If you retire at 65 and live to 90, your retirement savings must support you for 25 years. Live to 95, and that’s three decades of retirement income to plan for.
When preparing for retirement, many people focus on how much money they need to accumulate, without giving as much thought to how long that money may need to last.
With Australians generally living longer, the second question is just as important as the first. Good retirement planning looks at both, and a financial planner can help you develop a strategy to manage longevity risk.
The risk of outliving your retirement savings
Australians are living longer. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, life expectancy at birth is now 81.1 years for men and 85.1 years for women. Three decades ago, in 1994, those figures were 75 years and 80.9 years, respectively.
And the population is expected to continue ageing. The federal government’s 2026 Intergenerational Report projects that the number of Australians aged 85 and over will more than triple, from 625,000 to 1.9 million by 2065–66.
These trends reinforce the importance of planning for a longer retirement and managing the risk of outliving your retirement savings.
A retirement lasting 30 years places very different demands on savings than one lasting 15 or 20 years. Inflation can erode purchasing power, investment returns may fluctuate, and unexpected expenses can put additional pressure on your finances and deplete your retirement savings at a faster rate.
How to build longevity into your retirement strategy
No one can predict exactly how long they will live. However, working with a Gold Coast financial adviser who specialises in retirement planning can help you prepare for a range of possibilities.
A comprehensive financial planning strategy should consider factors such as:
- your age and average life expectancy
- Inflation projections
- Investment market fluctuations
- your desired retirement lifestyle
- rising healthcare and aged care costs
It should also account for unexpected expenses and changes in circumstances over time. For couples, this should include the possibility of one partner living much longer than the other.
With these factors in mind, a sustainable retirement income strategy should include four key elements.
1. Understanding where your retirement income comes from
Superannuation is a major source of retirement income for many Australians, but it doesn’t have to be the only one. Depending on your circumstances, you may also have income from investments, rental properties, other assets and the Age Pension (if eligible).
A financial planner can assess all your potential income sources, how much each is likely to provide and how that income may change over time. This helps you build a clearer picture of how much money you’ll have available and how long it may realistically last.
2. Setting a sustainable drawdown rate
It can be difficult to determine how much to withdraw each year without putting undue pressure on your savings, particularly as you move into your later retirement years.
Your financial planner may use cash-flow modelling, projected investment returns and inflation assumptions to help determine a sustainable withdrawal rate that meets your income needs while allowing for the years ahead.
If you hold an account-based pension, the law sets a minimum annual withdrawal based on your age. If you’re aged 65 to 74, you must withdraw at least 5% of your account balance, generally calculated at the start of the financial year. The minimum rises as you get older, reaching 7% between ages 80 and 84.
However, these are minimum legal withdrawal requirements rather than guidelines for sustainable spending. Your ideal withdrawal rate may be higher or lower, depending on your circumstances, although you must still meet the applicable minimum.
Money held outside super, such as personal investments, savings or an investment property, isn’t subject to these pension minimum withdrawal rules.
3. Planning for healthcare and aged care costs
Healthcare expenses can increase as you get older, and it’s important to plan ahead for aged care costs, such as home care or moving into residential aged care.
Government aged care funding arrangements changed significantly on 1 November 2025, and aged care rules could change again in the future, potentially affecting how much your co-contribution may be.
At RFS Advice, a specialist aged care adviser can help you understand the support options available to you and factor potential aged care costs into your retirement strategy.
4. Reviewing your retirement plan regularly
Retirement planning isn’t a once-off exercise. As you get closer to retirement, your plan may need adjusting to prepare for the transition from accumulation to capital preservation. Once retired, regular reviews with your financial planner are equally important. Changes in markets, inflation and your circumstances can impact how long your money lasts. Reviewing your plan at least once a year, and after any major life change, allows you to adjust your drawdown rate and investment mix to protect your income over the long term.
Planning for a long retirement on the Gold Coast
Preparing for a retirement that could last into your 80s or 90s means making important financial decisions long before you stop working.
In your 40s and 50s, you still have time to use your earning years to build wealth.
As retirement approaches, your priorities shift to protecting what you’ve built and assessing whether it can support a retirement that could span three decades.
Once retired, it’s about balancing the income you need to enjoy life today with preserving enough capital to support you in the years ahead.
At RFS Advice, our team of Gold Coast financial advisers takes a long-term approach to financial planning, guiding you from your earning years through retirement, with specialist aged care advice if you need it. Contact RFS Advice to discuss a retirement strategy suited to your circumstances.
Frequently asked questions
Longevity risk is the possibility of living longer than your retirement savings can support you. This can occur when your savings and other income sources are not sufficient to cover your living expenses through a retirement that lasts longer than you expected.
You can’t remove the risk entirely, but you can reduce it by planning for a longer retirement. This involves estimating the income you need to support your lifestyle, assessing all your income sources, setting a sustainable withdrawal rate and allowing for inflation, unexpected expenses and potential aged care costs. A financial planner can model different scenarios and help you build a strategy that takes these factors into account.
It depends on your superannuation balance, investment returns, your retirement lifestyle and how long you live. For some, super is the main source of retirement income, but it may not be enough on its own. That’s why starting retirement planning early matters. It gives you more time to develop additional income streams, such as investments or rental income, to supplement your superannuation and the Age Pension (if eligible).
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) estimates that a homeowner retiring at 67 needs approximately $630,000 in superannuation savings if single, or $730,000 as a couple, assuming a part Age Pension. As at the June 2026 quarter, ASFA’s comfortable retirement benchmark was $56,166 a year for singles and $78,998 for couples. These figures provide a useful starting point, but the amount you personally need depends on factors such as your retirement age, spending expectations, other income sources and how long your retirement lasts.
General advice warning:
The information and any advice provided in this article has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of that, you should, before acting on the advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to those things.
