Stop chasing that magic retirement number.
The older financial planning industry has sold us a seductive lie. Pick a number, work towards it, retire when you hit it. Simple, clean, completely wrong.
I’ve been investigating how this myth actually performs in the real world. The results should terrify anyone serious about retirement security.
The Numbers Don’t Add Up
Here’s the brutal mathematics of retirement planning in Australia.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics shows 36% of Australians approaching retirement have less than $100,000 saved. Meanwhile, the magic number brigade insists you need 10-12 times your annual salary.
For someone earning $80,000 annually, that’s up to $960,000 required. The gap between $100,000 and nearly a million dollars isn’t a shortfall.
It’s financial fantasy.
The cognitive load is crushing people. The Australian Unity research found 43% of working Australians have abandoned coherent retirement planning entirely, paralysed by impossible targets and conflicting expert advice.
This is what happens when your planning framework creates more anxiety than action.
Built on Guesswork
Here’s the part that should make you question everything.
The AMP retirement research found that 38% of Australians admitted their retirement savings target was based on “rough estimates” rather than detailed financial planning.
Not market analysis. Not lifestyle planning. Not healthcare projections. A guess.
We’re organising our entire financial lives around numbers we essentially made up. Then wondering why retirement feels impossible to achieve.
The Real Cost of Fake Precision
This myth creates real damage beyond just anxiety.
Healthcare costs alone destroy any predetermined target. Despite Medicare, a 65-year-old Australian retiring today can expect to spend $275,000 on healthcare throughout retirement. This figure has risen 85% over the past decade, far outpacing inflation.
Your magic number from five years ago? Already obsolete.
Meanwhile, the pressure to hit arbitrary targets is driving destructive behaviour. Early release applications to APRA for superannuation hit record levels in 2023, with financial hardship claims increasing 28% as Australians raid their retirement savings trying to bridge impossible gaps.
People are sabotaging their long-term security trying to manage the gap between their current reality and their impossible target.
What Actually Works
Retirement planning needs to be personal, flexible, and realistic about uncertainty.
Start with your actual expenses, not industry averages. Factor in healthcare inflation, not yesterday’s costs. Build multiple scenarios instead of betting everything on one number.
The goal should be financial resilience, not hitting a predetermined target that may have no connection to your actual needs.
Your retirement security depends on abandoning the myth of the magic number and building a plan that can adapt to reality as it unfolds.
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