Redefining retirement: Work, purpose and flexibility

Retirement these days is an ever-changing landscape. As more Australians are living longer, healthier lives, our attitudes towards retirement continue to shift.

No longer viewed as the end of a career and a well-earned rest from working, retirement now represents a new chapter – one that offers flexibility, choice and opportunities to redefine ourselves, our sense of purpose, and our relationship to the world.

While there is still a significant proportion of older people who feel they lack sufficient funds to retire, we know that many seniors are choosing to work for longer by choice. Maybe not fulltime, but they enjoy being in the workforce and being part of a team. They like the kind of social engagement having a job brings and feel they still have much to offer. 

Whether by necessity or desire, some people continue working full or part time into their late 60s and 70s. Others retire but decide to return to work, perhaps start a business, in an area they find more satisfying. Others might consult in their area of expertise or start a side gig.

More flexible rules now allow people to work for longer. You can retire at 60, access your super, and later return to work. Or you can work limited hours and still receive the Age Pension under changes to the work bonus.

Read more about accessing your super.

Learn more about the work bonus.

Research from Colonial First State found many older Australians would delay retirement up to ten years if they were able to switch careers and achieve a better work-life balance. One in three aged 45–65 are considering a career change in the next few years.

Based on a national survey of 2,247 Australians, including 430 retirees, the Rethinking Retirement Report found that 83% want flexible access to their money in retirement when they need it. Most plan to continue working into their later years with less than a third saying they plan to stop working at retirement age.

Is 80 the new 60?

Former journalist, publishing executive and TV personality Ita Buttrose seems anything but old and frail. Now 82, she stepped down from her role as Chair of the ABC in March 2024. “Sometimes the badges we wear as we get older seem to be a signal to people that there’s a frail human being,” she told an audience at the Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation conference last year.

“I look anything but frail and I think the perception people have of anyone that’s older is that we have a use-by date, we’re useless, we can’t learn things. It’s the negativity about ageing that spoils it for everybody. Just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean you change inside.”

Three-time Olympian and four-time gold medallist Dawn Fraser is another Aussie icon challenging our beliefs about ageing. She also spoke at the conference, saying she still views herself as young because she refuses to let herself feel or act old.

“I’m 86 this year and I feel 68,” she said at the 2023 conference. “I always turn my age around when people ask me my age and they say, ‘Oh you don’t look that’. If you want to be old, you can stay old, but I don’t want to be old. I want to grow gracefully old.”

Switching careers after 50

In a bid to keep working but on their own terms, many over-50s are starting up their own businesses. Some are doing the same kinds of work they’ve done throughout their careers, while others are heading in an entirely different direction and doing something they’ve always wanted to try.

Dubbed ‘seniorpreneurs’, these experienced individuals are now the fastest growing sector of entrepreneurs in Australia, contributing $11.9 billion to the economy annually. They talk about the flexibility that starting their own business gives them and see themselves less as retirees, but as people still evolving and becoming who they truly want to be.

Director of the Council on the Ageing NSW (COTA) Joan Hughes says there are several drivers causing seniors to take a leap of faith and start up their own business later in life. “Many want to take on a new challenge. They want to expand on existing skills and learn new ones,” she says.

“Some are unable to find work, or they’ve stopped working full time but want to keep a hand in. Many have held a passion throughout their working lives and are now ready to make it happen. They want to earn extra money but, most importantly, they want to stay engaged in their communities.”

Janne’s story: “I can’t even imagine retiring”

Janne Sverdloff is a Melbourne-based marriage and funeral celebrant, end-of-life doula and counsellor with her own business in bereavement support. But for many years, she was a head teacher at a private school in Sydney’s inner west.

“Even though I was doing something I knew I was good at, I felt there was something missing,” says Sverdloff, 63. “I would start every day with a long list of tasks that I needed to complete but many of the things on my lists wouldn’t get done. I needed to find a better work-life balance, and I had this feeling that I had more to offer; that I wasn’t reaching the people who needed me most.”

When Sverdloff was in her early 50s, her dad’s health began to deteriorate. As he became more unwell, she took her first step towards changing her work life for good. “I stepped down as head teacher and took a less responsible position so that I could spend more time with my father,” she says.

Later, she took paid leave so she could sit vigil with her father and was with him when he took his last breath. “My mum had died in 2002 and I’d also had a stillborn baby. I had been so disenchanted with what I had experienced with funeral directors in the past, especially with celebrants, that when it came time to plan Dad’s funeral, I decided to do it myself.”

Sverdloff planned and officiated her father’s funeral so well that the funeral director offered her a job. “I didn’t accept, but it got the cogs turning. While still working as a teacher, I completed a celebrancy certificate course, then took a year’s leave to establish the first version of my new business.”

