Markets keep falling. Should I delay my retirement?

If you were planning to retire this year — or next — you might be feeling a bit off right now. One minute, you’re dreaming of lazy mornings, a big holiday, and time to finally do life on your terms. The next, you’re looking at your super balance, watching it shrink, and wondering whether it’s still the right time to step away from work.

Markets are jumpy again. After a few calmer months, global tensions have picked up, with the US back in trade talks and tariffs thundering onto the agenda. Prices are still high, and investment returns have softened just when many people were planning to ease into retirement and rely on the assets that are slipping through their fingers.

Markets have had a jumpy week, enough to make even the most confident planner rethink.Credit: Louie Douvis

It’s enough to make even the most confident planner pause and think: should I wait? But let’s be clear: this isn’t panic time. It’s strategy time.

Delaying your retirement by six months or a year isn’t a failure to launch. In fact, it might be the smartest move you make if you’re brave enough to make the call.

Retiring into a messy market doesn’t just feel uncomfortable – it can throw off your income for decades. And not just because of sequencing risk, which I’ve talked about a lot recently. There’s a bigger idea here: momentum.

If you delay retiring while the market’s unsettled, you give your investments time to recover. You give yourself time to keep contributing to super. And you give your future self more flexibility — more choices later, not fewer.

But it’s not all about numbers. Sometimes, what people really need is space. Space to finish up properly, to rest before launching into a new routine, to mentally shift gears. Retirement isn’t just a date — it’s a whole new rhythm. And right now, for many people, the rhythm feels off.

If your plan was to travel, enjoy long lunches, volunteer, or spend time with grandkids — that’s all still coming. But taking a small pause might mean you enjoy those things more, with less money stress in the background.

Delaying doesn’t have to mean putting life on hold. It can be part of the plan — a final step that strengthens your position and gives you more confidence in what’s ahead.

Why the money part matters right now

Delaying retirement doesn’t just mean “keep working, earn a bit more”. It can change the shape of your whole financial future – especially when markets are wobbly like they are right now.

Let’s start with your super. If your balance is down, and you start drawing an income from it, you’re effectively locking in losses. You’re taking money out at lower prices, which means those dollars don’t get a chance to recover when markets eventually rebound. That’s called sequencing risk — and it can do real damage to your long-term income.

But even if we set that aside for a second, there’s a powerful upside to delaying – because this dip in the market is also a buying opportunity.

When you’re still working, you’re still making compulsory super contributions – and if you choose to, you can also add extra through salary sacrifice or personal contributions. And right now, those contributions are buying into the market at lower prices.

While everyone else is nervously watching their balances dip, you’re quietly stacking up assets on sale.

That means you’re picking up more investment units for the same amount of money. And when the market eventually rebounds – which it always does, in time – those investments can grow from a stronger base.

In other words, while everyone else is nervously watching their balances dip, you’re quietly stacking up assets on sale. That’s the kind of smart, forward-thinking move that future you will thank you for.

Let’s break it down. Say you’re 64 and planning to retire at 65, but you hold off until 66. If you salary sacrifice $10,000 a year into super, and the market recovers by even 5 per cent over that time, you could end up with an extra $25,000 to $30,000 in your retirement balance.

That extra boost doesn’t just look good on paper – it helps fund holidays, extra years of income, or simply more peace of mind.

Plus, you give yourself time to plan. Maybe you rebalance your investments. Maybe you sharpen your spending estimates and build a buffer. Maybe you look at your eligibility for the age pension down the track or tweak your assets so you don’t miss out.

Delaying retirement doesn’t mean putting your life on pause. It means stepping into it with more strength, more choice, and a much better chance of living the way you want to — without financial stress whispering in your ear.

What do you actually want retirement to feel like?

This is the real question – not just “can I afford it?” but “am I ready for it?” Financially, emotionally, and mentally.

Because retiring isn’t just about leaving work. It’s about stepping into a whole new rhythm. One where your time is finally your own – to travel, to rest, to spend time with the people you love, to put energy into the things that light you up. That’s what we’re really talking about here: freedom.

But freedom feels better when it’s built on solid ground. When you know your finances aren’t going to blindside you a year in. When you can say yes to things – the trip, the grandkids, the long lunch – without that little voice in the back of your mind going, “Can I really afford this?”

This might be the moment to stretch things just a little so that your retirement actually feels the way you want it to. Not rushed. Not reactive. But ready.

So if your gut’s telling you, “this isn’t the right time to retire”, that’s not a failure. That’s wisdom. You’re not behind – you’re being strategic. You’re adjusting the timing so you can land the next stage of life exactly the way you want it.

Your epic retirement is still coming. Let’s just make sure that when you arrive, the wind’s at your back, and your plans are rock solid. And meanwhile? You don’t have to delay joy. This in-between phase can be rich, too – more flexibility, more balance, more glimpses of the life you’re building towards.

Because your best years don’t start after retirement. They start the moment you choose to live deliberately – and that moment might be right now.

Bec Wilson is the author of the bestseller, How to Have an Epic Retirement, and the newly released Prime Time: 27 lessons for the new midlife. She writes a weekly newsletter at epicretirement.net and hosts the Prime Time podcast.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making financial decisions.

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