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Investment Strategy and Risk
Greg’s primary responsibility is the development and implementation of the investment strategy. Greg worked previously at JANA, where he provided consulting and investment advice to superannuation funds (with the main fund being Hostplus). Within JANA, Greg held a variety of roles over time, including within the Quantitative Analytics, Information Technology and Custody teams. Greg holds a Ph.D. (University of Melbourne) in Theoretical Physics. 

Preeti Keskar

AFP®, Accredited Financial Planner, Hostplus
With over 18 years in Financial Services and a decade in the Advice industry, Preeti Keskar has experience across boutique firms, large corporations, and the not-for-profit sector. She holds her Masters in Investment Banking and Wealth Management, and an Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning with a specialisation in self-managed super funds. Her expertise lies in holistic financial strategies, particularly in helping clients navigate the important milestone of retirement to achieve financial security and lifestyle freedom. Preeti is passionate about empowering clients to take control of their finances and make informed choices about their future.