Sverdloff says her new role gives her a sense of fulfilment that teaching never did. “I can’t imagine retiring,” she says. “I have more autonomy and a stronger sense of purpose now. Even though I was a passionate teacher, this is far more meaningful to me.”

Jackie’s story: “I wanted a change”

The Elrington Hotel, built in 1856 in the village of Majors Creek on the NSW Southern Tablelands, was a much-loved watering hole for miners and their families during the gold rush and for locals to the present day.

“To me, the hotel has a soul… it feels alive,” says Jackie Clark who purchased the pub in 2021. For 54-year-old Clark, The Elrington is not just an old country pub, it’s a new beginning for herself and her family.

Before purchasing the pub, Clark was a public servant. “In my early 20s I was completing a social work degree when I was offered a student placement with the NSW Government,” she says. “I ended up loving the job so much that I stayed.”

Initially Jackie was a child protection case worker, but as time progressed her role included managing staff and running community service centres. “My daily commute was more than an hour each way. After 20-odd years I was getting tired and wanted a change. My husband Rowan was also unhappy in his job. We really did feel we were stuck in a grind.”

On Father’s Day 2020, Clark booked a table at The Elrington for a big family lunch. “We’d all been to the pub many times before, but this time we saw that it was up for sale, and suddenly we couldn’t talk about anything else. My parents had always run restaurants and guest houses. I had grown up in hospitality, so it didn’t seem impossible.”

The couple made an offer, and soon became the pub’s proud new owners. “It hasn’t all been smooth sailing,” Clark is quick to point out. “We bought the pub just before COVID-19 and that worked against us in the beginning, but the local community is so supportive, and the pub has huge potential.

The Clarks have renovated much of the main building and upgraded and extended the accommodation. “We’ve been careful to keep our personal finances separate, so the pub has to pay for itself, and it does,” she says.

Running a new business is not without its challenges, but the Clarks are facing them together. “We’ve always wanted to work together, so it’s great. Our 19-year-old son Josh is part of the business now, too. We have a lot of laughs and a lot of fun. There’s live music every Sunday and the place is packed with people dancing and singing. We get such a buzz out of it.”

Lee Brown’s story: “I was the oldest person in my course”

With a diploma in horticulture and a postgraduate diploma in Islamic studies, Lee Brown juggled various jobs while raising her three children as a single mother. “I was an aerobics trainer, a house cleaner – I did a lot of different things to put food on the table,” she says.

In 2009, Lee’s mother was diagnosed with macular degeneration and dementia, and for the next 12 years, Lee became her fulltime, live-in carer. The skills she learned then turned out to be invaluable.

“When my mother passed away, I enrolled in a Certificate III course in Community Services at TAFE,” she says. “At 74, I was the oldest in my course, but I didn’t really think about my age,” she says. “I didn’t see it as something that would prevent me doing what I wanted.”

Now 78, Lee offers residential care as a community support worker three days a week. Some of her clients are younger than she is. “The work is diverse and very rewarding. Some clients need help with personal care. Others need social support. I take them to appointments. I might cook for them or maybe we just sit down with a cup of tea and chat. I find they are always pleased to see me at their door. For some of them, I am the only person they see all week.”

Retirement these days is an ever-changing landscape. As more Australians are living longer, healthier lives, our attitudes towards retirement continue to shift.

No longer viewed as the end of a career and a well-earned rest from working, retirement now represents a new chapter – one that offers flexibility, choice and opportunities to redefine ourselves, our sense of purpose, and our relationship to the world.

While there is still a significant proportion of older people who feel they lack sufficient funds to retire, we know that many seniors are choosing to work for longer by choice. Maybe not fulltime, but they enjoy being in the workforce and being part of a team. They like the kind of social engagement having a job brings and feel they still have much to offer. 

Whether by necessity or desire, some people continue working full or part time into their late 60s and 70s. Others retire but decide to return to work, perhaps start a business, in an area they find more satisfying. Others might consult in their area of expertise or start a side gig.

More flexible rules now allow people to work for longer. You can retire at 60, access your super, and later return to work. Or you can work limited hours and still receive the Age Pension under changes to the work bonus.

Read more about accessing your super.

Learn more about the work bonus.

Research from Colonial First State found many older Australians would delay retirement up to ten years if they were able to switch careers and achieve a better work-life balance. One in three aged 45–65 are considering a career change in the next few years.

Based on a national survey of 2,247 Australians, including 430 retirees, the Rethinking Retirement Report found that 83% want flexible access to their money in retirement when they need it. Most plan to continue working into their later years with less than a third saying they plan to stop working at retirement age.

Is 80 the new 60?

Former journalist, publishing executive and TV personality Ita Buttrose seems anything but old and frail. Now 82, she stepped down from her role as Chair of the ABC in March 2024. “Sometimes the badges we wear as we get older seem to be a signal to people that there’s a frail human being,” she told an audience at the Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation conference last year.

