New research commissioned by the wealth-management provider MLC has found just one in six Australians are confident about their retirement.
The report also found around two-thirds believe they are unprepared financially for retirement.
For Karen Pensabene, nearly 60 years old and thinking about retirement, those concerns are all too real.
She says being able to occasionally treat herself to something special and maintain the lifestyle she is used to into the future are on her mind.
"Retirement's a very scary word for me. You never know if you're going to be prepared enough, and that's the problem. And you don't know how long you're going to live. So, hopefully, I live a long life, and, hopefully, we'll have enough money, but it is a problem when you think that, Maybe we will run out of money."
But for those entering the workforce, there can be more immediate concerns.
The head of corporate super at MLC, Lara Bourguinon, says the current political debate around superannuation is adding to confusion.
"We'd really encourage the government to stop tinkering with superannuation. We applaud their support to enshrine the objectives of super in legislation. But the others things that we're talking about at the moment really only impact the wealthy, and what we're seeing here -- and the results of this survey would support -- is that the vast majority of Australians are not impacted by those changes. And, by tinkering with the system, we're undermining their confidence, and the worst result would be for Australians to just throw super in the too-hard basket* and not take an active interest in their retirement."
Planning for retirement can be daunting.
On top of the fact many Australians expect to work longer, the report shows there is a feeling super rules are constantly changing.
Treasurer Scott Morrison has just signalled he is unlikely to meet demands from backbenchers to double the cap on after-tax super contributions.
"If someone wants to put a million bucks after tax into their super so they can pay 15 per cent on it rather than their marginal tax rate, and they've already cleared the $1.6 million, then I'd find it pretty hard to look my kids in the eye and tell them they've got to saddle take on a higher debt because someone who had a very big income wanted to pay less tax."
Economist Stephen Koukoulas says superannuation policy rules need to be cemented to ensure people can retire comfortably.
"l think we need have a policy discussion and a policy implementation where the rules are set, we look at the inequality and the unfairness of what is a very generous tax treatment to the very wealthy, and then just make it quite explicit that, 'This is why 9-and-a-half per cent of your income is going into superfund. It's for your retirement, it's not for anything else."
