Worried you’ll lose your job before retiring? Try these six steps

April 18, 2026 — 5:01am

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There’s a worry appearing in the minds of fifty- and sixty-somethings in Australia right now. People who’ve had long, successful careers are lying awake wondering whether their number is coming up before they’re ready.

Whether AI, a restructure, or a shifting market will cut their runway short before they’ve hit their super goal, cleared their mortgage, or got themselves thoroughly prepared.

It’s not an unreasonable fear. According to the ABS, in 2024-25 only one in three Australians retired because they actually chose to, reaching retirement age or becoming eligible for their super on their own terms.

Everyone else was pushed out by health, redundancy, caring responsibilities or circumstances well beyond their control. And that was before AI genuinely entered the workforce equation.

And there’s one thing we’re not telling ourselves loudly enough: it won’t just be one type of worker who feels this next wave. It will be anyone doing work that can be replicated faster, cheaper and more accurately by technology, and that cuts across every level of an organisation.

Great technicians whose craft AI can now match with precision. People in repeatable service roles, like data processors, mid-level analysts and administrators. The common thread isn’t your salary or your seniority, it’s whether your work can be automated.

And in a country where productivity has been pressured for years and is lower than it’s been in a long time, businesses of every size will be asking themselves exactly that question.

But here’s what I want to say to anyone sitting in that worry without taking action: fear is not a strategy. This week on my podcast, I spoke with Jannine Fraser, Managing Director of Directioneering, one of Australia’s most respected outplacement firms.

She works at the coalface of career transition every single day, and her message was clear. The job market is tightening, roles are taking longer to fill, and many advertised positions are being withdrawn before anyone is hired.

But the people who navigate this well are the ones who got........

© Brisbane Times