“I look anything but frail and I think the perception people have of anyone that’s older is that we have a use-by date, we’re useless, we can’t learn things. It’s the negativity about ageing that spoils it for everybody. Just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean you change inside.”

Three-time Olympian and four-time gold medallist Dawn Fraser is another Aussie icon challenging our beliefs about ageing. She also spoke at the conference, saying she still views herself as young because she refuses to let herself feel or act old.

“I’m 86 this year and I feel 68,” she said at the 2023 conference. “I always turn my age around when people ask me my age and they say, ‘Oh you don’t look that’. If you want to be old, you can stay old, but I don’t want to be old. I want to grow gracefully old.”

Switching careers after 50

In a bid to keep working but on their own terms, many over-50s are starting up their own businesses. Some are doing the same kinds of work they’ve done throughout their careers, while others are heading in an entirely different direction and doing something they’ve always wanted to try.

Dubbed ‘seniorpreneurs’, these experienced individuals are now the fastest growing sector of entrepreneurs in Australia, contributing $11.9 billion to the economy annually. They talk about the flexibility that starting their own business gives them and see themselves less as retirees, but as people still evolving and becoming who they truly want to be.

Director of the Council on the Ageing NSW (COTA) Joan Hughes says there are several drivers causing seniors to take a leap of faith and start up their own business later in life. “Many want to take on a new challenge. They want to expand on existing skills and learn new ones,” she says.

“Some are unable to find work, or they’ve stopped working full time but want to keep a hand in. Many have held a passion throughout their working lives and are now ready to make it happen. They want to earn extra money but, most importantly, they want to stay engaged in their communities.”

Janne’s story: “I can’t even imagine retiring”

Janne Sverdloff is a Melbourne-based marriage and funeral celebrant, end-of-life doula and counsellor with her own business in bereavement support. But for many years, she was a head teacher at a private school in Sydney’s inner west.

“Even though I was doing something I knew I was good at, I felt there was something missing,” says Sverdloff, 63. “I would start every day with a long list of tasks that I needed to complete but many of the things on my lists wouldn’t get done. I needed to find a better work-life balance, and I had this feeling that I had more to offer; that I wasn’t reaching the people who needed me most.”

When Sverdloff was in her early 50s, her dad’s health began to deteriorate. As he became more unwell, she took her first step towards changing her work life for good. “I stepped down as head teacher and took a less responsible position so that I could spend more time with my father,” she says.

Later, she took paid leave so she could sit vigil with her father and was with him when he took his last breath. “My mum had died in 2002 and I’d also had a stillborn baby. I had been so disenchanted with what I had experienced with funeral directors in the past, especially with celebrants, that when it came time to plan Dad’s funeral, I decided to do it myself.”

Sverdloff planned and officiated her father’s funeral so well that the funeral director offered her a job. “I didn’t accept, but it got the cogs turning. While still working as a teacher, I completed a celebrancy certificate course, then took a year’s leave to establish the first version of my new business.”

Sverdloff says her new role gives her a sense of fulfilment that teaching never did. “I can’t imagine retiring,” she says. “I have more autonomy and a stronger sense of purpose now. Even though I was a passionate teacher, this is far more meaningful to me.”

Jackie’s story: “I wanted a change”

The Elrington Hotel, built in 1856 in the village of Majors Creek on the NSW Southern Tablelands, was a much-loved watering hole for miners and their families during the gold rush and for locals to the present day.

“To me, the hotel has a soul… it feels alive,” says Jackie Clark who purchased the pub in 2021. For 54-year-old Clark, The Elrington is not just an old country pub, it’s a new beginning for herself and her family.

Before purchasing the pub, Clark was a public servant. “In my early 20s I was completing a social work degree when I was offered a student placement with the NSW Government,” she says. “I ended up loving the job so much that I stayed.”

Initially Jackie was a child protection case worker, but as time progressed her role included managing staff and running community service centres. “My daily commute was more than an hour each way. After 20-odd years I was getting tired and wanted a change. My husband Rowan was also unhappy in his job. We really did feel we were stuck in a grind.”

On Father’s Day 2020, Clark booked a table at The Elrington for a big family lunch. “We’d all been to the pub many times before, but this time we saw that it was up for sale, and suddenly we couldn’t talk about anything else. My parents had always run restaurants and guest houses. I had grown up in hospitality, so it didn’t seem impossible.”

The couple made an offer, and soon became the pub’s proud new owners. “It hasn’t all been smooth sailing,” Clark is quick to point out. “We bought the pub just before COVID-19 and that worked against us in the beginning, but the local community is so supportive, and the pub has huge potential.

The Clarks have renovated much of the main building and upgraded and extended the accommodation. “We’ve been careful to keep our personal finances separate, so the pub has to pay for itself, and it does,” she says.

