Think that you’ll choose when to retire? Think again

October 17, 2026 — 5:00am

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When you picture retirement, do you see it as a life event you get to choose?

I think most of us do. With excitement and a bit of trepidation, we choose a date, telling our colleagues, “it’s time”. Then counting down the notice period, a jovial farewell lunch, complete with speeches and cake, and not long afterwards heading off on the big retirement celebration holiday of your dreams.

You’ve worked, saved and reached the point where you finally get to decide what comes next. It’s a lovely vision. But it’s not really how working life ends for most Australians.

The end of our working lives is frankly a lot messier and less predictable. And I think it’s time we normalised that and taught people about how to prepare for and navigate a less ideal journey into pre-retirement. Or, better still, teach them how to take better control of their decisions earlier, so that retirement doesn’t simply happen to them.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Retirement and Retirement Intentions data tells the real story of how we retire. Only 33 per cent of retired Aussies said they left their last job to retire – because they had reached what they perceived to be “retirement age”, could access an age pension or their super, or were retiring alongside their partner.

For the others, their last job ended for another reason. Thirteen per cent got sick, injured or suffered a disabling injury. Six per cent were retrenched, dismissed or just couldn’t find work. Others left because they were caring for someone, or for a mixture of reasons that did not fit the neat and tidy story of choosing the perfect day to stop work forever.

Only 33 per cent of retired Aussies said they left their last job to retire.

That does not mean that two-thirds of Australians had no agency over when they retired at all. Life’s far more complicated than that.........

© The Sydney Morning Herald