How we write stories

How we choose, write and correct the stories on our site.

Last updated 23 October 2026.

Real stories help people picture life overseas. Our stories summarise published news reports about Australians who have retired abroad. This page explains how we choose and write them, how we keep them fair, and how to ask for a change.

Where stories come from

  • Published news reports only. We use stories from established news outlets that have already been published. We do not interview the people or contact them, and we do not use social media posts, forums or private sources.
  • Dated. We show the date of the original report, so you can see how old the story is. If a rule has changed since, we say so on the page.

Our own words

  • We write a short summary in our own words. We do not copy the article. We quote no more than one short phrase, in quotation marks.
  • We name the news outlet, give the title and date of the report, and link to it so you can read it in full.
  • Figures such as rent, living costs and income are theirs, as reported at the time, with the year and currency.
  • We include only facts the report published. We do not add new personal details, look people up or combine sources about them.

The label on every story

Every story says it is based on reporting by the outlet, with the outlet’s name and a link to the report, followed by: “This story is not affiliated with Retirees Abroad.” The people in our stories are not connected with us. They have not used our services, have not endorsed us and have not been paid by us.

What we never do

  • We never use surnames. We use first names only, as the report gave them, or a description such as “a retired couple from Geelong”.
  • We never use photos or videos of the people. The picture on a story page is our own illustration, made with AI. It is never a photo of the people in the story and does not show what they look like.
  • We never present a story as a testimonial or a review, and we never suggest the people in it used or recommend our workshops or products.
  • We never include health details or other sensitive information, or details about children, unless the person has agreed.
  • We never repeat criticism of an identifiable person or business from the report.
  • We never change the facts to make a story more dramatic, or join two people’s stories together.

Worked examples are different

Some pages use made-up examples to show how the rules work. Each one is labelled “An example, not a real person.” Names, ages and figures are invented, and any picture is an illustration. We never present a worked example as a real person or a news story.

If you are in one of our stories, wrote the original report, or think our summary is unfair or wrong, email hello@retireesabroad.com.au.

  • People in a story can ask us to change it, make it anonymous or remove it. We will do so within 5 business days, and you do not need to give a reason.
  • If you agreed to us including something we would normally leave out, such as a health detail, you can withdraw that agreement at any time and we will take it out.
  • If the original report is corrected or removed, we update or remove our summary.
  • If we got a fact wrong, we fix it and record it in our Corrections log.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle the personal information in stories.