Two decades ago, just one in 10 Australian men were still working at age 70. Today, that figure has climbed to one in four. For a generation raised on the idea that retirement means a hard stop at 65, this shift rewrites the entire script. More than one in three Australians aged 65 to 69 are either working or actively looking for work, according to the latest ASFA research on post-retirement work. And it’s not just about money — though for 14% of people over 65, money is precisely why they keep going.
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This article is general information only and does not constitute professional advice. For your specific situation, consult a qualified professional.
Unretirement isn’t a niche lifestyle choice — it’s a demographic reality. Australians live longer, healthier lives than they did a generation ago. Life expectancy has climbed from 79.23 years in 2000 to 84.18 today, according to KPMG analysis of ABS data. That extra five years changes what a “full retirement” looks like, especially when you’re healthy enough to keep contributing. For many, the traditional three-stage life — learn, work, retire — is giving way to something more fluid. Here’s what you actually need to know.
What unretirement means in practice
The central idea here is unretirement: the decision to return to paid work after formally retiring, or to never fully stop in the first place. What I find striking is how rarely people plan for this. Most retirement calculators assume a clean break at 67. But the people I read about — like 84-year-old Mike Lockhart, who works part-time at Bunnings and is known as “American Mike” — aren’t outliers. They’re the leading edge of a trend that’s reshaping what active ageing in Australia actually looks like.
The numbers that are changing retirement
The raw figures matter because they show a structural shift, not a blip. Two decades ago, a 70-year-old man in Australia was far more likely to be fully retired than employed. Today, a quarter of that age group is in work. Women are catching up too — currently 9% of women are employed at 70, though that number almost certainly rises as the younger, more workforce-attached cohorts age into that bracket.
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| Indicator | Two decades ago | Today |
|---|---|---|
| Men employed at age 70 | 1 in 10 (10%) | 1 in 4 (25%) |
| Women employed at age 70 | Not separately reported | 9% |
| Aussies 65–69 working or seeking work | — | 33% |
| Life expectancy at birth | 79.23 years | 84.18 years |
What do these numbers mean for a real person? If you’re 55 today and healthy, planning to stop work at 65 leaves you with roughly 19 years of retirement to fund. But those 19 years aren’t static — many people will have more than a decade of good health after 65 where they value structure and social connection. That changes how much super you need and how you draw it down.
The 14% who say they may never retire financially face a different problem. For them, unretirement isn’t a lifestyle choice — it’s a necessity. That group tends to have low super balances, broken work histories, or both. For anyone in that situation, checking eligibility for the Age Pension and understanding the hidden costs of retirement that catch people out should come before any decision about returning to work.
Where people get unretirement wrong
Treating retirement like an endless holiday
Peter, a former lawyer who retired at 64, learned this the hard way. After health scares and decades of high-pressure work, he thought retirement meant rest. What he found was that unstructured time frayed his sense of purpose. His advice, reported in The Senior, is blunt: don’t treat retirement as an endless holiday. Be productive. Set meaningful projects. He now builds medieval-style timber-framed sheds in rural Victoria. The mistake is assuming the absence of work automatically fills the space with satisfying activity. For most people, it doesn’t.
Ignoring the social cost of stopping
One in four Australians over 65 who are still working say the main reason is social connection. That’s not a vague preference — it’s a measurable driver. The retirees I see who struggle most aren’t the ones with the smallest super balances. They’re the ones who lose their social network when the office door closes. Mike Lockhart, at 84, works at Bunnings partly because it gives him stories to tell and people to share them with. The financial aspect is secondary. If you’re planning retirement without planning how you’ll replace the social structure of work, you’re building a gap into your life.
Not understanding the super rules when you go back
Here’s the trap: if you access your super — say, through a TRIS or a lump sum withdrawal — and then return to work, any new contributions your employer makes are preserved until you meet another condition of release. That means you can’t touch them again until you reach a new preservation age event, which might be years away. The housing and lifestyle decisions you make alongside that choice can lock you into a structure that’s hard to unwind. People assume super is flexible. It is — but only within defined rules.
