When it comes to retirement, we’ve been taught to chase a number. A big, scary, often impossible number. $1 million. $2 million. Enough to live off the interest. Enough to never worry again.

The kind of number that shows up in glossy finance articles with neat little charts that make it look like you’re doomed if you haven’t got it sorted by 50.

When it comes to retirement, we’ve been taught to chase a number. But that approach could be leaving us all worse off.Credit: Getty

But here’s the truth: that kind of thinking doesn’t help most people. In fact, it’s making people feel anxious and defeated before they’ve even started. Because the question isn’t: “What’s the magic number?”

It is: “What does enough look like – for you?”

Enough depends on how you want to live. What your lifestyle costs. Whether you plan to keep working part-time. Whether you’ll own your home. How long you think you’ll live. And how comfortable you are with risk, growth and change.

For some people, enough is $40,000 a year and lots of time in the garden. For others, it’s $90,000 a year and regular travel. The idea that there’s one universal benchmark for a good retirement is outdated and unhelpful.

Once you define what enough looks like, you can work less, work differently or stop altogether.

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) put the current benchmark for a “comfortable” retirement at around $52,000 per year for a single person who owns their home, or around $74,000 for a couple.

And for renters, there’s new data out that says you need $47,000 for a single person and $64,000 for a couple. But many people don’t even need that........

© The Age