Think there’ll be no age pension when you retire? Think again

September 26, 2026 — 5:00am

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Every time I talk about the age pension, someone pipes up on social media and tells me that it won’t be there by the time they retire. Clearly they aren’t reading the same papers I am.

Usually this is someone in their 40s or 50s who’s spent most of their working life being told that our population is ageing and there won’t be enough taxpayers to fund everyone as we get older. The fear they quote relentlessly is that we’d all better build up our super because one day the government is going to run out of money – thanks to the ageing population.

This week, the Treasury published the 2026 Intergenerational Report, its best attempt to look 40 years into Australia’s future. There are some fascinating numbers in it for those heading towards a retirement in the next 10 to 20 years.

Of course, no one really knows what Australia will look like in 2066, which is where the report’s projections take us. Governments will come and go, policies will change, and sharemarkets will rise and fall, but the report still challenges some of the most persistent myths that people tell themselves about retirement. Here are five worth putting to bed today.

Myth 1: There won’t be an age pension when I retire

If I had a dollar for every 50-something who has said this to me, I could probably fund my own retirement.

“There won’t be a pension when we get there.”

“We’re going to have to fund the whole thing ourselves because the ageing population will send our country broke.”

“My parents got the pension, but our generation won’t.”

I understand where the fear comes from.........

© The Sydney Morning Herald