I watched my father build a very successful career, but he never waited for retirement to start living the life he wanted. His love for golf and the adventures that came with it eventually became strong enough that he chose to retire earlier than planned. It made me realise that sometimes the things we love can quietly tell us when it is time to change direction.
By my mid-40s, I had started to feel that familiar itch for adventure.
I had spent more than 25 years in banking. I was at what should have been one of the most rewarding stages of my career — experienced, senior, established and still ambitious. From the outside, there was every reason to continue. I remember thinking: Is this it? Am I going to do this until my 60s, retire, and then finally have the freedom to explore?
It was a comfortable plan.
But somehow, it didn't feel like an exciting one.
Eventually, I gave up the stability of a banking career and stepped into something different. In many ways, that decision became an adventure in itself. I had no guarantee that the next chapter would work out exactly as I imagined. But after 25 years in an established career, discovering that I could step outside what was familiar, learn again and reinvent myself was invigorating.
That experience changed how I think about adventure.
Adventure Capital isn't necessarily about climbing mountains or travelling to faraway places. Those are certainly adventures, but adventure can be anything that takes us outside the routine we have become accustomed to.
It could be taking up a new sport. Travelling somewhere you've never been. Starting a business. Learning something completely unrelated to your career. Saying yes to an invitation where you don't know anyone. Making new friends. Or simply doing something that scares you a little.
For women in our 40s and beyond, this matters because life can become very full without us realising how little of it is actually ours.
We are working, building careers, running households, being wives and mothers, supporting our children, and increasingly looking after ageing parents. There are always responsibilities waiting for us.
And we become tired.
So tired that when someone asks, "When was the last time you did something just for yourself?", we sometimes struggle to answer.
Yet something interesting happens when an adventure comes along.
We suddenly find the time.
We find the energy.
We make the arrangements. We wake up early. We squeeze it between meetings and family commitments. Somehow, despite telling ourselves that we are too busy, we manage to make room for something that excites us.
Because adventure wakes something up in us.
It reminds us that there is more to life than the daily routine we have become very good at managing.
This is why I believe we should start building our Adventure Capital well before retirement.
Retirement is often imagined as the reward at the end of a long career: finally, there will be time to travel, pursue hobbies, spend time with friends and discover what we really enjoy.
But there is a risk in postponing all of that until some future date.
I have seen people dedicate so much of their identity and energy to their careers that when they finally retire, they struggle to know what to do with themselves. The structure disappears. The colleagues move on. The children have their own lives. Friends are busy with theirs. And sometimes, by the time freedom finally arrives, health or energy is no longer what it once was.
For some, that transition can be surprisingly difficult.
I don't want to wait until retirement to discover who I am outside my career.
I want to keep discovering that along the way.
Adventure keeps us curious. It keeps us learning. It gives us stories, friendships and experiences that become part of who we are. It challenges us physically and mentally. Most importantly, it reminds us that we are still capable of doing things for the first time.
Perhaps that is what Adventure Capital really means.
It is not about collecting exotic destinations or ticking experiences off a bucket list.
It is about keeping a sense of possibility alive.
And the best time to start may be when life feels busiest — not when it finally becomes empty.
So don't wait for retirement to begin your adventures.
Start small.
Take that weekend trip. Sign up for the class. Try the sport you've always thought you were too old, too busy or too unfit to start. Have dinner with people outside your usual circle. Say yes to something unexpected. Or, if the opportunity comes, have the courage to reinvent your career.
You don't have to blow up your life.
You simply need to create little windows where something different can enter it.
Because retirement should not be the beginning of our lives.
It should be the next chapter of a life we have already been living fully.
Inner Oasis Capital