What the research says about how retirement really unfolds
When it comes to retirement planning, it often gets framed as a numbers game. Lots of projections, strategies, with a focus on finance and figures. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that it isn’t just the figures that determines whether clients feel confident stepping into retirement.
‘The adviser’s role in this transition is extremely important – and can be underestimated. That client relationship can really give them the support they need to feel confident about their financial future.’
This is what we found through the Aware Super 2025 Retirement Study. We surveyed 1,500+ Australians aged 45 and over plus conducted 30+ in-depth interviews. The findings we discovered challenge some long-held assumptions about how, when, and why Australians engage with retirement planning. There are real implications that advisers should consider when they structure their conversations and service offerings with clients.
Retirement Is a transition, not a date
The conventional idea of retirement as a moment of finality, with a gold watch and farewell speech, no longer seems to be the norm.
‘For most Australians, retirement unfolds gradually and over time – dipping further into it then being drawn back to work – often shaped by factors entirely outside their control.’
Half of all retirees in the study left work earlier than they had planned. Health issues and redundancy have always been contributors, but what’s striking in the 2025 study is the accelerating role of workplace stress. Among those who retired in the past two years, 31% cited workplace stress as a key reason for leaving, compared with just 18% of those who retired a decade ago.
This matters for advisers because an unplanned or early exit from work for their client often means the client arrives at retirement without the time, clarity, or emotional bandwidth to prepare. They may be burnt out, anxious, or simply trying to catch their breath.
‘The advice they need in that moment isn’t a revised projection – it’s stability and a clear sense that someone – their adviser – has their back.’
As the adviser, it’s important to co-design with your client to allow for flexibility, for the possibility that the client might leave work two or three years earlier than expected. This helps the client feels reassured and in control, prepared for the unexpected.
The first two years are critical
The research identifies the first two years of retirement as the period of greatest uncertainty and lowest confidence. Retirees are focused on establishing their footing, but many feel genuinely unsure whether their income will last, leading to cautious and overly restricted spending.
The data shows a clear pattern: caution peaks in the first year and only gradually gives way to greater confidence as retirees adjust. Without guidance, many navigate this period reactively testing, second-guessing, adjusting. Some return to paid work, not necessarily because they need to financially, but because structure and purpose could feel safer, more familiar.
This initial transition period deserves its own thinking, as a distinct starting point marking someone’s shift towards life after work, which often marks the beginning of an advice relationship too.
‘Our research suggests clients who feel supported in those first two years, who have a clear income structure and someone to talk to when markets move or costs rise – they’re far more likely to settle into retirement with confidence.’
It’s also worth noting that this is a key retention window: clients who feel well-supported early in retirement are much less likely to reconsider their arrangements later.
Retirement is abstract – until it isn’t
One of the most consistently overlooked barriers to engagement is how difficult most people find it to imagine their future selves. Life’s unpredictability – work commitments, family and health challenges, market movements – makes it genuinely hard for clients to visualise what retirement will look and feel like, let alone what it will cost.
Despite strong intentions, only 20 – 30% of Australians engage in meaningful retirement planning before age 55. Planning tends to be reactive rather than proactive, triggered by age milestones, a partner retiring, a sudden change in life situations, or a recommendation from an adviser. Among those who haven’t started planning, nearly a third don’t know what will prompt them to begin.
Additional planning doesn’t solve this problem. If a client can’t connect emotionally with their future self, a more detailed projection isn’t going to move them. What does move people is when retirement becomes tangible and personal, when the conversation shifts from numbers to lived experience.
‘This is where advisers have a genuine edge that tools or digital resources can’t replicate. Asking a client to describe a typical week in retirement, or to reflect on which parts of their work they’ll genuinely miss, unlocks engagement in a way that spreadsheets simply don’t.’
Making retirement feel real and relatable is more effective at driving planning behaviour than any additional technical information.
The emotional side of retirement
Despite the freedom retirement promises, only one in five Australians aged 45 and over who haven’t yet retired say they’re genuinely looking forward to it. That’s a pretty stark statistic – only 20% say they’re looking forward to retirement.
That figure can relate to the fact that work provides more than income. It provides structure, identity, social connection, and a sense of relevance. When those things disappear, the adjustment can be significant. Concerns about outliving savings sit alongside concerns about losing purpose too.
The top emotional needs identified in the research are the desire to feel secure, in control, and capable – both financially, and emotionally. They’re precisely the outcomes that good advice, delivered well, can provide.
‘Leading with lifestyle and future-self discussions before moving into numbers can help bridge the gap between the unknown and what’s possible. It starts the conversation on the right foot.’
Life stage shapes the conversation
The same planning can land very differently depending on where a client sits in their journey. For clients in their late 40s and early 50s, retirement is abstract and competing priorities are intense, like mortgages, school fees, and the general cost of living. The conversation must meet the client where they are, rather than pressing for decisions they’re not emotionally ready to make.
When clients are in their late 50s and early 60s, the focus shifts to reducing debt, thinking about income planning, and clarifying what retirement will look like.
Often this is the time that anxiety sharpens and solid adviser support can have the greatest impact on client confidence. For those already retired, particularly in the critical first few years, the need is for structure, reassurance, and clarity about how the pieces fit together.
‘The research also highlights a persistent engagement gap among women and lower-net-worth clients. A quarter of women surveyed had not engaged with retirement planning in any way. So there’s a real meaningful opportunity for advisers willing to approach these conversations with empathy and patience.’
The adviser advantage – real and trusted
‘The good news is that in the Aware Super 2025 Retirement Study independent financial advisers ranked as the family, friends, and digital tools.’
Nearly half of retirees consulted an independent adviser or accountant before retiring, and among those who did, 90% said they would use the same professional again.
The questions clients most want answered is, ‘How much super will I need. Will my money last. And how do I maximise what I have.’ These are exactly the questions advisers are best placed to answer. And increasingly, clients are seeking that guidance earlier, even if they don’t always know how to ask for it.
What this means in practice
The research doesn’t call for a wholesale reinvention of retirement advice.
It calls for a recalibration of emphasis, a shift toward conversations that begin with the person, not the portfolio.
‘The advisers who make the biggest difference to retirement outcomes aren’t necessarily those with the most sophisticated modelling. They’re the ones who help clients feel steady as they step into the next phase of their lives.’
That’s a skill worth building deliberately and the evidence is clear that clients both need it and deeply value it when they find it.
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The Aware Super Retirement Study 2025 was conducted by Accenture’s Fiftyfive5 on behalf of Aware Super. Thequantitative phase included 1,512 Australians aged 45 and over; the qualitative phase included 32 in-depthinterviews.
For adviser use only. General advice only. This article is designed for educational purposes only. Issued byAware Super Pty Ltd ABN 11 118 202 672, AFSL 293340, the trustee of Aware Super ABN 53 226 460 365.
