What are your top three tips for protecting your retirement nest egg from a financial disaster?

“Wax on, wax off.” If you don’t know what that means, you’re not Generation X. Try a column to the left or right.

Daniel-san, aka The Karate Kid, was taught the wise ways of the martial art by Miyagi, a teacher with odd-ball methods, but who got his point across. And Danny-boy, by learning to act without thinking, successfully learned to use his mind to beat bigger opponents.

Xers need to learn to make super decisions automatically. No catching flies with chopsticks. Just “wax on, wax off.”

Don’t care too much about market movements for your super. Xers can’t touch their super for 10-25 years.

Contribute extra to your super every week/month and take bigger risks with your super investments, by getting as much into shares and property as you think you can stomach.

Yes, it will be a wild ride. But the alternative of all cash is worse. Look at interest rates now. After tax and inflation, it’s going backwards.

But the most important thing you can do to protect your nest egg is to insure your biggest asset – your income – from financial tragedy by taking out income-protection insurance. Your income for the next few decades is what will actually provide your retirement nest egg, by paying off your home, growing your super balance and picking up quality share and property investments over your working life.

Xers can expect another 2-3 major market corrections and crashes in their working life. Each will be a buying opportunity. Commit yourself to a lifetime of adding quality investments to your portfolio.

Bruce Brammall is the principal adviser with Castellan Financial Consulting (www.castellanfinancial.com.au) and author of Debt Man Walking.