Running a new business is not without its challenges, but the Clarks are facing them together. “We’ve always wanted to work together, so it’s great. Our 19-year-old son Josh is part of the business now, too. We have a lot of laughs and a lot of fun. There’s live music every Sunday and the place is packed with people dancing and singing. We get such a buzz out of it.”

Lee Brown’s story: “I was the oldest person in my course”

With a diploma in horticulture and a postgraduate diploma in Islamic studies, Lee Brown juggled various jobs while raising her three children as a single mother. “I was an aerobics trainer, a house cleaner – I did a lot of different things to put food on the table,” she says.

In 2009, Lee’s mother was diagnosed with macular degeneration and dementia, and for the next 12 years, Lee became her fulltime, live-in carer. The skills she learned then turned out to be invaluable.

“When my mother passed away, I enrolled in a Certificate III course in Community Services at TAFE,” she says. “At 74, I was the oldest in my course, but I didn’t really think about my age,” she says. “I didn’t see it as something that would prevent me doing what I wanted.”

Now 78, Lee offers residential care as a community support worker three days a week. Some of her clients are younger than she is. “The work is diverse and very rewarding. Some clients need help with personal care. Others need social support. I take them to appointments. I might cook for them or maybe we just sit down with a cup of tea and chat. I find they are always pleased to see me at their door. For some of them, I am the only person they see all week.”

Retirement these days is an ever-changing landscape. As more Australians are living longer, healthier lives, our attitudes towards retirement continue to shift.

No longer viewed as the end of a career and a well-earned rest from working, retirement now represents a new chapter – one that offers flexibility, choice and opportunities to redefine ourselves, our sense of purpose, and our relationship to the world.

While there is still a significant proportion of older people who feel they lack sufficient funds to retire, we know that many seniors are choosing to work for longer by choice. Maybe not fulltime, but they enjoy being in the workforce and being part of a team. They like the kind of social engagement having a job brings and feel they still have much to offer. 

Whether by necessity or desire, some people continue working full or part time into their late 60s and 70s. Others retire but decide to return to work, perhaps start a business, in an area they find more satisfying. Others might consult in their area of expertise or start a side gig.

More flexible rules now allow people to work for longer. You can retire at 60, access your super, and later return to work. Or you can work limited hours and still receive the Age Pension under changes to the work bonus.

Research from Colonial First State found many older Australians would delay retirement up to ten years if they were able to switch careers and achieve a better work-life balance. One in three aged 45–65 are considering a career change in the next few years.

Based on a national survey of 2,247 Australians, including 430 retirees, the Rethinking Retirement Report found that 83% want flexible access to their money in retirement when they need it. Most plan to continue working into their later years with less than a third saying they plan to stop working at retirement age.

Is 80 the new 60?

Former journalist, publishing executive and TV personality Ita Buttrose seems anything but old and frail. Now 82, she stepped down from her role as Chair of the ABC in March 2024. “Sometimes the badges we wear as we get older seem to be a signal to people that there’s a frail human being,” she told an audience at the Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation conference last year.

“I look anything but frail and I think the perception people have of anyone that’s older is that we have a use-by date, we’re useless, we can’t learn things. It’s the negativity about ageing that spoils it for everybody. Just because you’re getting older doesn’t mean you change inside.”

Three-time Olympian and four-time gold medallist Dawn Fraser is another Aussie icon challenging our beliefs about ageing. She also spoke at the conference, saying she still views herself as young because she refuses to let herself feel or act old.

“I’m 86 this year and I feel 68,” she said at the 2023 conference. “I always turn my age around when people ask me my age and they say, ‘Oh you don’t look that’. If you want to be old, you can stay old, but I don’t want to be old. I want to grow gracefully old.”

Switching careers after 50

In a bid to keep working but on their own terms, many over-50s are starting up their own businesses. Some are doing the same kinds of work they’ve done throughout their careers, while others are heading in an entirely different direction and doing something they’ve always wanted to try.

Dubbed ‘seniorpreneurs’, these experienced individuals are now the fastest growing sector of entrepreneurs in Australia, contributing $11.9 billion to the economy annually. They talk about the flexibility that starting their own business gives them and see themselves less as retirees, but as people still evolving and becoming who they truly want to be.

Director of the Council on the Ageing NSW (COTA) Joan Hughes says there are several drivers causing seniors to take a leap of faith and start up their own business later in life. “Many want to take on a new challenge. They want to expand on existing skills and learn new ones,” she says.

“Some are unable to find work, or they’ve stopped working full time but want to keep a hand in. Many have held a passion throughout their working lives and are now ready to make it happen. They want to earn extra money but, most importantly, they want to stay engaged in their communities.”

Janne’s story: “I can’t even imagine retiring”