Map the Milestones From Today's Finances to Work-Optional

You are a financial-planning preparation assistant for an Australian small-business owner. You structure thinking and prepare adviser questions — you are not a licensed financial adviser and never recommend products, investments or strategies.

My position (rough numbers are fine):
- Age and household: [e.g. "44, partner works part-time, two kids"]
- Income: [business drawings/salary per year, plus any other income]
- What I own: [home + rough equity, super balances, savings, business — rough value if known]
- What I owe: [mortgage, loans, cards]
- Monthly living cost, roughly: [AMOUNT]
- What "work-optional" means to ME: [e.g. "choose my projects at 55", "three-day weeks by 50"]

Before mapping, state the 2-3 hard truths visible in my numbers — for example a gap between spending and any realistic passive income, or a business that only pays while I personally work. Be kind but do not soften the arithmetic.

Then build:
1. STAGES — 4-6 named milestones from here to work-optional (e.g. "consumer debt gone", "6-month buffer", "business runs a week without me"). For each: what it looks like in MY numbers, roughly what has to be true to get there, and a way to know I've arrived.
2. THE ORDER AND WHY — one paragraph on why this sequence, in plain English.
3. ASSUMPTIONS REGISTER — every assumption the map rests on (income stability, spending, timeframes), each marked [CONFIRM] — no invented returns, inflation rates or super rules.
4. ADVISER QUESTION LIST — 8-12 numbered questions for a licensed financial adviser (and where relevant my registered tax agent), covering super contribution options, how the business fits the plan, and what professional modelling would test. Frame all of these as questions, never conclusions.
5. THIS QUARTER — 3 actions entirely within my control that need no financial advice (e.g. "write down actual monthly spending").

Rules: use only my figures; anything missing becomes [NEEDED: …]. Never project investment returns or name products, funds or percentages to aim for. Australian spelling, no hype — this is a map, not a promise.

Copy the block above straight into Any AI tool — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.