We spend years stressing over our super balances, trying to pick the perfect retirement age, and wondering if we’ve saved enough. But what if that’s not the only thing keeping most of us up at night?

Because for many Australians, the real fear isn’t about money. It’s about what the hell happens after we stop working.

Retirement doesn’t have to be something you fall into. It can be something you ease into, deliberately, and on your own terms.Credit: iStock

It’s the fear of losing purpose. Losing that feeling of being useful or connected. We’re scared of drifting through 25 or 30 years without the rhythm and identity that work gives us. Once upon a time, retirement was the prize at the end of the grind - freedom from the job that wore down your body and stole your weekends. But work has changed. These days, it can be a source of social connection, meaning, and – dare I say it – even enjoyment.

So when we step away from it, the real question becomes: what now?

New data from UniSuper’s Retire with Purpose report, released this week, shows this fear is real. Yes, 68 per cent of Australians still worry about outliving their money. But 61 per cent also worry about losing the social ties they’ve built at work. That’s not a financial fear. That’s a human one. And frankly, we don’t talk about it enough.

Instead, people avoid retirement planning altogether, not because they’re broke, but because they’re terrified that even thinking about retirement makes them irrelevant. They say things like “I’m not ready” or “I don’t want to retire and fade away”. And honestly? I get it.

But what if we flipped the whole idea of retirement on its head?

Retirement doesn’t have to be something you fall into. It can be something you ease into, deliberately, and on........

© The Sydney Morning Herald