$1 million used to be the retirement dream. Now, it might not be enough

April 25, 2026 — 5:01am

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For years, $1 million has been the number people carry around in their heads as the amount you need to have a good retirement. Get to that and you’ve done well in life. You’ll be comfortable, and you won’t need to worry.

What I’m seeing now is that more people are getting close to that figure, or even reaching it, and instead of feeling secure, they feel uncertain. They’re not stressed, and they’re not struggling, but they’re certainly not as confident as they expected to be that they have enough.

And the reason is pretty simple. The number hasn’t kept up with how retirement actually works any more.

A million dollars in super still puts you in a strong position. But when you translate it into income, it starts to look very different from the old idea of being “set for life”.

Using a fairly standard drawdown approach of 5 or 6 per cent, you’re probably looking at somewhere around $50,000 to $60,000 a year in the early years. Moreover, most couples will receive only a small age pension at this level, which cuts out entirely once assets move above about $1.085 million. Singles lose access to the age pension much earlier, at around $722,000.

Doubling your super doesn’t necessarily double your lifestyle.

Combine the two, and you’re typically looking at something more in the order of $65,000 to $75,000 a year for a couple, depending on how you draw your super and what other assets you hold. A single person might be targeting $55,000 to $65,000, often without much access to the pension unless they deliberately run their super down over time.

Compare that with the Association of Superannuation Funds benchmark for a........

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