Opinion
Bec WilsonMoney contributor
September 5, 2026 — 5:00am
September 5, 2026 — 5:00am
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If you’re in your 50s or 60s, you’ve probably spent most of your adult life contributing to super. But has anyone actually taught you what to do with it when you retire? And does the thought of having to make that money last for the rest of your life make you nervous? You’re not alone.
Think about it. Do you know how much you can afford to take out each year? How much should stay invested? What happens if the sharemarket falls just after you retire? How might the age pension fit into your retirement picture? Or how you can tell whether your money is likely to last until you’re 90 or 95?
Every single one of us has our own superannuation airplane. But nobody has taught us how to fly.iStock
These are pretty fundamental questions when you’re about to give up your pay cheque and live off your life savings. Yet most of us have never been taught how to answer them.
And frankly, why would we know? For the past 30-odd years, almost all the attention has been on getting money into super, not teaching us how to confidently get it back out.
I want to turn this problem into a simple metaphor, so we can all see some fun in it.
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For decades, Australia has been building planes. And every single one of us has our own plane. Some are big and some are small, but thanks to compulsory super, most working Australians will have a solid, well-constructed plane when they get to retirement, with fuel in the tank, ready to fly. Most of us don’t know where we want to go yet – but that’s easily fixed with a few maps.
The problem is, we’ve spent all the past 33 years building the planes, and making them bigger and better, and filling them with fuel. But we forgot to build the runway and the flight school. And, heaven forbid, nobody has taught anyone how to fly a plane.
Now, as millions of Australians approach retirement, we’re handing them the keys to these planes, and expecting them to know how to fly them.
No wonder we’re nervous.
And we are nervous! AMP’s latest Retirement Confidence report has found that only 52 per cent of Australians feel financially confident about retirement. Almost three in five worry that they will run out of money.
Getting to retirement doesn’t fix it. Confidence among Australians aged 65 and over actually fell from 65 per cent to 61 per cent this year.
You need to understand the basic controls, know where you’re heading, have a flight plan, and know what you’ll do if the conditions change.
But perhaps the most interesting finding is what might make us feel better. A whopping 84 per cent said knowing they had income for life would make them more confident about spending in retirement.
That says something pretty important. We don’t necessarily solve this problem by building bigger planes (or bigger super balances). We need to teach people how to fly the planes they already have, and potentially build some really good autopilots.
But most Australians shouldn’t need to become deep-seated retirement experts. They just need to understand enough to know where they’re going, how much fuel they’ve got, what the important controls do before they flash red, and when they need help. Increasingly, there are ways to put part of the flight on autopilot, using retirement products that can provide some income for life – but most people don’t know about them yet.
Let’s consider this your first fear-free flying lesson. There are four things people should grasp if they’re trying to reduce their fear of flying into retirement.
Know where you’re going – and what it could cost
Before you ask yourself “Do I have enough super?” sit down and think about what you want your retirement to look like, everyday weeks, holiday weeks and exciting moments. Then, work out what that might cost. Think about your weekly or monthly budget – the money you want to spend every year and how that might change as you get older. And think about the cool things you want to be able to do – the trips, the celebrations and the renovations.
You can’t know if $400,000 in super is enough without knowing the life it’s supposed to pay for.
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Learn how your retirement pay cheque works
Most people don’t have just one source of income in retirement. In fact, for most, their pay cheque is built from multiple sources – we often call them layers of income.
You might draw an income from super, receive some or all of the age pension, have income from investments outside super, or even keep earning some money from working. And, you might choose to put parts of the flight on autopilot, using the newer types of retirement products that can provide some income for life as long as you live. When you put all these things together, that’s how we get to your retirement pay cheque.
And there’s something else to think about when you consider this. Your super balance isn’t just a big pile of money that you spend down to zero. It’s an investment, and it continues to earn returns over many years if you use it well. It’s worth learning a little more about how it’s invested, and considering whether it’s invested appropriately for what you need from it.
Think about how much you can afford to spend
This is the tricky one – the thing that really does drive fear: “How much can I actually take out of my super without running out of money?” There isn’t a magic figure that works for everyone. How much you can afford to spend very much depends on how much super you have, how long you might need it to last, the investment returns you’re earning, and whether you can access the age pension or have other sources of income.
You also don’t have to work all this out on the back of an envelope any more, nor do you necessarily need complex financial advice. Retirement calculators are a great place to start, in your own time.
Try some different scenarios, too. What happens if you retire at 62 instead of 65? Or if you spend $60,000 a year instead of $70,000. Or maybe try out what happens if you live to 95 or 97 instead of 90. Seeing what happens to the numbers in extreme cases can help you develop some more confidence, by giving you an idea of what you should be afraid of.
Plan how you’ll react when you really are afraid
At some point, maybe once a decade in your 20- to 35-year retirement, something will frighten you. The sharemarket might fall or inflation might jump. Your super balance might drop to unexpected levels, or an expense might land right when you didn’t need it. Maybe it won’t be financial, but will force you to change your plans. Whatever happens, the worst time to work out how you’ll respond is when it’s happening.
Your super is an investment, and continues to earn returns over many years if you use it well.Getty Images
Instead, stand back, take a long, hard look at how you want your money invested, and what a bad year might look like. If the sharemarket fell 20 or 30 per cent, would you still have somewhere sensible to draw your income from? Would you have to cut back on discretionary spending for some time? Or would your investments be structured in a way that allows you to do absolutely nothing, get on with life, and wait for markets to recover.
And think beyond markets, too. What parts of retirement income would keep turning up for you no matter what? The age pension, if you’re eligible, provides income for life. And there are, increasingly, a range of new retirement products that can do the same with part of your super. That kind of certainty can, in effect, be a bit like having an autopilot setting on your plane.
Lastly, none of this will remove every uncertainty from your retirement. We shouldn’t expect it to. You’re trying to plan for 25, 30 or 35 years of your life – and if you look back on the last 35 years, you’ll recognise how difficult that really is.
You just need to understand the basic controls, know where you’re heading, have a flight plan and know what you’ll do if the conditions change. After 33 years of building super planes in Australia, I think it’s time we got serious about teaching how to fly them.
Bec Wilson is author of the bestseller How to Have an Epic Retirement and the newly released Prime Time: 27 Lessons for the New Midlife. She writes a weekly newsletter at epicretirement.net and hosts the Prime Time podcast.
Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.
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Bec Wilson is the author of How To Have An Epic Retirement and writes a weekly newsletter for pre- and post-retirees at epicretirement.net.From our partners