For a decade, Antony has worked in the community sector transporting and supervising children in care, sometimes driving a 150-kilometre round trip. The work is precarious. He can earn $400 for three shifts in a week, which is exactly his mortgage payment, or up to $1,600 for a flat-out 10-shift week. During school holidays and the six-week Christmas period, however, shifts can virtually dry up.
"If my shift gets cancelled, I don't get paid," he says. "And that can be anywhere up to two minutes before I start."
This insecurity has shaped his financial future. Antony started his superannuation late, having been a stay-at-home dad for eight years, which meant his first contribution landed when he was around 30. He has since consolidated three separate super accounts into one to stem the drain of fees.
AMP's 2026 Retirement Confidence Pulse survey found that fewer than half of Australians aged 50 to 64 feel confident about retirement. For those in Antony's demographic, the gap is a chasm: just 26 per cent are confident, while 82 per cent worry about running out of money. Antony places himself squarely in the latter camp.
"I'm eventually going to run out of money after I retire, and there's nothing I can physically do to make it any better," he says. "So I've just accepted it."
He turns 60 in January, the age at which Australians can generally begin to access their superannuation. Yet nobody has walked him through what that means, and the only number in his plan is 67. "Do it while I can get it, and while I can do it," is his working rule.