Assuming 65 is the finish line
Nearly 40% of people aged 18–34 already expect to work in retirement. The mental model is shifting at the ground level. Yet most retirement planning tools still pitch 65 as a hard stop. If you’re 50 or younger and planning for a clean break, you may be planning for a world that no longer exists. The more useful approach is to build flexibility into your super and spending plans — so you can scale down rather than stop dead.
- Check your preservation age (usually 60) and understand TRIS rules before reducing hours
- Test your retirement budget with and without part-time income to see what difference it makes
- Map out where social connection will come from if you leave a workplace
- Review your super insurance cover — it may change if you switch to casual or self-employed work
How to structure unretirement for yourself
The Transition to Retirement Income Stream (TRIS)
TRIS is the main tool for unretirement in Australia. Once you reach preservation age — generally 60 — you can start a TRIS that pays you an income from your super while you keep working, even if you drop to part-time hours. The mechanics are straightforward: you set up the income stream with your super fund, nominate how much you want each year (within the drawdown limits), and the payments land in your bank account like a salary. Any new contributions from your employer while you’re on a TRIS are preserved and locked away until you fully retire or meet another release condition. That part catches people — they think “I’m accessing my super, so new money will be accessible too.” It isn’t.
What kind of work retirees actually do
The research points to five broad categories: care and community roles, education, retail and hospitality, consulting and admin, and the gig economy. What these all have in common is flexibility. They’re roles where you can work 15 hours one week and 25 the next, or take a month off without burning bridges. If you’re returning to work after retirement and you take a fixed-schedule, 9-to-5 role, you’ve essentially unretired into a job. That defeats the point for most people.
Purpose, health, and the hidden curriculum of retirement
Peter’s approach is worth borrowing: he built hobbies into his routine before retiring — furniture making, writing, frog ponds, cricket. By the time he stopped work, the structure was already there. Health came next. Gym and Pilates are now non-negotiable in his week. The retirees who navigate unretirement well tend to treat it like a portfolio: paid work in one slot, meaningful activity in another, physical health in a third. If you leave any of those slots empty, something starts to fray.
What the rising life expectancy means for your plan
Life expectancy in Australia has jumped nearly five years since 2000. That doesn’t mean you’ll work five years longer. It means the average person now has five more years of retirement to fund, fill, and structure. The old assumption that retirement lasts 15 to 18 years is being replaced by a 20-to-25-year horizon. That alone makes unretirement more likely, whether you plan for it or not. Building a travel and lifestyle budget that accounts for part-time work in the early years of retirement is more realistic than trying to fully fund a 25-year retirement from savings alone.
Frequently asked questions about unretirement
What’s the difference between preservation age and retirement age? ▾
Can I still get the Age Pension if I work part-time? ▾
What happens to my super if I go back to work after accessing it? ▾
Is there a limit to how much I can earn without tax on a TRIS? ▾
What if I’m 55 and want to reduce hours but can’t access super yet? ▾
How do I know if unretirement is for me? ▾
Unretirement is rewriting what retirement means
The most consequential shift in Australian retirement isn’t super balances or contribution caps — it’s the assumption that retirement means stopping. The data shows that more people are working later, not because they have to, but because the alternative leaves something unfilled. Life expectancy keeps climbing, and the number of healthy years after 65 is growing. If you’re planning for a retirement that ends at 65, you’re planning for a model that’s already being replaced. The people who adapt best aren’t the ones with the biggest super accounts. They’re the ones who build flexibility into the plan — financial, social, and structural — so they can choose how much to work, in what form, and on whose terms.
Remember: this article is general information only. For advice on your specific situation, speak to a qualified professional.
If this was useful, you might also want to read The Real Cost of Grey Nomad Life: Is It Worth the Aussie Dream?
Sources and Further Reading
Active Ageing: The Key to a Fulfilling Retirement in Australia — Explores how staying engaged, learning new skills, and maintaining social connections directly affect retirement wellbeing — a natural next step after understanding unretirement.
The Senior (2025). Is unretirement the new normal? Why more Australians aren’t stopping. 🔗
CompareClub (2025). Why Are Aussies Going Back to Work After Retirement? 🔗
