You own the house. But you're not sure you can afford to retire
By Stan Moffatt, Financial Planner
I grew up watching my mum navigate money on her own. She worked hard, stretched every dollar, and never really had anyone in her corner to help her think ahead. She wasn't alone in that. Her friends were the same. Tight budgets, uncertain futures, no clear path forward.
That stayed with me. It's a big part of why I do what I do.
So when I sit across from a woman in her late 50s or early 60s who's worked her whole life, paid off her home, and still feels quietly anxious about retirement, I get it. And I want you to know: that feeling is valid, it's common, and it's fixable.
Here's a situation we see regularly at Pathwise.
You've done everything right, by most measures. You own your home. You've worked consistently, maybe full-time for years, maybe part-time while raising kids or caring for a parent. You're not reckless with money. But when you look at your super balance and try to picture what the next 20 or 30 years looks like, the numbers don't feel right.
The home is worth a lot. The super? Not nearly as much as you expected.
Asset rich. Cash poor. And wondering whether you've left it too late to do anything about it. You haven't.
The data tells us this is far more common than most people realise. Women entering retirement today carry, on average, around $61,000 less in superannuation than men at the same stage. For a single woman in her early 60s, the median super balance sits at roughly $175,000, a gap that's actually widened over the last decade.
And it's not a story of bad decisions. It's a story of how life plays out differently for women. Caregiving years. Part-time work. A relationship that ended and changed everything. All of it shows up in the balance, silently, over time.
According to a 2026 AMP study, only 36% of single women feel financially confident about retirement. That number deserves a moment of reflection. Sixty-four percent are heading toward one of the biggest transitions of their life without confidence in the plan.
Here's what makes this situation more complicated, and more solvable, than it might appear.
Owning your home is a genuine asset. It's security. It removes one of the biggest risks older Australians face (nearly 60% of older women who rent live below the poverty line). But a home you live in doesn't generate income. It doesn't cover healthcare, utilities, repairs, or the lifestyle you've been looking forward to.
A comfortable retirement for a single homeowner requires around $54,840 a year, according to the ASFA Retirement Standard. If superannuation is modest and the Age Pension is reduced by the assets test, there's a real gap to bridge, and property equity alone doesn't automatically bridge it.
The question isn't whether the situation is hopeless. It's whether there's a plan.
With the right strategies (making super work harder in the years before retirement, structuring assets thoughtfully, building a clear income plan) the picture can look very different by the time you actually stop working. But it takes time to do that work properly, which is why the window between now and retirement matters more than most people realise.
If you're a single woman in your 50s or 60s who owns her home but isn't sure the rest adds up, I'd genuinely love to sit down with you.
Not to tell you everything is fine when it might not be. And not to make you feel behind. Just to look clearly at where things stand, what the options are, and what's actually possible from here. Book a call here
That's the conversation I wish someone had offered my mum.
Stan